The age has no power over Grace Jones

The singer, actress and model of Jamaican-American origin Grace Jones has celebrated her sixtieth birthday this year but she is the embodiment of that rare phenomenon when the age has no power over a person. In order to make sure of that one just has to look at her at any moment of her breathtaking career, be it her old videos, photographs or movies, for example, Conan The Destroyer in which she played the beautiful bellicose horsewoman. Besides this visual information one should also refer to the recordings this unique in all ways personality has made. In particular, the great way to illustrate how Grace is feeling today is her tenth studio album Hurricane released after almost twenty years of hiatus. Her famous vocals of a rare contralto type refine each of the new compositions and as on almost all of her previous works there is both singing and speaking which once made Jones one of the most unusual vocalists in the world.

Electronic music combining with most varied directions on Hurricane

One should not expect any club hits from Hurricane with which all the singer’s last albums just shone. More likely on the tenth record she remembers herself in the times when she only started experimenting with New Wave and combines electronic music with most varied directions from rock to reggae. The album opens with an impressive song This Is built on different images and the contrast of a tough spoken verse and a melodious chorus. The first single off the album Williams Blood pleases with a splendid beat, successful back vocals and an amazingly beautiful arrangement, it is definitely one of the best mid-tempo compositions Jones has ever sung, stylish and original at the same time. The heaviest track on the record Corporate Cannibal, the video on which is already shot, is an anti utopia anthem of modern life advisable to listen to everyone who is sucked by routine and devotes too much time and effort to working and using the high tech. What is really unexpected here is the revelation I'm Crying (Mother's Tears) on which Grace tells of her relationship with her mother, a thing that nobody would hear from her before for she has posed herself quite apart of this world. Reggae compositions Well Well Well and Love You To Life are wonderfully similar with beats but different with the general atmosphere, the first being more positive, and the vocal parts. The title song is also one of the most interesting here, reminding of trip-hop star Tricky’s music a bit and pleasing with a memorable chorus. The record closes with a sullen song Devil In My Life, once again pleasing with a great arrangement and the mind-bending singing of the inimitable Grace Jones.

One of the most notable personalities in the show business history

In the 1980s Grace Jones became a fashion queen when she changed here image dramatically: her square-cut hair and bulky angular clothes are still well-known all over the world and the album covers of 1980’s Warm Leatherette and 1981’s Nightclubbing have become cult. Of course today it is hard to surprise anybody with the image but Grace has succeeded in preserving her fame of one of the most notable personalities in the show business history with the release of her tenth creation, too. Yet she did not only rely on herself. The renowned producers such as Sly and Robbie, Brian Eno, Bruce Woolley, Tricky himself and her son Paulo Goude and many others have joined the former queen of the legendary New York club Studio 54 to make a really impressive team. Thus despite of the respectable age Ms Jones still feels splendid and has successfully demonstrated us a faultless return to form. Nine new long tracks comprising Hurricane are sure to serve a great material for her magic extravagant live shows and remind everyone that this true lioness’ reign still continues.

Alexandra Zachernovskaya
12.11.2008