tempobet yeni adresi
like this album classics review

19/11/2014 : GRACE JONES - Nightclubbing (Reissue)

GRACE JONES

Nightclubbing (Reissue)

MusicAlbum Classics
Avant-gardePop

[100/100]   

Island Records
19/11/2014, Paul PLEDGER

You have to hand it to Grace - after officially joining the over-'60s club, her feisty persona appears to be reversing in age. Memorable live shows and a great recent(ish) album in Hurricane ensured that you cannot, to quote an early tune of hers, mess with the messer. The queen ain't dead - long live the queen.

Nightclubbing forms the important mid-period trilogy of albums recorded for Island in the '80s, alongside the grittier Warm Leatherette and the exemplary Living My Life (what a reissue that's going to be). With a crack squad of musicians and a canny choice of cover versions (as well as those written by and with her closest allies), Miss Grace Jones gave most disco try-outs (and chat-show hosts) a firm slap and a run for their money. It's an icon's iconic watershed.

This long-awaited remaster rounds up the original album on one disc and assembles an array of gems and rarities on the other. If you're a die-hard or Grace Jones collector (like me), you'll be familiar with many of them from the previously-issued Compass Point Sessions double-CD but there are two unreleased songs to sweeten the soul. I mentioned the words 'canny' and 'covers' earlier and Me I Disconnect From You, written by Gary Numan, is another inspired choice. Softly lilting sub-reggae does stiff upper-lipped electro histrionics - it shouldn't work, but it does sublimely.

The other rare inclusion is the unknown quantity that is If You Wanna Be My Lover, mercifully not a reenactment of Spice Girls' Wannabe, rather a mid-tempo slice of street pop that sounds for all the world like something '70s smooth-jazzers Manhattan Transfer could've written - it's a bit Dancing In The City in places. Also included are a handful of versions of the non-hit/huge-hit Pull Up To The Bumper (the long version and the Peanut Butter dub are the best here - the 1985 version was always horrible), a Danny Tenaglia rejig of Feel Up and the wonderful, wonderful 12" version of Walking In The Rain. I'm sure Flash and the Pan secretly approved of her sleazy sidewalk take on a song that was already some of the same, without the sass. The sprightly Libertango also gets a couple of well-deserved slots.

Of course the main attraction itself isn't without high points - pretty much all of it is must-have material but the comedown closer I've Done It Again is worth the admission fee alone.

Daryl Easlea provides his customary spot-on insights for the sleevenotes and there are oodles of great pictures to satiate the most ardent fan. For once, a high-profile marketing campaign justifies the means. We should all go Nightclubbing.

This review also appeared on Flipside Reviews

Paul PLEDGER
19/11/2014


Music reviews

09
10
NERO/GRIS
Silenci
07
10
SUBATOMIC STRANGERS
Resuwrecked
01
10
BLOKKONTROLL
I-II-III
28
09
SUNSHINE BLIND
Scarred but Fearless
27
09
DARK MINIMAL PROJECT
Pleasure Is A Sin
26
09
PROMENADE CINEMA
Afterlife

NEWSLETTER

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

NEWS

14
10
43 years of “Wahre Arbeit, Wahrer Lohn” by Die Krupps: A Blueprint for Industrial Resistance
09
10
Baby Turns Blue and 43 today!
03
10
BIMFEST XXIII – 2026 - Full Line-Up Announced!
28
09
De Delvers announces third full-lenght album 'Zwarte Siroop'
27
09
CURSE MACKEY Unveils ‘Imaginary Enemies’, A Darkwave Descent Into Grief & Revelation
25
09
Today, exactly 38 years ago The Klinik released 'Plague'!

Concert reviews

17
08
KRAFTWERK
Royal Palace Open Air - Brussels - August 14 2025
22
04
GAVIN FRIDAY
Live at 404 / De Vooruit - Ghent - 01/04.2025
28
11
BELGIAN ELECTROWAVE IS NOT DEAD 3
Belgian ElectroWave Is Not Dead 3

GET A COPY OF OUR MAGAZINE
SEND TO YOUR HOME

INTERVIEWS

27
09
CORPUS DELICTI
''All is quiet, the motion's cold. I face the wind as I'm taking the road.''
18
09
WHISPERS IN THE SHADOW
This album isn’t about bashing religion and faith. That would be a pretty cheap trick.
17
09
ZWAREMACHINE
We were able to secure the support slot for Front 242. Everything was looking positive until Bas’s cancer reemerged and there were complications.
27
08
BEAUTIFUL FREAKIN' WEIRDO
An Interview With UK Industrial Metal Act, Beautiful Freakin' Weirdo
29
07
EX-VOTO
“Decisions. In a modern time. Transmissions. From the inner mind.“

PHOTOS

21
09
KRUPPS
Kulttempel Oberhausen
12
09
ULTRA SUNN
De Casino St Niklaas
12
09
ULTRA SUNN
De Casino St Niklaas
08
09
AUX ANIMAUX SUPPORT SHE PAST AWAY
Kulttempel Oberhausen
07
09
SHE PAST AWAY
Kulttempel Oberhausen
17
08
NEW MODEL ARMY
Summerkultur Dinslaken
23
07
DUCTAPE
Amphi Festival Keulen

ADVERTISE
IN PEEK-A-BOO

VIDEO CLIPS

17
10
ZANIAS
Unseen (Official Video)
16
10
DOPE
Blood Money
15
10
SOFT CELL
Martin (The Hacker 2025 Remix)
14
10
DARK MINIMAL PROJECT
Schlafen !
13
10
PEAK FLOW
Don't Die In Your Sleep (Remix)
13
10
CRASH COURSE IN SCIENCE
Flying Turns (Live @ BIM 2009)
12
10
COCTEAU TWINS
Hazel