Slave To The Rhythm

The rock-reggae album trilogy recorded at the beginning of the 1980s showcased Grace Jones' full potential as a performer, and the unforgettable roles in "Conan the Destroyer" and "A View to a Kill" contributed to her image as a pop culture icon. In 1985, the Caribbean diva attempted another LP, which she would work on with the legendary producer Trevor Horn. The song "Slave to the Rhythm" was originally written for the British band Frankie Goes to Hollywood, but today it's hard to imagine Jones' repertoire without one of her biggest hits. Even though the whole album is a collection of different versions of the title song, as well as tracks inspired by and based around it, the variety of tempos and arrangements gives an impression of listening to 8 completely different compositions. One of the biggest highlights is "Jones the Rhythm", embellished with orchestral arrangement and backed by the London choir Ambrosian Singers. This very elaborate track makes a very effective, dramatic album opener. Two gentler compositions, "The Crossing (Ooh the Action...)" and "Don't Cry - It's Only the Rhythm" precede the fantastic finale of the album. Now... Not everyone knows that it was "Ladies and Gentlemen: Miss Grace Jones", not the actual "Slave to the Rhythm" song, that was released as the hit single and used in the music video. This version has since stolen the title and frankly speaking, sounds way better than the slightly overwhelming original. "The Fashion Show" and "The Frog and the Princess" turn out somewhat monotonous, and several production effects, which in the mid-1980s were undoubtedly innovative, today appear rather archaic. On the original vinyl release songs were interspersed with excerpts from an interview with Grace Jones, which gave the album an autobiographical feel. For an unknown reason, on most CD re-releases the interview was removed and some songs shortened. Nonetheless, the album is still well worth a listen as one of Grace Jones' most interesting releases. The splendid, iconic cover was again designed by Jean-Paul Goude. (3.5)

I have the original, on Vinyl, and thought I'd get a CD copy... The other reviews here are right in saying that this is not the same as the original record in that they have removed Paul Moreley's interview parts. Unlike some others who have reviewed, I don't have a big problem with that - I may have doctored it myself anyway. However, the Music-hating (and Customer-hating) record exec's at Island also chose to release this without any regard for quality... Most of the time the peaks on this record are at @-12dbs, with only some tracks peaking at ~-6dbs. That means that they have lost at least half the volume on this record due to technical incompetance... They should do the right thing and give this to Trevor to remaster. They could improve the sound and lose a few db's of transients without eating into the sound noticeably at all. (I am not advocating over compression here like most modern crap recordings...) What a cock-up of content and quality! They should fire whoever re-issued this and sort this out. This is a classic Trevor Horn album of the 80's - Not to be missed if they re-issue it right at some point in the future.

Sadly the audio quality on this picture disc is particularly poor. During the spoken intro it sounds like there is a force ten wind blowing. I worried it might be the case as other picture discs I've had suffered from similar levels of noise. I hope that they re-release in on normal vinyl one day. That said, the download is the full album not the shortened one that made it to CD and that alone made it a worthwhile purchase; recapturing some of the excitement of the first ever listen through the album back in the day.

Fantastic 80s album. No longer available in the UK on general sale.

No issues. He liked it.

Great album quick delivery quality goods

terrible, awful - don't buy it

great