Grace Jones (and my exclusive re-edit)

By now you all know that commendably barmy diva/icon Grace Jones has a new album out. If you've read the reviews you'll know that it's been generally well received after a 19-year hiatus. If you've listened to it you"ll know that it's - for the most part - more of the same. Not necessarily a bad thing that, but personally I was hoping for something a little more refreshing.

Nevertheless, the rejected remix of Williams Blood (that you can get here) is rather fine, and here's Grace looking mighty impressive (she is sixty after all) on Jools Holland:



However, as usual, I'm still listening to old stuff, old Grace from young Grace, if you will. The year is 1989. Love on Top of Love is the first single from her new album Bulletproof Heart and it's very obvious that the fertile days of Slave To the Rhythm are behind her. The album will only spawn one other single, Amado Mio, and it's pretty crap. Love in Top of Love however turns out to be one the greatest Grace tracks ever - at least for me.

There are some songs that you never tire of hearing, and this one - with remixes by the genius duo Clivilles & Cole - is one of them. The Funky Dread mixes are just filthy; there's a fair bit of self-referential plundering from Slave to the Rhythm, the percussion and production are amazing, and even the semi-cheesy rap gets risqué:

Teacher teacher, jungle love creature
Whip me, rip me, flip me let me eat'cha...

Jerk me, spank me, work me and bank me
Beat me on the run when I come, then thank me

Kinda rude for a mainstream release. Anyway, as my infatuation for the song grew and grew over the years it became very obvious that I had to try and do my own version. Melding pieces of the club and dub mixes, my Fist Fusion is over ten minutes long. What I especially like is that you can't really feel the joins, always the mark of a good re-edit. Hope you'll like it too.

Click here to download my (definitive!) version. UPDATE 11/2010: now in Apple Lossless. Oh, and there's the epic and rather saucy acapella-house version here too. Now that's what I call a hurricane.