The Giant Panther

I love Grace Jones. Sometime in the 80's I discovered her and I don't think I've stopped listening since. There's nobody like her. I'd love to see her perform some day, but I'm not sure I'll get the chance. Grace Jones was born in Jamaica in 1948. Her parents moved to Syracuse, NY in 1965. I don't know the details of Grace's height, but she's got to be close to six feet. She was a model working NYC and Paris before scoring a recording contract with Island Records in 1977. I don't know her sexual preferences either, but she was androgynous looking and had a huge following in the gay community. I could care less about that stuff. I'm not much of a dancer, but Grace Jones makes it happen for me. Sometimes she speak sings, especially when covering acts like Flash and The Pan, Iggy Pop, The Pretenders, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers or Roxy Music, but she can sing too.

In the late seventies she began being seen around New York City with one Andy Warhol, who liked to photograph her, after he got done toying with Edie Sedgwick a couple of years prior. I never quite got the appeal of Andy Warhol, but it's clear he gave the wild ones a place to congregate (The Factory) and he did have one foot in the art world and one foot in the world of movies. That can make a very big impression on young women (or so I'm told). Come to think of it, wish I had been him give or take 90 eccentricities and that pasty mug. Anyway, Grace used to stroll into Studio 54 with Warhol and create quite the stir they say (you know...the people who say she created quite a stir...how hysterical is that line of advertising? They say you should wait to buy a home...who is they?...You know...the ones who say you should wait...makes me laugh every time...I'm such a simpleton). A tall African American woman wearing a flat top haircut dressed in the wildest outfits ever taking over the dance floor. That's one way to raise your profile I guess.

Grace did one last album for Island Records in 1985 called Slave To The Rhythm before moving on to Manhattan Records. In 1986 she released Inside Story on her new label and the song "I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect For You)" was her final charting single. In fact, 1989's Bulletproof Heart, the recording of which allegedly saw major clashes with dance music producer extraordinaire Nile Rogers, signaled a twenty year break from recording for Grace Jones. No matter, she still had relative bit parts in movies like Conan The Destroyer, A View To a Kill, Vamp and Boomerang to fall back on. Last year she released a critically acclaimed CD called Hurricane that seemed to put her back on the rock & roll map, but I have yet to digest that one fully. I'll have to get back to you on that one...

Jones had many dance floor favorites, but "Pull Up To The Bumper" is probably her most well known number. Unfortunately this single has about twelve remixes on the market so I'm not even sure where this one comes from. The version on Nightclubbing is only 4:41, but the one I'm posting is 5:47 and to me is the definitive remix. Hopefully you will agree. Break out the Warm Leatherettes...

P.S. For those of you who play before you download rest assured that the whole song is there for downloading. I don't know why, but for some reason my host doesn't want to finish this track. I checked it twice and downloaded it myself to make sure it works.