Grace Jones - Living My life (1982)

1982’s Living My Life was the last in Grace Jones’ unofficial “Compass Point Trilogy”: the string of albums she recorded in the Bahamian studio of Island Records, alongside a predominantly Jamaican backing band led by bassist Sly Dunbar and drummer Robbie Shakespeare. Up to this point, Jones had been known mostly for her radical reinterpretations of other artists’ songs, but Living My Life contains only one cover—“The Apple Stretching,” a glorious poetic tribute to New York City written by Melvin Van Peebles. The rest of the album consists of Jones’ originals. (Many were cowritten with Barry Reynolds, one of Island’s in-house songwriters.) “My Jamaican Guy” is pure Grace, while the slippery dance track “Nipple to the Bottle” and the James Brown homage “Cry Now—Laugh Later” show that Jones was as much a hero to funk as Brown himself. Though she could easily be otherworldly and intimidating, Living My Life started to reveal other facets of her personality. “Everybody Hold Still” and “Inspiration” are touching and vulnerable, while “Unlimited Capacity for Love” is one of her definitive statements from both a musical and lyrical standpoint.