Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions
Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions is a compilation of recordings by Grace Jones released in 1998 by Island Records. The two-disc anthology consists mostly of material pulled from 1980–1982 recording sessions.
| Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions | ||||
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| Compilation album by | ||||
| Released | 16 June 1998 | |||
| Recorded |
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| Genre | ||||
| Length | 152:37 | |||
| Label | Island | |||
| Producer | ||||
| Grace Jones chronology | ||||
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Background, production and release
Grace Jones recorded three albums with Sly and Robbie, Wally Badarou, Barry Reynolds, Mikey Chung and Uziah "Sticky" Thompson, aka the Compass Point Allstars, a studio band named after the legendary Compass Point Studios, Nassau, Bahamas during the period of 1980–1982; Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing and Living My Life. Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions includes a selection of tracks from the recording sessions for those albums. It collects what is generally regarded to be Jones' best work[2] and also offers a well-researched essay included in the album sleeve. The album includes two previously unreleased songs from the Living My Life sessions: "Man Around the House" and a demo recording of Johnny Cash's 1963 classic "Ring of Fire". Other rarities are "Living My Life", a single-only song, not available on any previous album, and Joy Division's "She's Lost Control", released only as the B-side for "Private Life".
Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions contains long and extended version of Jones' hits, and although the CD booklet claims that these have not been issued before, most of them have in fact appeared on numerous CD re-issues around the world. Other tracks were remixed or re-edited by the PolyGram/Universal engineers in 1998 for this particular compilation, instead of using the many existing long or extended versions by original producers Chris Blackwell and Alex Sadkin that were released on vinyl in 1980–1982. The track "Living My Life" appears as an edited remix by Paul "Groucho" Smykle—dating from 1986, which the liner notes fail to mention. Another anomaly on the album is that it concludes with "Slave to the Rhythm", a track which was recorded in 1985, in London and with British producer Trevor Horn. Also the mix used, here renamed "Hot Blooded Version", is again an alternate 1998 re-mix/re-edit of the original 12" version entitled "Blooded".
For the Brazilian edition of the album, the "Best of" title was added to the original artwork.
Critical reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| Tom Hull – on the Web | B+ ( )[1] |
The album receive favorable reviews from music critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic website, gave the album four out of five stars and wrote that the album "unquestionably [has] Jones' best material" mainly because "she was supported by a top-notch studio band and produced by Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare". He opined that the album was of interest primarily to die-hard fans because casual hard fans will think that it has "too much Grace Jones in one place". Music critic Tom Hull gave the album a B+ (or three stars out of five) and wrote that the song "Bullshit" was the "major lost" in the album. Sasha Frere-Jones from SPIN magazine gave the album a favorable review and wrote that its songs "capture the vibe of early 1980's demilitarized zone between disco and hip hop".[3]
Track listing
Information taken from Apple Music, AllMusic and Spotify.[2][4][5]
All songs produced by Alex Sadkin and Chris Blackwell, except for "Slave to the Rhythm", produced by Trevor Horn and Stephen Lipson.[5]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Album | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Private Life" (long version) | Chrissie Hynde | Warm Leatherette | 6:17 |
| 2. | "Private Life" (dub version) | Hynde | Warm Leatherette | 8:03 |
| 3. | "Love Is the Drug" (long version) | Warm Leatherette | 8:38 | |
| 4. | "Breakdown" | Tom Petty | Warm Leatherette | 5:29 |
| 5. | "Warm Leatherette" (long version) | Daniel Miller | Warm Leatherette | 5:35 |
| 6. | "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game" (long version) | Smokey Robinson | Warm Leatherette | 6:43 |
| 7. | "I've Done It Again" | Barry Reynolds | Nightclubbing | 3:49 |
| 8. | "Pars" (long version) | Jacques Higelin | Warm Leatherette | 5:41 |
| 9. | "Pull Up to the Bumper" |
| Nightclubbing | 4:33 |
| 10. | "Use Me" (long version) | Bill Withers | Nightclubbing | 6:10 |
| 11. | "She's Lost Control" (long version) | Warm Leatherette | 8:23 | |
| 12. | "She's Lost Control" (dub version) |
| Warm Leatherette | 8:37 |
| Total length: | 77:58 | |||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Album | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Walking in the Rain" | Nightclubbing | 4:28 | |
| 2. | "Cry Now, Laugh Later" |
| Living My Life | 5:01 |
| 3. | "Nightclubbing" | Nightclubbing | 5:03 | |
| 4. | "The Apple Stretching" | Melvin Van Peebles | Living My Life | 7:06 |
| 5. | "Nipple to the Bottle" (long version) |
| Living My Life | 6:54 |
| 6. | "My Jamaican Guy" (long version) | Jones | Living My Life | 7:02 |
| 7. | "Feel Up" | Jones | Nightclubbing | 4:01 |
| 8. | "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)" |
| Nightclubbing | 4:29 |
| 9. | "Demolition Man" (long version) | Sting | Nightclubbing | 4:56 |
| 10. | "Unlimited Capacity for Love" |
| Living My Life | 5:43 |
| 11. | "Ring of Fire" | 3:56 | ||
| 12. | "Man Around the House" |
| 4:12 | |
| 13. | "Living My Life" (7" version) | Jones | 3:30 | |
| 14. | "Slave to the Rhythm" (Hot Blooded version) |
| Slave to the Rhythm | 8:18 |
| Total length: | 74:39 | |||
Charts
| Chart (1998) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[6] | 37 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[7] | 158 |
References
- Hull, Tom (5 July 2021). "Music Week". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
- Thomas Erlewine, Stephen. "Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions - Grace Jones". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
- Frere-Jones, Sasha (July 1998). Retro Active. p. 124. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - "Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions by Grace Jones on Apple Music". Apple Music. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
- "Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions by Grace Jones on Spotify". Spotify. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
- "Charts.nz – Grace Jones – Private Life - The Compass Point Sessions". Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
- "Chart Log UK (1994–2010): Jessie J – JX". Zobbel.de. Retrieved 13 June 2012.