Portfolio

by Grace Jones

Product Description:

Personnel: Grace Jones (vocals); Lance Quinn, Cliff Morris, Bobby Eli (guitar); Don Renaldo (strings, horns); Carlton "Cotton" Kent (piano, keyboards); Ron "Have Mercy" Kersey (Frender rhodes); Vincent Montana, Jr. (vibes); Wilbur Bascomb (bass); Allen Schwatzberg (drums); Moto (tambourine); Larry Washington (congas); Barbara Ingram, Carla Benson, Evette Benton (background vocals).

Recorded at Sigma Sound Studios, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Jones first album, produced by disco auteur Tom Moulton, finds the star backed by the Gamble & Huff house band, and stylistically it's very much of a piece with G&H's danceable R&B of the period--poppish, and lightly funky, with lots of extended instrumentals (probably a good thing, given the limitations of Jones' vocals). Highlights include a wonderfully ominous version of Edith Piaf's "La Vie En Rose," (which Roman Polansky used to good effect in the film FRANTIC) and "I Need a Man," her first big hit, along with Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive," one of the best-known gay cult anthems of its era.