Grace Jones - Slave to the Rhythm (12" Single) (1985) Vinyl • Ladies & Gentlemen

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Condition Details:

Vinyl plays with occasional light-crackles (play-graded). 12" Single. Cover looks great; a few creases near edges; light-scuffing, slight discoloration with darker discoloration spots, and surface impressions (front/back); name written near top-right on back. Inner-sleeve is original (generic white); one seam partially split. Spine is mostly easy-to-read with wear. Minor shelf-wear along top-edge; heavier wear along bottom-edge and corners. Opening is crisp with signs of light use and divots. (Not a cut-out.)

Tracks:

1. Slave To The Rhythm (Ladies & Gentlemen)
2. Junk Yard
3. Annihilated Rhythm

About The Record:

Slave to the Rhythm (12" Single), by Grace Jones, was the first single from Grace Jones' album of the same name. The song and the album were written by Bruce Woolley, Simon Darlow, Stephen Lipson and Trevor Horn and produced by Horn. Slave to the Rhythm was originally intended for Frankie Goes to Hollywood as a follow-up to their hit debut single Relax. The song was assembled and produced by Horn after Two Tribes, but the project was given to Jones. Paul Morley says Horn worked on the song endlessly and had hoped it would become one of his biggest and most successful creations. The song's lyric is interpreted in various ways; as telling about slavery in Afro-American history ("Axe to wood in ancient time/Man machine, power line/Fires burn, hearts beat strong/Sing out loud the chain gang song.") or referring to the music industry and its exploitation of musicians. Slave to the Rhythm was released in Autumn 1985 to a great commercial success. The single became one of Jones' greatest commercial successes and is considered to be one of her signature tunes. It became one of the biggest chart successes for the singer in the UK (No. 12, next to Pull Up to the Bumper). The track proved exceptionally popular in Belgium, New Zealand, Italy and German speaking countries, where it made it to the top 10. The original version of the single, and its remixes, also topped the American dance chart in February 1986, despite not entering the mainstream Billboard Hot 100 ranking. Slave to the Rhythm was proclaimed the best single of 1985 by The Face magazine. In 1994 a newly remixed version of the song reached the top 40 in the UK charts. The hit single version of the song is in fact confusingly re-titled Ladies and Gentlemen: Miss Grace Jones on the Slave to the Rhythm album. The track Slave to the Rhythm on the album is in turn an entirely different interpretation of the song—a fact which apparently eluded Universal Music when they included this version in one of their many best-of packages The Ultimate Collection. In 2012, Jones performed the song at Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee Concert in which she hula hooped for the entire song.