Grace Jones - Black Marilyn (1994)

In 1993 Grace Jones released her #1 Billboard Club Hit 'Sex Drive', which was a cover of Industrial duo Sheep on Drugs' 'Track X'. It was produced by Mark Pistel and Philip Steir, two-thirds of activist rap/industrial group Consolidated, and was a blistering, snarling return to form, especially after her largely disappointing major label liaison in the late 80's with Capitol Records. A return to Island Records seemed to re-invigorate her, and the b-side to the single was equally as good, with 'Typical Male' being a cover of a track which Consolidated originally did themselves, and which was a searing feminist indictment of patriarchy, and who better to deliver such a statement than one of the most feared women in pop culture. Despite the positive reception to the 'Sex Drive' single, the 1994 album project that was to supposed to follow, which was to have been called 'Black Marilyn', with cover art drawn from the title, encountered problems which preventing it ever seeing the light of day. The album had been completed, with Consolidated coming in to produce the whole record, but Jones found that she couldn't stand listening to it, and she then started taking drugs, mixing downers and uppers just to kill the pain of the process. After the aborted 'Black Marilyn' project, she seemed set to return once again with her much touted collaboration with Tricky and his Durban Poison label, reported in 1996 and plugged further a couple of years later by Brian Chin, yet by the end of the 90's that collaboration seems to have effectively collapsed amid rumours of creative differences and irreconcilable demands. Of the tracks recorded for the 'Black Marilyn' sessions, only one survives alongside the two single sides, and although we have titles for others, such as 'Freak Show', 'On Your Knees', 'The Key To Funky', and 'The Flight Of The Doves', they all seem to be lost. However, despite only releasing two singles in 1993, Jones still kept very busy, recording songs for film soundtracks and collaborations, and so an enterprising fan has collected together all the songs that were recorded around the same time as the 'Black Marilyn' sessions, to make up for us being unable to hear the actual record.  

Track listing

01 Sex Drive (from the 'Sex Drive' maxi single)
02 Evilmainya (from the 'Freddie as F.R.O.7.' soundtrack)
03 7 Day Weekend (from the 'Boomerang' soundtrack)
04 Typical Male (from the 'Sex Drive' maxi single)
05 Still Life (from 1991's Sanremo Music Festival)
06 Volunteer (leaked track from the 'Black Marilyn' sessions)
07 Let Joy And Innocence Prevail (from the 'Toys' soundtrack)
08 Victim (from the disco sessions recorded with Tom Moulton)