Grace Jones, but not as we know her: disco-heavy first three LPs reissued

Three album collection Disco is the very beginning of her move from modelling to music, and whilst it doesn’t scale the heights she achieved later in her career, they do give a fascinating glimpse into the world of Grace before the world was too scared to say no.

Quickly following on from the Giorgio Moroder produced “Love To Love You Baby” for Donna Summer, Jones’ record label, obviously taking note, hooked her up with a disco producer with a similar visionary outlook. The man was Tom Moulton, the inventor of the extended remix and the continuous music mixtape. They make an interesting coupling, not as ground-breaking as Summer and Moroder, but that’s not to say Disco isn't without credibility.

The disco remakes of the show tunes “Send in the Clowns”, “What I Did For Love” and a particularly cringey “Tomorrow” from the musical Annie may come across as gimmicky, but “Clowns” in particular taps into Moulton’s work on the Philadelphia International label; lush, slightly dramatic, soaring strings (of which there’s plenty within these three albums) with a gorgeous instrumental break.

Jones hadn't particularly found her voice at this point, so these three records also tell a dual story of the producer as well as artist, but it’s when Moulton works outside of his best known sounds that he and Jones work best - such as on Edith Piaf’s “La Vie En Rose” which is totally transformed into acoustic-led aural seduction, a trick repeated on Fame’s cover of Jacques Prévert's “Autumn Leaves” just as effectively.

But it's 1979’s Muse which shows the first real signs of the ice cold diva she was to become. “Sinning” with its refrain of “I'm bad as I can be” is dry iced drama with a 70s coke fuelled haze of decadence. The saucy duet “Suffer” plays out as some kind sadomasochistic late ‘70’s pop. “Take That (clap/clap) and that (clap/clap)" we hear Jones purr like a pussycat before declaring “STOP” - easily the campest thing ever recorded, and it's blatant steal of early tracks by Chic means this is an undeniable highlight.

“Atlantic City Gambler” puts Jones in the place of a casino hustler with sleazy results, growling “When I make a deal, you know I play for real, when I roll the dice, you’re gonna pay the price”, the bass heavy beats, Nile Rodgers inspired guitar work and soft focus atmospherics make this the best track of the entire box.

Yes, she has made better music than a lot of the contents Disco, but as a snapshot not only into the very beginnings of an extremely long career, but also that of disco at its heights, and the beginning of its downfall with the homophobia and racism fuelled 'disco sucks’ campaign, it provides a alluring glimpse through the glory hole of a long gone era.