Hurricane (Grace Jones album)

Grace Jones' previous album, Bulletproof Heart, was released in 1989, and despite several comeback attempts throughout the 1990s, her next full-length record would be released almost two decades later. The singer had decided "never to do an album again",[13] changing her mind only after meeting the music producer Ivor Guest via mutual friend Philip Treacy. After becoming acquainted, Guest played Jones a track he had been working on and she set her lyrics "Devil in My Life" to it. In 2007 Guest announced that he and Jones had completed recording the album.

The album includes a number of autobiographical songs, these include "This Is", "Williams' Blood" and "I'm Crying (Mother's Tears)". "Love You to Life" is another track based on real events and "Corporate Cannibal" refers to the subject of corporate capitalism. The title track was first recorded as a 1997 collaboration with Tricky under the title "Cradle to the Grave". "Well Well Well" is dedicated to the memory of Alex Sadkin, who had died in 1987, having co-produced three of Jones' 1980s albums. "Sunset Sunrise" ponders mankind's relationship with nature, and the final song, "Devil in My Life", was written after a party in Venice while Jones was standing in the corner observing partygoers. Four songs were ultimately removed from the track listing: "The Key to Funky" (co-written by Jones and Diane Pernet in the late '80s), "Body Phenomenon", "Sister Sister" and "Misery". Another track recorded by Jones, "Volunteer", was leaked in 2007 by Leslie Winer, together with "This", an early version of "This Is".[14] Winer also asserted that she had written both songs with Joe Galdo in the early 1990s.[15] Mainly with Sly and Robbie, Wally Badarou, Barry Reynolds, Mikey Chung and Uziah "Sticky" Thompson, aka the Compass Point Allstars as a backbone, the album retained the reggae-influenced sound of her three Compass Point albums even though it was not recorded at the legendary studios in the Bahamas.

Originally rumoured to be titled Corporate Cannibal,[16] the album's final title Hurricane and the release date of 27 October were announced in June 2008, at her signing with Wall of Sound.[17]

The front and back covers of the album features pictures of chocolate heads of Jones, which she revealed on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross shortly before Hurricane's release. Photographs included in the booklet picture the singer as a chocolate factory worker, complete with uniform and name tag.[18] Chocolate heads, as well as arms and legs were molded at the Thorntons chocolate factory in Derbyshire, England[19] by lifecasting expert John Schoonraad, his son Tristan and artist Nick Reynolds.

Prior to the release, Jones performed a two-hour concert at Massive Attack's Meltdown festival in London on 19 June 2008, during which she performed four new songs from the album and premiered the music video for the first single, "Corporate Cannibal".[20][21] For further album promotion, Jones appeared on British television talk show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, several awards galas, and embarked on The Hurricane Tour in January 2009, which garnered positive reviews.

The album was released on Wall of Sound on November 3, 2008 in the United Kingdom. PIAS, the parent company of Wall of Sound, distributed Hurricane worldwide, excluding North America.[22]

Jones dedicated the album to the memory of her father, Bishop Robert W. Jones".[23]

It met with positive reception, obtaining a score of 72 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic.[24]

In 2009. It was awarded a gold certification from the Independent Music Companies Association which indicated sales of at least 100,000 copies throughout Europe.[25]

"Corporate Cannibal" became the album's first single, released in August 2008 and promoted at the Meltdown festival. The song did not chart. The second single, "Williams' Blood", was released in December, and subsequently became a charting success in Belgium. A promotional only single, "Well Well Well", was released in 2009. "Love You to Life" was chosen as the third commercial single in 2009, but its release would be postponed for over a year.

Three years after the original Hurricane release, Jones released a dub version of the album. Hurricane – Dub came out on September 5, 2011. The dub versions were made by Ivor Guest, with contributions from Adam Green, Frank Byng, Robert Logan and Ben Cowan.

The dub re-release of Hurricane features new artwork by Jean-Paul Goude of Jones smoking a cigarette whilst wearing a sparkling hat.

The Hurricane Tour was a concert tour by singer Grace Jones to promote her album Hurricane. The tour sold well and received public and critical acclaim.[40][41][42][43][44]

• Hurricane on AllMusic
• Hurricane on Discogs
• Hurricane on Rate Your Music