Muse (Grace Jones album)

Muse
Studio album by Grace Jones
Released September 4, 1979
Recorded 1976–1979
Genre Disco
Length 42:36
Label Island
Producer Tom Moulton
Grace Jones chronology
Fame
(1978)Fame1978		 Muse
(1979)		 Warm Leatherette
(1980)Warm Leatherette1980
Singles from Muse
  1. "I'll Find My Way to You"
    Released: 1976
  2. "On Your Knees"
    Released: August 1979
  3. "Don't Mess with the Messer"
    Released: October 1979
  4. "Saved"
    Released: December 18, 1979
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
The QuietusFavorable[2]
BillboardFavorable[3]

Muse is the third studio album by Grace Jones, released on September 4, 1979, by Island Records.

Background

Muse was the last album of Jones's disco trilogy recorded with producer Tom Moulton, which began in 1977 with debut Portfolio. As in the case of two previous records, the first side of the album is a continuous medley of four songs, joined by a narrative about someone who has sinned. The second side, however, consists of disco songs with no lyrical relation to one another. All album art, including the cover image, is by Richard Bernstein.

The album features a re-recorded version "I'll Find My Way to You", which Jones released three years prior to Muse. It was originally featured in a 1976 Italian movie Quelli della calibro 38 (international title: Colt 38 Special Squad) in which she played a club singer. The original version along with a song called "Again and Again" were included on a single produced by composer Stelvio Cipriani. Icelandic keyboardist Thor Baldursson who arranged most of the album and also sang duet with Grace on the track "Suffer" had previously worked in Munich, Germany with disco stars such as Silver Convention, Boney M., Donna Summer, Amanda Lear, and Giorgio Moroder.

Muse was released in the year of the "anti-disco backlash" and both the album and its double A-side single, "On Your Knees"/"Don't Mess with the Messer", and "Saved" were largely overlooked by the record buying public at the time and is generally believed to be Grace Jones' "lost album". Muse remains her lowest-charting studio album in the USA and the only studio album not to produce any charting single. For many years, Muse had been the only Grace Jones studio album not to have been re-released on CD. Gold Legion, a record company that specializes in re-issuing classic disco albums on CD, finally released it on the format in November 2011, remastered, but with no bonus tracks.[4] It was first released on CD in the UK in 2015, along with Portfolio and Fame, as part of the Disco boxed set of Jones' first three "disco" era albums. The album becomes in August 3, 2018 only CD, Tape, and LP on Island Records from U.S.

Track listing

Note: Tracks from side A are a non-stop medley, with the total playing time 20:26.

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Sinning"Grace Jones, Pierre Papadiamandis5:06
2."Suffer"Tom Moulton, Thor Baldursson4:17
3."Repentance (Forgive Me)"Jones, Papadiamandis3:50
4."Saved"Jack Robinson, David Christie, Vivienne Savoie Robinson7:13
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
5."Atlantic City Gambler"Duke Williams, Moulton5:46
6."I'll Find My Way to You"Stelvio Cipriani, Hal Sharp5:14
7."Don't Mess with the Messer"Jones, Papadiamandis4:50
8."On Your Knees"D.C. LaRue, Jerry Corbetta6:30

Personnel

  • Thor Baldursson – guest vocals, keyboards, arrangements
  • Carla Benson – background vocals
  • Keith Benson – drums
  • Evette Benton – background vocals
  • Richard Bernstein – artwork design
  • Eve Boman – photography
  • Carl Davis – arrangements
  • Carl Helm – background vocals
  • Phil Hurt – background vocals
  • Barbara Ingram – background vocals
  • Grace Jones – lead vocals
  • Francis Jug – artwork design
  • Tom Moulton – production
  • Don Renaldo – strings, horns
  • José Rodriguez – mastering
  • Craig Snyder – guitar
  • Arthur Stoppe – mixing
  • Sweethearts of Sigma – background vocals
  • Neil Terk – art direction
  • Ron Tyson – background vocals
  • Jim Walker – percussion
  • Larry Washington – percussion
  • Jimmy Williams – bass guitar

Singles

The original version of "I'll Find My Way to You" was released on a single with "Again and Again" as the B-side in 1976 and promoted an Italian movie Quelli della calibro 38 (Colt 38 Special Squad). The song did not chart.

The first, and internationally the only single promoting Muse, was "On Your Knees", released shortly before album's premiere. The single was not a commercial success and did not chart. Its B-side was "Don't Mess with the Messer", which received a limited A-side release.

Weekly charts

Chart (1979) Peak
position
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[5] 22
US Billboard 200[6] 156

|- ! style="text-align:center;"|Chart (2018) ! style="text-align:center;"|Peak
position |- | US Billboard 200[6] |1 |- |}

Release history

Region Year Format(s) Label
Worldwide 1979 LP/Cassette Island
USA 2011 CD Gold Legion
USA 2014 CD Island
USA 2018 CD Island/UMG

References

  1. ↑ Ron Wynn. "Muse – Grace Jones : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards : AllMusic". www.allmusic.com. Retrieved 2006-12-28.
  2. ↑ Allen, Jeremy (April 15, 2015). "Grace Jones – The Disco Years". thequietus.com. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  3. ↑ Top Album Picks – Billboard Magazine. 91 (33 ed.). Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 18 August 1979. pp. 62–. ISSN 0006-2510.
  4. ↑ "Grace Jones Fame". www.shop.goldlegion.com. Retrieved 2012-08-21.
  5. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Grace Jones – Muse". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  6. 1 2 "Grace Jones Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
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