Pull up to the bumper baby, it's Grace Jones
Ten years ago I experienced something of an epiphany at the opening day of Skipton’s much missed Beacons music festival. Whilst enjoying a beer in the Friday afternoon sunshine, the DJ in the bar suddenly played Grace Jones' signature track ‘Pull Up to the Bumper’, me quickly realising I’d obviously never listened to it properly and what a truly brilliant record it was. Jones’ quintessential deadpan Caribbean disco fused with New York arthouse punk funk propelled by the Sly & Robbie rhythm section to thrilling effect, arguably picking up where Jimi Hendrix ‘Crosstown Traffic’ left off.
Pull Up to the Bumper’s parent album, the darkly alluring ‘Nightclubbing’ is where the star of the show begins tonight’s trip down amnesia lane at the iconic West Yorkshire market square, for once bathed in warm summer sunshine. Emerging from behind a giant black canvas, lowered just before taking the stage and resplendent in a voodoo headdress, the first of many outfits adorned by the Jamaican, the slinky reggae groove of the album’s title track expertly gets everyone’s hips wiggling. Supported by a crack session band drilled to perfection, Grace is free to deliver her classic vocal style, safe in the knowledge that everything else behind her will look after itself, even if she momentarily believes she is in Manchester, oops!
Affording herself just the one new track, 'The Key’, tonight’s show is all about those seminal 80s Jones nuggets. Before you know it we’re swimming through the willowy ‘Private Life’, still as icily detached as ever. You can almost picture a bored Jones doing her nails as she’s engaging in the song’s conversation, a ciggie hanging from the right corner of her mouth….. I hope she’s finally packed them in.
Tonight’s closing brace provides the show’s undisputed highlight, ‘Pull up to the Bumper’ brings the house down as well as a blizzard of ticker tape, reinforcing the track’s unmistakable Big Apple vibe. Finally, the hula hoop emerges for the glacial groove of ‘Slave to the Rhythm’, proving the old magic is still there, and long may it continue.
Words by Michael Price
Grace Jones official
Piece Hall official