In 1981, Grace Jones released her fifth studio album Nightclubbing. Along with its predecessor, Warm Leatherette (1980), it represented a new musical direction for Jones: after her first three albums - the disco trilogy of Portfolio (1977), Fame (1978) and Muse (1979) - she reinvented herself as a new wave icon, known for her striking androgynous image and signature flattop hairstyle. The visual transformation was done with her then-boyfriend Jean-Paul Goude who started directing her music videos and designing the artwork for her albums. Music-wise, she teamed up with Sly & Robbie to create music that could be described as reggae-influenced new wave. In a sense, the reinvention can be seen as a return to her Jamaican roots after the disco years that represented the 'New York' side of her life.
Nightclubbing is the second album of her 'Compass Point trilogy', recorded at the Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas. Similarly to Warm Leatherette, the album consisted of various cover versions with reggae-influenced arrangements. However, there's more original material on Nightclubbing: three songs out of nine are co-written by Jones ("Pull Up To The Bumper", "Art Groupie", "Feel Up"), one by Marianne Faithfull and Grace Jones collaborator Barry Reynolds ("I've Done It Again"), and while the Sting-penned "Demolition Man" was later cover by his own band The Police, it premiered as a Grace Jones song on this record. Innovative and fresh-sounding, the LP went on to become perhaps the most iconic Grace Jones record to date, achieving a cult status in pop music, not least for its visual aspects.
