Grace Jones: Hurricane

Originally released in Europe in 2008, Grace Jones’ 10th album—her first since 1989—presents her as even more of a grand dame than the highly haughty music she made in the late ’70s and ’80s. Jones began as a fashion model, and whether she was growling “I Need A Man” or snarling through a supporting role in Conan The Destroyer, nothing could break her confidence. That’s true of Hurricane, too, but with a difference in emphasis. Jones co-wrote all the material, and it shrewdly plays to her age and experience (she’s 63), like a latter-day Marianne Faithfull with a Jamaican tinge and more of a bellow than a croak. This is most apparent on the Tricky-abetted title track: “I can be cool, soft like the breeze,” Jones sings against cloudy strings and burbling low end, “I’ll be a hurricane, ripping up trees.” Jones also lifts the screen on her persona a little with the autobiographical “Williams’ Blood,” about family ties and growing up wild, and “I’m Crying (Mother’s Tears),” a sweet, reggae-tinged memorial.