Living Colour - Playlist: The Very Best Of Living Colour

This is not an objective CD review; it is my liner notes essay published in the October 2008 Epic/Legacy release Playlist: The Very Best Of Living Colour. Available for view on this website for a limited time only. Buy the CD!

Playlist: The Very Best Of Living Colour
By Mike Cimicata

Living Colour talk right down to earth in a language that everybody here can easily understand. They didn’t need a Malcolm X sound bite to explain that, but in “Cult Of Personality,” the anthem that introduced them to the world, those calming words gave the James Brown-meets-metal groove that followed them that much more blunt force. It was a sound powerful enough to usher in the revolutionary concept that—a generation after the death of Jimi Hendrix—an all-Black rock band could conquer America.

British-born guitarist and songwriter Vernon Reid honed his skills in New York City, solidifying the lineup of Living Colour with singer Corey Glover, drummer Will Calhoun and bassist Muzz Skillings. On their 1988 debut Vivid, they crashed the previously all-White hard rock party, demonstrating in the process that music anchored by loud guitars could have a social consciousness without sounding like a syrupy charity benefit single.

“Cult” came within three notches of the pop Top 10 and won them their first of two consecutive Grammys for Best Hard Rock Performance. Further Vivid hits “Glamour Boys” and “Open Letter (To A Landlord)” denounced ’80s greed and paved the way for acceptance of hard rock with funk and hip-hop influences. It was a musical open door that bands both Black (Fishbone) and White (Red Hot Chili Peppers) took to higher ground during the early ’90s alternative explosion.

Time’s Up helped kick-start that explosion. From the full-throttle groove of “Type” to the African-influenced pop of “Solace Of You,” the group’s second album was an ambitious tour de force. “Elvis Is Dead,” with guest stars Little Richard and Maceo Parker, showed it was proper to respect the past so long as you ground yourself in the present. On the heels of the album, Living Colour was one of just two Black acts (with Ice-T and Body Count) on the first Lollapalooza tour in 1991, an event that brought a new level of mainstream attention to alternative music.

With new bassist Doug Wimbish in the fold, the band’s third album Stain packed their hardest punches yet, with even heavier guitars and, on “Bi,” a boldly matter-of-fact acceptance of non-heterosexual lifestyles. Musical differences led to the dissolution of the group, who have since reunited. The band that reinvigorated songs by both James Brown (“Talkin’ Loud And Sayin’ Nothin’”) and Cream (“Sunshine Of Your Love”) continues to draw inspiration free of racial or genre constraints. As Vernon Reid once told the New York Times, “When you hear the sound, you don't hear the color.”

LEGACY RECORDINGS, 2008

© 2008 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT