I love this band! Vivid is great, Time's Up is probably my favorite, and Stain is pretty damn solid too.
Honestly, I have their first Vivid and what a great debut it was. Also, the video was extremely cool for Cult of Personality with the Kennedy and Roosevelt quotes. Huge MTV song and hit. I saw them at my college in a fairly small gym just as they were breaking huge. It was a great show. I never had gotten anything else by them. Maybe I will go back and explore through your recommendations.
(Reid = One of the best guitarists) + (Glover = One of the best vocalists) = Living Colour is underrated.
Wasn't the biggest fan when they were around - liked a few tunes on each album (thinking maybe Stain was my favorite). That being said the one time I saw them I thought they were absolutely fantastic.
I played Stain a lot when it first came out but neglected it later, shame on me . Vernon Reid knew how to play heavy.
Great band that put out a classic album (Vivid). Got caught up in racial politics (Times Up) and trying to hook into the alternative crowd (Stain), and never managed to find their way back to popular consciousness. Criminally overlooked band.
Great band, a real shot in the arm at the time..visceral...great songs...after Stain, I am not sure what happened.
Terrible band IMO...saw them open for the Stones...people were booing. Vernon is one of the sloppiest players I've ever heard in a "professional" band. I'll give him credit for good taste; back in 1992 he named Curve's Doppelganger in his top 5 for the year...
Vivid was great at the time. Really loved that album in '88. Time's Up was far less great -- though with a couple of their best songs -- overall bloated and probably too ambitious. Stain had a few OK tunes on it, but it seemed like they were running out of steam and were short on ideas. I tried to stay with them after they reformed, but literally everything they've released since has been a massive disappointment. I finally gave up a few years back. These days I view them as a band who managed to put out one really enjoyable debut, and failed to follow it up with anything solid.
I also saw them open for the Rolling Stones years ago and was very disappointed. I think it was probably a bad fit for them, as well as that they were not ready for stadiums. I have the first three albums and enjoy them, particularly the first and third. I agree that Vernon is a particularly noisy guitarist, but I enjoy the dissonance. I did have the opportunity to see them recently on their anniversary tour for Vivid. Corey Glover was astoundingly good, and the band sounded fantastic overall. Hearing them in a club with the capacity of about 1100 was definitely the right environment. I didn't go expecting much but walked away pleasantly surprised and thoroughly entertained.
The one who never gets his due is Will Calhoun. Before Calhoun and Living Colour, you primarily heard bass drum, hi hat and snare drum on most commercial records at the time. Calhoun played a lot of cymbals and toms, and those elements weren't frequently heard on commercially successful records at that time. Besides being a terrific drummer, Calhoun opened the door for busier players on commercial records at that time.
Vernon Reid is a monster. LOVE these guys. For those of you who don't know, Reid has a background in avant-garde jazz, hence the dissonance and "sloppiness"...both things which I personally love. And Muzz Skillings...what a friggin great bass player. I know they've had Doug Wimbish for many years now, but I love me some Muzz.
This band is too underrated. Yeah everyone knows Cult Of Personality but there are a lot of great songs on their first two albums. Glamour Boys is a favorite, and Love Rears Its Ugly Head is an INCREDIBLE song. Honestly surprised it wasn't a big hit here, though the song reached number 12 on the UK charts.
All covered in that other thread for the poor little petals that get upset when it's not a pentatonic scale
