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Taken from Sun-Times (Dec 21, 2015)
In the music spotlight: Living Colour
by JEFF ELBEL FOR THE SUN-TIMES
Living Colour | SUPPLIED PHOTO |
Living Colour are frequently given due credit for their groundbreaking status among Western hard rock acts. The quartet’s 1988 album “Vivid” was a rare multi-platinum statement by an all African-American group, helping to smash the era’s re-trenched color barriers. The fact remains, however, that the heavy-hitting band deserve their accolades with no qualifiers attached. Singer Corey Glover, guitarist Vernon Reid, drummer Will Calhoun and bassist Doug Wimbish form a monumental rock band, period.
“Vivid” made its impact with the complex interplay and thundering tension of “Cult of Personality,” securing the Grammy for best hard rock performance. Reid’s blistering riffs offset Glover’s righteous howl, underscoring politically bent lyrics and samples of speeches by Malcolm X and president John F. Kennedy. The band addressed social concerns, speaking for the underprivileged with “Open Letter (To a Landlord)” and “Which Way to America?” The earnest group lightened up with fare like “Glamour Boys,” featuring production and background vocal by Rolling Stone Mick Jagger.
The band’s ensuing four albums didn’t scale the same heights, but work from 1990’s “Time’s Up,” such as the grinding single “Type” through 2009’s “The Chair in the Doorway” and its ferocious “Burned Bridges,” presented a band that refused to be pigeonholed and determined to create art on its own terms – and at extremely high volume. Living Colour’s musical touchstones have remained consistent: technical excellence, searing metal, soulful R&B foundations, expert jazz sensibilities and hip hop swagger. “Bless Those” adds bluesy slide guitar and Wimbish’s masterful bass to Glover’s ecumenical good tidings.
The band’s current tour is a brief affair to end the year, hitting only three cities and concluding with two shows in Chicago. Living Colour’s tour manager has offered an enticing teaser, suggesting that fans at City Winery might experience a new tune or two from forthcoming album “Shade.”
* Living Colour, 7 p.m. and 10 p.m., Dec. 30, City Winery, 1200 W. Randolph, (312) 733-9463. $45-$65; citwinery.com.
SPOTIFY playlist: http://bitly.com/LC-spot
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