In 1988 came the release of the debut album from Living Colour. “Vivid” has the Hard Rock band, noted for an all-black line up (out of New York City) brining the material that led to their breakthrough as they unleash a record that features their unique blend of the contemporary Hard Rock with Metal, Funk and Hip Hop.
1. “Cult of Personality”
The album begins with the band’s debut and breakthrough single. I felt that it was the perfect way to get things underway as we get a chance to feel all the kinds of things that led to the creation of such an act whereby you get some raw Hard Rock (completely with influence from contemporary Punk and Metal along the way) as they perform a politically-charged joint that gave them the chance to make their first impact on the game.
**Five Stars**
2. “I Want To Know”
It felt as though we were able to get things calmed right down for this one as they give us a chance to experience a whole different side of their music. With things contrasting so sharply from a track that its built upon its socially-conscious messages, we get it switched back towards some general mainstream-friendly Rock material where they just get loose and allow
Corey Glover (their lead singer) to go off about the love in his life.
**Four Stars**
3. “Middle Man”
We get a track that I felt acted as somewhat of a ‘middle ground’, bridging what you get from the much harder opening track and blending it in with something much gentler to show how effectively they can manage these conflicting ends to their musical directions. I felt that it was a tune that you really need to grow with to get everything from it, and so you shouldn’t be put off if you don’t really feel it the first time around.
They lay down a pure banger here as we see that we get a track that has them really experimenting with their music more than what we had been able to see up to this point and so after an introduction that seems to be Punk and Metal-based, it soon manages to find a riff that draws these together with the Funk that made them stand out massively from others who were in the Hard Rock game at the time.
**Five Stars**
5. “Open Letter”
After seeing just how good it can get with this act we see that we have them once again backing down and calming down their approach somewhat in order to show much more of a range in what they can offer the listeners with a bit of a motivational tune that has them showing how they have broken away from things that may have held them back in the past and do things with such confidence that it doesn’t seem like they need to really overcome anything.
**Four Stars**
6. “Funny Vibe”
I saw this as a highly-significant track from the album as it is one that gets them changing up their ways quite a bit in order to show just how far they have come along in the years as they attempted to find their distinctive sound, and so it seems that with a little bit of Hip Hop (aided by a guest appearance from Chuck D and Flava Flav of Public Enemy as they rip a tune that is packed out with intensity as they deal with racial issues.
**Five Stars**
7. “Memories Can’t Wait”
They keep the hype alive as they come out with this one and kick out a cover of a track from Talking Heads. It is a great example of how exactly the act are completely capable of making a song their own, and here they do so by putting their whole Funk-Metal spin on things and bringing even more out of the original tune to the point where it just seems to fit in with what they are about perfectly.
**Four Stars**
8. “Broken Hearts”
Here you see that there you get a Rock ballad from the act. It is one that moves things on quite a bit and has them displaying exactly the lengths they wish to take things in order to show just how far they go when immersing themselves in order single direction. They do this while still finding the ability to inject some Hip Hop percussion in to punctuate all they do and show that even at these times they are pushing boundaries.
**Four Stars**
9. “Glamour Boys”
This was one of the record’s singles and I can see why it was chosen to take on such a role for the thing. In it, we get a tune that has lots of Pop appeal (quite out-of-the-ordinary for a Hard Rock song of its time) but manages to do so by having it largely built upon watered-down Funk-Metal techniques, and so therefore things that some listeners will find hard to resist (but won’t be as impressive to those who prefer their rougher tunes.
**Four Stars**
10. “What’s Your Favourite Colour?”
I felt that what you get from this one manages to do all of what the last one attempted to whereby we actually get some Funk that is ‘funky’ and from here we get the chance to feel them working to their full potential when it comes to laying down some overpowering Funk-Metal that you simply won’t be able to take if you really connect yourself with it. It was the best from the album and I can’t see how it can be seen as anything other than this.
**Five Stars**
11. “Which Way To America?”
The album ends well as we find that they come out with a track that has them sticking to the Funk-based stuff that made for what I consider to be the best tracks from the record. It is one that has them drilling out a patriotic offering with a bit more depth as they still find that time to pull in some alternative angles to the thing both musically and with what is brought through in the song’s lyrics.
**Four Stars**
I found that this was a strong album from the band and one that you shouldn’t overlook. What you get from this shows a massive a range of various unrelated musical directions that come together in a way that you wouldn’t expect to work so effortlessly. There’s so much for listeners to take away from this and it opens things up to make you want to embrace a greater range of musical genres.
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