Living Colour Not From This World

Seeing Living Colour perform is always a real treat. It's just great watching four very skilled and creative musicians playing incredible funky rock songs on stage. I liked their performance a while ago a lot and so I knew what to expect. Boy was I wrong.

Living Colour at Paradiso Amsterdam, August 14 2010 (Ronald Says 9 out of 10)
We arrived just too late for the support act Seeka that played quite a solid set so we were told. After half an hour one by one the members of Living Colour walked on stage. Singer Glover was wearing an interesting outfit with retro glasses, retro hat and something that looked like a blacksmith apron. They kicked it off right away with a rock solid groove.

What followed was kind of hard to describe. Instead of playing a greatest hits set they started playing their best grooving songs. And these amazing musicians are just incredible at that. Vernon Reid's mouth watering guitar riffs and solos, Doug Wimbish's insane bass lines and sounds and Will Calhoun's solid drum play blew me away like a groove train running me over. I could only watch in awe while these guys were killing it. Of course they played a couple of their great hit songs but mostly it was if they were just jamming and taking their music to incredible heights.



Wimbish played a beautiful bass solo packed with creativity partly joining the crowd off the stage. And of course Calhoun played one of his incredible solos with the spacy light sticks and some funky neon electronic cymbal pads. Reid had a baseball cap slightly turned on his head looking like a naughty school boy as he was squeezing his screaming riffs out of his guitar. And Glover's voice still is great and powerful after all this years, hitting every high note just right. He was looking around the room with a big smile as if he was thinking "we're just blowing you guys away".

If you have no clue what a strong groove is then just watch these guys simply being perfect at it. After one and a half hour I simply had no clue what just happened. The crowd kept asking for more but the band didn't come back for an encore. The groove train doesn't stop but it just keeps on going. Onto the next venue to run everyone over.
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Living Colour Still Colourful

Many people may have missed the new Living Colour album 'Chair In The Doorway' a short while ago. Somehow this top band who were top of the bill in the late 80s has dropped off the radar. They have been back together for quite a few years but somehow people fail to pick that up. This can't be because they're not meaningful anymore since nothing can be further from the truth. They still make relevant and powerful rock songs that are worth listening to.

Living Colour - The Chair In The Doorway (Ronald Says 8 out of 10)

They still give lively rock performances as I experienced a year ago and definitely haven't lost that appetite and drive on this new album. On the contrary. They seem more focused than ever and the album both sounds angry and hard rocking. The sound is very diverse as we're used of the foursome and with the introduction of more electronic and experimental sounds into their music on 'Collideøscope' they have enriched it even more.

Vernon Reid's guitar is as sharp as ever and the songs are strongly founded by the killer rythm section consisting of drummer Will Calhoun and bassist Doug Wimbish. Singer Corey Glover finishes it off with his powerful and strong voice to deliver one of the best rock albums of the year. These are just great musicians who are a pleasure to listen to.

They seem to have come to the point that for so many people is inevitable: dreams turned out to be illusions, you thought you had the answers, but you're left with only more questions. "Party is over, the circus has left town, it's the morning after, and you're coming down" Glover sings in 'Method'. You want to leave but where do you go? So you're stuck behind the door. "Then there's the chair" he sings in 'The Chair'. This doesn't lead to a negative album but definitely an angry one. And one with killer grooves ('Young Man', 'Out Of My Mind'), great guitar riffs and solos ('Decadence', 'Behind The Sun') and some good old funky tunes ('Bless Those (Little Annie's Prayer)'). There's also room for a bit more psychedelica in 'Not Tomorrow' and some good old plain fun in hidden track 'Asshole'.

So I advise you to check out this album since it's everything a rock album should be and a lot more.
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Scribbles week 25

Last week's scribbles include news about Living Colour, Beck and David Lynch.

Living colour are working on their first new album in five years
The new album is called "The Chair in the Doorway" and is set for release on September 15. A world tour will follow.

Becks and some of his friend musicians will be covering classic albums
It is part of his Record Club project and he will try to release a song every day on his website. The first record he will have a go at is Velvet Underground & Nico.

Woman ordered $1.9 million for illegal downloading
The 32-year old woman was fined for sharing 24 songs online. The RIAA must be really proud of themselves.

David Lynch releases rock album
The seven songs were recorded in 1994 and Lynch wrote the lyrics. The album called "Fox Bat Strategy: A Tribute to Dave Jaurequi" is due for June 30.

Members of New Order and Blur are forming new supergroup
The new band will be called "Bad Lieutenant" and are planning to release their first album in October.

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