Vivid (Living Colour album)

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Vivid is the debut studio album by American rock band Living Colour, released on May 2, 1988, by Epic Records. It was one of the most popular albums of 1988, peaking at number six on the US Billboard 200 chart and being certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Musical style

Musically, Vivid has been described as a hard rock,<ref name="allmusic"/><ref name="decibel">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="louder">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> heavy metal,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> funk metal,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> alternative metal,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and funk rock album,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with elements of soul,<ref name="decibel"/><ref name="louder"/> jazz,<ref name="louder"/><ref name="av">Template:Cite web</ref> pop,<ref name="av"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> rap,<ref name="av"/> arena rock,<ref name="rs"/> punk,<ref name="rs"/> and avant-garde jazz.<ref name="rs"/>

Critical reception

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In The Philadelphia Inquirer, Ken Tucker commented that Living Colour "defies musical stereotypes by evincing influences that include Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jimi Hendrix, Roxy Music and Sly Stone to yield a fierce, funny album."<ref name="pi"/> Mark Sinker of NME likewise highlighted the band's diversity of influences, including their embrace of older musical styles "that even metal heads haven't taken seriously" and concluded that Vivid "lives up, simultaneously, to the pinhead directness of Zeppelin and the total Texas-New Yorker strangeness of Ornette Coleman's Prime Time."<ref name="nme"/> "In its own way," wrote Rolling Stone critic David Fricke, "Vivid is an open letter to rock & roll itself, a demand for equal time and respect from a music that is Living Colour's birthright."<ref name="rs"/> He added that the album "will not change the world single-handedly, but it's a timely reminder of why it's always worth trying."<ref name="rs"/> Robert Christgau was less enthusiastic in The Village Voice, finding that "while it's momentarily exhilarating to hear this all-black band come power-chording out of the box, after a while the fancy arrangements and strained soul remind me of, I don't know, Megadeth."<ref name="vv"/> The album came in at #15 on the 1988 top-25 'albums of the year list' in Kerrang!.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Among retrospective appraisals, AllMusic reviewer Greg Prato deemed Vivid "one of the finest hard rock albums of the '80s – and for that matter, all time."<ref name="allmusic"/> In Blender, Michael Azerrad recalled that the notion of "four black musicians playing heavy metal" made Vivid "newsworthy" while adding that as "the black-rock trend never panned out," years after the album's release Living Colour's chief legacy lies in its music, noting VividTemplate:'s "landmark" fusion of "hardcore, funk and avant-jazz."<ref name="blender"/> J. D. Considine, writing for the 2004 edition of The Rolling Stone Album Guide, was most impressed by how Living Colour "backs its musical vision with insight, offering pointed, perceptive social commentary through songs such as 'Funny Vibe' and 'Open Letter (To a Landlord).'"<ref name="rsag"/> Calling Vivid "a crucial document in Black rock music," PitchforkTemplate:'s Stuart Berman opined that the album's legacy endures through later artists who have "flowed through the cracks in the industry barriers that Vivid breached, and, in their own unique ways, have each inherited the mission of reclaiming Black creators' frontline position at rock's vanguard, both under- and above-ground."<ref name="pitchfork"/> Vivid is featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Awards and accolades

Grammy Awards

Year	Winner	Category
1990	"Cult of Personality"	Best Hard Rock Performance

Accolades for *Vivid*
Publication	Country	Accolade	Year	Rank
Rolling Stone	US	100 Best Albums of the Eighties<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	1989	64
LA Weekly	US	Chuck Klosterman's Favorite Hair Metal Albums<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	2011	23
Loudwire	US	The 50 Best Metal + Hard Rock Debut Albums Ranked<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	2015	33
Loudwire	US	Top 80 Hard Rock + Metal Albums of the 1980s<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	2016	37
Rolling Stone	US	The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	2017	71
KEXP	US	Top Albums of the Last 50 Years (1972-2022)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	2022	637

Track listing

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Track 10 runs 3:56 on original CD issues, and 1:41 on original vinyl and remastered CD issues.

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Personnel

Living Colour

Corey Glover – vocals
Vernon Reid – guitars
Muzz Skillings – bass
Will Calhoun – drums

Additional personnel

Mick Jagger – harmonica on track 8, backing vocals on track 9
Chuck D – rapping on track 6
Flavor Flav – social commentary on track 6
The Fowler Family – additional backing vocals on tracks 2 and 5
Dennis Diamond – carnival barker on track 8

Production

Ed Stasium – producer and engineer on tracks 1–8 and 10, mixing on tracks 9 and 11
Mick Jagger – producer on tracks 9 and 11
Ron St. Germain – engineer on tracks 9 and 11
Paul Hamingson – engineer on tracks 1–8 and 10, mixing
Danny Mormando, Debi Cornish, Stephen Immerwahr, Mike McMackin, Tom Durack, U.E. Natasi – assistant engineers
Greg Calbi – mastering