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 Hard to Access But Once Your in "Times Up" is Limitless! Oct 05, 2009
5 Stars = Masterpiece
"Times Up," is one of those rare albums that at first just did not grab me a lot, especially when it was love at first sound with "Vivid". As a matter of fact it sat for many years virtually un-played. Then I was on the road going back home & tossed in the cassette copy I used to have. The song, "Times Up" came on in all its lightening, thunder, & speed, & I was like WOW, where did this come from! It just was not this song, but all the songs; it was like a light turned on in my ears & mind that had been shut off for years. I just could not believe it. Never was I struck so hard by an album that I had more or less written off for years! It was like waking up to a new & beautiful landscape! A true "Twilight Zone" moment if I've ever experienced one!
"Times Up," is a more varied effort than "Vivid," (though I still love "Vivid' the most), it has many of the same ingredients that made "Vivid" so great, but is also much harder record to penetrate overall. It cuts down on the funk/metal I so loved in Vivid, & is just a heavier album in many ways. The funk on this album is more obtuse than that of "Vivid", & often mixed with jazz. I'm not saying "Vivid" did not have jazz elements, it certainly had, but it was more accessible. There also is more rap on "Times Up, which is not my forte, but it is not to the point of being overdone, & as a matter of fact, fits in nicely. Sometimes, especially with Vernon Reid's guitar histrionics, there is an almost Van Halen like quality to some of the songs, much of this do to Vernon's leads being unsupported by rhythm guitar, much like Eddie Van Halen's leads. Still, there is some great funk/metal to be found here, "Elvis is Dead" comes right to mind, with it's funny take on all the dead Elvis sightings. "Love Rears it's Ugly Head" is a good combo of R&B, & rock, with Corey's silk smooth vocals frosted on the top. "This is Your Life" with it's middle eastern intro, could almost sound like a Led Zeppelin take on things if Led Zeppelin was a post 1990 band. The namesake song "Times Up," as I said earlier is just an incredible express train of heavy punk/rock motion, & the guitar lead in the middle may be the fastest I've ever heard & still make sense to the songs structure. "Fight the Fight, beautiful guitar intro just mesmerizes me, & it just keeps getting better as the song takes a mean guitar & drum dominated twist. "Ology 1" is just a cool funky jazzy short instrumental. "Under the Cover of Darkness" is a heavy funked/ up jazzy ditty about post aids sex in America."Pride," a epic heavy rocker!The same true of "Type."
"Times Up," other songs are full of unexpected twist & turns, each song a true individual of a great whole. An album, that is at once dense, complicated & obtuse, but light and airy also. An album, that is not readily accessible, but once access is gained, opens up like a kaleidoscope of different sounds, textures, & colors, showing limitless imagination.
Best album of the 90's? Oct 08, 2008
I won't say this is without a doubt the best album of the 1990's, but for my money, it's GOT to be a nominee. Living Colour caught my ear with their fantastic debut "Vivid", but they made me a lifelong fan with this 1990 followup. While "Vivid" was a collection of great songs, "Time's Up" is a full blown artistic statement. After the surprise success of "Vivid", it would have been too easy for them to make "Vivid II" and watch the cash continue to roll in, but instead they kick off this second release with a speed-metal thrash style song (the title cut) played at the speed of light with strong lyrics that echo the immediacy of the music in this track. Wow. This is not your "MTV" Living Colour. Which is not to say there aren't some downright catchy songs here: the playful R&B cut "Love Rears Its Ugly Head" will stick in your head, as will the African flavored "Solace Of You" and several heavier sounding tracks like "Elvis Is Dead" and the lead single "Type".
But the strength of this cd isn't the "rock" songs or the "r&b" songs or the "thrash" approach or any one song or set of songs, it's the fact that the band mixes and blends so many musical styles on one album that still manages to be cohesive as a whole. Take for example the closing "This Is The Life", a very heavy Zeppelinish-sounding track, but the lyrics are very Eastern, so the band gives us a very eastern-flavored intro and outro that really completes the song and gives it that authentic feel that few bands can match, past or present. A few tracks are segued by short instrumental bits that only add to the diversity of this album, yet like great albums from the likes of Queen or The Beatles (who were also very diverse musically), the album still "flows". It's the last album I can think of where I like every single moment of every single song...
And don't let the diversity of what Living Colour does here scare you! Fans of the hard hitting "Cult of Personality" from their debut will still find plenty of songs rooted in good ol' fashioned hard rock here, but there is SO much more as well. So on this one, all I can say is BUY IT if you don't have it, and when you listen, expect the unexpected!
Eclectic Dec 25, 2007
This is Living Colour's most eclectic cd's. It explores it's african american influnses on some songs and on others they totally rock out.
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Awesome May 17, 2007
The best African American rock band of all time. No further comment needed. Every rock fan must have all albums from Living Colour.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
truly exceptional band and CD May 05, 2007
I consider this CD to be Living Colour's masterpiece and one of my all time favorites, one of my "desert island top 10 must haves."
In my opinion, it is the total package...it has jaw-dropping musicianship and musical execution, exquisite song crafting, near perfect sound production and mixing, tasty song order placement and mood shifting, legendary musical guests,(I'll go on...), strong and (STILL) relevant lyrics, all rapped up in one CD when the band was at the top of their game.
It seems to me that the band put forth a ton of soul, time, and brain power in producing this record, and feels like they wanted to use their new found fame to get the truth out to the mainstream (white) kids who came to the shows. (me included)
I'm 41 now and CANNOT help cranking this up all the way through when listening while driving, one of the few recordings that can still get me geeked after MULTIPLE listens over 17 years now.
A gift to the world of MUSIC (screw genre) by one gifted and special band.
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