[.ca] Stain

Lost in obscurity:
In support of their groundbreaking debut, 'Vivid', Living Colour ended up opening for the Rolling Stones' arena tour in 1989. With the same style, artwork, and producer, they appeared again with 'Time's Up' in 1990. But between their second record and 'Stain' in 1993 would come the grunge movement, which was in many ways threatening on a band whose halmark was embracing varyious musical styles. The good news is that, musically speaking, Living Colour refused to follow the trend. The bad news is that this record was left underappreciated by alternative radio. In many ways, 'Stain' is a departure from the previous two records - in fact, bassist Muzz Skillings had been replaced by Doug Wimbish, producer Ed Stasium had been replaced by Ron St. Germain, and the bright pop art of the first two records had been replaced by a stark image of an imprisoned woman-child. Even Corey Glover had cut his locks. Taking a page from the Metallica/Bob Rock playbook, the production is very clean and the guitars are in your face. Most of the tracks can be characterized as unmemorable hard rock ("Ignorance is Bliss", "Wall") or punk ("This Little Pig", "Mind Your Own Busines"), with just a few dashes of sonic experimentation that seems a little forced ("WTFF", "Hemp"). Nonetheless, there are a few standouts that make this record worthy of 3 1/2 stars - the beautifully orchestrated "Nothingness", the tongue-in-cheek novelty tune "Bi", and the hard-driving to-the-point single "Auslander". I do not think that Living Colour can make a bad record. In the end, however, there is nothing particularly ahead of its time on 'Stain'. Still, the record does not deserve the commercial obscurity caused simply by bad timing.

Stain is a good living Colour album:
This album always gets overlooked for some reason. Especially as it's always compared to 'Vivid'. That was a great album as well as 'Time's Up' but Stain should be judged on it's own merits. It has one of the best rock songs of all time in my opinion in the form of 'Ignorance is Bliss'. Whilst Veron Reid and his cohorts are undoubtebly talented, Corey Glover is also a fine fine vocalist. His soulful voice really is uplifting and he can growl and shout with the best of 'em. The good thing about these guys is that they possess a fine sense of humor as well as demonstrated on 'Bi'

Perfection - The bands best album, it doesn't get any better:
When Stain came out in 1993, it was lost in a sea of the new music of grunge and alternative, seemingly meant to be forgotten. What ended up was a perfect album with the new member of Doug Wimbish who within 30 seconds of his introduction flattens any pre-conceived notions and questions of his ability to replace former talented bassist Muzz Skillings. Stain is an album that has perfect flow, great groove, killer sonic power, and songs that hold your attention one after the other. The band litteraly plays it's BUT off, and the album is not just mixed with the great talent of rock musicianship, but also of various styles, and with some good industrial sampling to boot. Lyricaly it's also the most provocative, from songs of alienation , guilt and indifference ('Go Away', 'Ignorance is Bliss', 'Leave It Alone'), humour ('Bi', 'Mind Your Own Business'), political issues ('Auslander', 'This little Pig', 'Wall') and touching moments typified in 'Hemp' and the brilliance of the track 'Nothingness'. The album is in simply one word: flawless. It was a crying shame that the band called it quits after this album. The darkness of this album and it's previous album 'Times up' was an oddity compared to it's fun rocking begginings long since past. The album has everything including the kitchen sink. Gem mint, get it.

Every bit as good as Time's Up:
Purists who wanted Living Colour to re-make Vivid 10 times found this album disappointing. This was a very misunderstood album, especially from the "fans" who didn't like the new look and lack of over-the-top guitar solos, but the songs are solid, beautiful, full of emotion and dark humor. The production is fantastic, and the performances are probably the best they've done, with restraint, unbelievably emotional vocals from Corey Glover (check out "Nothingness" and the bitter "Postman"), and most of all, solid grooves throughout. To me, this and Time's Up are their best works, I was a little less than thrilled with the new and semi- sloppy "Colideoscope" album, but they're still a fantastic live band and may still have potential to create another masterpiece like this in the future.

CLASSIC!!!!!:
I recently dusted this CD off when I was sifting through an old box off CDs. I have to say STAIN holds up even after 10 years. (WOW has it really been that long?!) The songs are darker and more aggressive then on their previous 2 releases. I think it paved the way for some of the aggressive bands we here today like Sevendust, Snot etc.. Unboubtedly the bands tightest recording. Living Color went out with a major bang with this last CD. It would be nice if they had a reunion tour!!