LIVING COLOUR

BISCUITS EP

EPIC

We all know the real reason rock critics wet their pants over Living Colour, so I won't dwell on the issue, except to say that if I was in Mordred or Riot (or, uh, Rush), who do more or less the same pompous sound bite-sludge schtick and suck almost as bad at it, I'd be strongly considering blackface. What I will say is that Corey Glover is fast making a name for himself as one of the worst singers in pop history€the guy hasn't got a fraction of the natural soul of a Lou Gramm (much less an Axl Rose), so he goes all out trying to bust his bluesful gut, like David Coverdale maybe except with way more prog-schlock grandeur -delusion. Hence, he winds up combining what are probably the two most witlessly dead-assed vocal strains since Elvis died.

Vernon Reid's got his "intriguing" (in a "jazz" way) moments (strange noises here and there), and if I'm charitable I might say the same about the TV samples. But since this band has yet to write even one "important cause" lyric that engages anything beyond the obvious ("I don't care about your dreams of peace / I don't care about your please lewd please/ I don't care about your Africa," etc.), and since the samples and rifts serve no expressive non-showoff purpose, and since tunes and dance grooves must not be nutritious enough, why split hairs.

On their new EP, L.C. minstrelize reggae and reduce James Brown and Al Green into Heavyhanded guilt-rock turds. Leaving it on the shelf will not make you a racist, I promise

Chuck Eddy