Review by Daniel for Living Colour - Stain (1993)

While it's probably worth mentioning from the start that New York's Living Colour have never really fit within the stringent criteria required to enter my personal taste profile, I've always had an appreciation for what they do, particularly during their late 80's & early 90's heyday which is where my knowledge of them ends. I was first introduced to Living Colour through their super-popular smash hit "Cult of Personality" which I discovered on a compilation album shortly after its release back in 1988 & it would lead me to progressively pick up dubbed copies of their first three full-lengths as they hit the market, all of which offered me similar levels of entertainment even if I never considered any of them to be essential. Interestingly though, I never considered Living Colour to be a metal band during their earlier days with their 1988 debut album "Vivid" being more of a funky hard rock record. The links to metal grew off the back of 1990's "Time's Up" record which I regard as one of the extremely rare examples of a true "funk metal" release with the vast majority of other records being tagged as such failing to convince me of their eligibility for the niche subgenre. I always thought of 1993's "Stain" as being Living Colour's strongest work to the time but I haven't heard it since my last year of high school in 1993 though so I'm here to confirm or deny that allegation today.

One thing's for certain & that's that "Stain" was Living Colour's most consistent & most mature record to the time. Where both "Vivid" & "Time's Up" contained a few obviously weaker tracks to balance out the inclusion of their hugely successful singles, "Stain" possesses neither trait, instead offing a solid set of thirteen tracks that never disappoint but rarely amaze. The fact that it rarely leaves me cringing is a big plus though, as is the wonderful contribution of guitarist Vernon Reid who I feel delivers one of his most compelling performances here with his jazz fusion inspired & whacked out solos being thoroughly captivating. New bass player Doug Wimbish also proves himself to be a true star of his chosen craft with a powerful & invariably impressive array of basslines that anchor the songs beautifully. One thing I do think is worth noting though is that this material is not nearly as funky as it's made out to be so the links to funk metal are misguided. "Stain" is much more of a blend of alternative metal & hard rock for mine with only closer "Wall" fitting the bill for funk metal so I'd encourage all members of The Gateway to down-vote Funk Metal & up-vote Alternative Metal on the Metal Academy release page.

As to be expected with a Living Colour record, the tracklisting offers plenty of variety with regular change-up songs being included in order to keep things interesting & showcase the talented musicians' flexibility. My favourites are the synth-driven art rock piece "Nothingness". the experimental/avant-garde hip hop number "WTFF" & the afore-mentioning "Wall" which I think was a great way to close out the album. The quirky ode to bisexuality "Bi" is the most obviously commercialized inclusion while "Hemp" even sees Living Colour attempting a deep ambient sound. There are a number of hard rock-based tracks that will no doubt have fit very comfortably into US commercial rock radio programming at the time but they all maintain a reasonable level of integrity & quality.

After a few active listens on my commute to work & back this week, I'm gonna have to suggest that my position on "Stain" hasn't changed much. Perhaps Reid's contribution may be slanting me in this direction given my obvious penchant for high-end guitar playing but I still think that "Stain" was Living Colour's best album to the time. I've certainly confirmed my suspicion that it was their most mature & consistent one. Perhaps I just enjoy an alternative metal sound more than a funk metal one or a funky hard rock one but I tend to think there's a little more to it than that & feel that "Stain" has been a little hard done by due to the lack of hit singles it contains. If you're a fan of "Vivid" or "Time's Up" or similar bands like Extreme, Electric Boys or Ugly Kid Joe then I'm willing to bet you'll enjoy "Stain" too.