Living Colour: Time's Up

LIVING COLOUR'S CHOICE of guest stars for their debut album Vivid was a significant one: Mick Jagger (who had produced their original demos and virtually blackmailed Epic into signing them in the first place) blew harp on one track, and Public Enemy's Chuck D and Flavor Flav rapped. Apart from demonstrating the phenomenal range and breadth of Vernon Reid's address book, the subtext was clear: Living Colour were more than prepared to face up to the contradictions of simultaneously being both rock aristocracy and outspoken Afrocentrics.