Living Colour – The Chair In The Doorway Review

Posted by Michael Melchor on 09.18.2009

One hell of a rock record despite several things that could have gone very wrong.

It’s been six years since Living Colour graced the musical landscape with Collide0scope – long enough to fuel possible rumors that the band may have gone their separate ways again. Hey, they did it once already, you know.

This time, though, the band has settled on a musical direction (the cause of their 1995 split)...albeit a more experimental one than fans of Vivid or even Stain will remember. Collide0scope began that trend with thicker production and just a touch of electronic backing thrown in for good measure. The result was songs that weren’t an instant blow to the face like much of their earlier work, but still very well-done and much in their funk/damn-near-metal vein.

The Chair In The Doorway reads very similar to Collide0scope - only, this time, Living Colour have brought the immediate impact back to much – though not all – of their work. At the same time, they’ve also taken another step in the electronic/experimental vein began on their last record. While it may sound like Living Colour can’t seem to make up their minds on which way to go, the performances of guitarist Vernon Reid and singer Corey Glover help cement an evolution in their sound that works wonders for them 20 years (!) after they first hit the scene.



The Chair In The Doorway starts with “Burned Bridges” – and a techno beat accentuated by Corey Glover’s machine-distorted vocals. For almost a minute, a panic state is reached, fearing that the band heard Kanye West’s “Stronger” and decided that it sounded really cool. And that album cover doesn’t exactly scream "reassuring". Alas, while the beat stays, Glover’s voice goes back to normal and bassist Doug Wimbish throws in a great line, paving the way for Vernon Reid to remind the listener that, yes, this is still a rock album.

Just to erase any doubts, “The Chair” (as close to a title track as you’ll get without actually having one) starts with a mudstomp of an opening riff and accompanying sludge by Wimbish and drummer Will Calhoun. Even a track with a name like “DecaDance” carries enough confidence (or “swagger”, as the kids call it these days) and intimidating riffs to convince the listener just how hard these guys can rock.

The overall sound is actually reminiscent of Stain, one of their heaviest albums (and, arguably, their single best). Stain by way of Collide0scope’s experimentation. No covers, either. They’re out. And that’s fine, really; I'll take the haunting but still-damned-infectious chorus of “Young Man” (one hell of a melody jarred out of sorts by a spoken-word finish) - or the deadpan dancing instructions in that same track - over yet another cover of "Black In Black" any day. Even if they have more literal rights to that song than any other band I can think of offhand, save for maybe God Forbid.

And people say they’ve lost sense of humor. Okay, well, they may be right there. Since Stain, Living Colour ditched the tongue-in-cheek observations of past songs like “Elvis Is Dead” or “Glamour Boys” (which, sorry, had kind of a dumb chorus to begin with). Instead, if you pay close attention to the lyrics, it’s all been bleak and dark and hopeless and angry. Sometimes in that order, sometimes not, sometimes a combination. Many have lamented that lack of humor as well as the loss of some of their jazz influence along the way, but those sort of things are only noticed by artsy scholars or nitpicky, anal-retentive music writers. At the end of the day, The Chair In The Doorway is a damned good rock album. The kind of thing I wish I could hear on modern rock radio.

The 411: From Reid’s dexterity opening songs like “Behind The Sun” to Glover’s smooth gliding through songs like “That’s What You Taught Me” to Wimbash and Calhoun providing a rigid spine for all of it, The Chair In The Doorway slowly continues the band’s progression into slightly more unfamiliar territory and darker lyricism. However, past those elements, Living Colour’s sound is still intact, if not a little stronger than Collide0scope. They seemed then like they weren’t sure they wanted to commit to tweaking their sound. Now they are, and the result is one of the better rock records you’ll hear this year.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]