Living Colour, "Solace of You"

I saw Living Colour earlier this week, and have been on a kick ever since. I thought it would be a good nostalgia show, and it was--their energy and musicianship is always first rate. But the songs also held up much better than I remembered. "Cult of Personality" is deservedly a classic, but the range of tracks they performed from Vivid and Time's Up made me wonder why both of those records are underrated in 2014.

My co-attendee commented on how surprisingly diverse their influences are, and that may have something to do with it. A band that covers Robert Johnson, Talking Heads, "Amazing Grace," MC5 and James Brown all in the same night is bound to alienate someone. The hipsters who know "Cult of Personality" probably lump it in with Megadeth and the other thrash metal bands they ignore, and headbangers who bought Vivid likely wanted more meat and potatoes rocking. But for those of us who enjoy more than one type of music, Living Colour offers a plethora of riches.

"Solace of You," from Time's Up, sounds like it could have been written and recorded for Paul Simon's Graceland. Living Colour are often wrongly described as "funk metal" (or worse, rap-metal) by people who don't know how to handle the individuality of an all-black rock band. But more so, Living Colour gave metal a stronger sense of African-American tropes and history than any other band, exhibited by the American Afrobeat of "Solace of You." Not only did they bring something to the game that distinguished them from Metallica and Guns N' Roses, but they beat (and bested) Vampire Weekend and tUnE-yArDs to these polyrythms by about 18 years.

Ozzy Osbourne, Blizzard of Ozz

Who would've thought that Ozzy would be the most successful member of Black Sabbath? Ozzy, with the biggest drug problem and the fewest songwriting contributions? Bat-chomping, ant-snorting Ozzy and not riff architect Tony Iommi? It'd be like having Art Garfunkel sell more records and write better music than Paul Simon. But on Blizzard of Ozz, backed up by a prodigious American guitarist and a patient but hard-headed manager whom we know today as Sharon, Ozzy recorded one of the all-time great metal debuts, a gateway metal album for generations.



For starters it's got "Crazy Train," Ozzy's signature song and a piece that seems to end up in more movies and football games every year. But it's also got the lawsuit-inspiring "Suicide Solution," the Socratic "I Don't Know" and the environmentalist "Revelation (Mother Earth)," which beat "Blackened" by nearly ten years. "Mr. Crowley" bashed all the subtlety out of Led Zeppelin's occultist leanings. There's even a classical guitar instrumental that hinted at the promise of Randy Rhoads. Ozzy rushed out two albums in the first two years of his career, perhaps because his handlers didn't think he'd live much longer, but Rhoads' neo-classical stylings never run dry on Blizzard.

Contrarians have argued that Ozzy is only as good as his guitarists, and he's certainly worked with some of the best. But like Elvis, Ozzy's mannerisms are so ingrained in popular culture that it's easy to forget what a visionary musician he was. Listen to those wacky harmonies on "Steal Away (The Night)" or the way he shifts the lunatic intro of "Crazy Train" into a cheerful singalong. Without Rhoads, he may not have had the melody, but without Ozzy, Rhoads would have been another Steve Vai, a guitartist's guitarist whose influence would never transcend music theory students. Outside of Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth, there has never been a better musician/rock star team-up in metal history.

Song of the Day: Sepultura, "Ratamhatta"

Some of the best metal bloggers are freaking out this week over the image of Behemoth with producer Ross Robinson that's making it's way through the interwebs. Nothing has been officially announced yet, but of course people are assuming that this means one of the best black metal bands in the world is letting the guy who produced Korn, Limp Bizkit and Vanilla Ice's nu metal record take the reigns. But even if Robinson actually is producing the next Behemoth record, there's no need to raise a stink. Behemoth have been a great band for many years and they've earned your faith in them to make good music.

Not only that, Robinson has produced albums for more good music than you remember, including At the Drive-In, Blood Brothers and the Cure. But his best work is on Roots, Sepultura's last good album.



With every release, Sepultura gets more tribal and less metal, probably to distract listeners from the fact that they no longer have Max or Igor Cavalera. But Roots was a perfect blend of Sepultura's groove metal stomp and tropicália rhythms. I love the heavy percussion of "Ratamhatta," plus the call and response verses with Max Cavalera and Brazilian music hero (and future Oscar nominee, for Rio) Carlinhos Brown. Listen closely to also hear appearances from Mike Patton and a didgeridoo.

Artists like Paul Simon, David Byrne and Peter Gabriel get lauded for dressing rock music in worldbeat rhythms and for giving traditionally non-Western music an international audience. I'd argue that with Roots and "Ratamhatta," Sepultura and Ross Robinson deserve as much acclaim as any of them.

New York for Talia

Last year, I made a New York City mix for my friend Ellen. In the process, I learned that there were far too many great NYC songs for one 80-minute CD, so I shaped it to Ellen's liking--she got Prince, Harry Nilsson, Leonard Cohen and Rancid. Last fall, I Frankensteined the mix for Richard. He got Nas, Jay-Z, Bill Withers and Lou Reed. Now, my buddy Talia has moved back to Brooklyn, and she enjoys Paul Simon and Bruce Springsteen.




New York for Talia

1. Ramones, "Rockaway Beach"
2. Beastie Boys, "No Sleep Till Brooklyn"
3. Elvis Costello & the Attractions, "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea"
4. The Notorious B.I.G., "Juicy"
5. Bob Dylan, "Hard Times in New York Town"
6. Stevie Wonder, "Living for the City"
7. The Pogues, "Fairytale of New York"
8. The Drifters, "On Broadway"
9. Wu-Tang Clan, "C.R.E.A.M."
10. Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, "Drop Me Off in Harlem" 
11. The Rolling Stones, "Shattered"
12. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, "The Message"
13. Andrew W.K., "I Love NYC"
14. Fountains of Wayne, "No Better Place"
15. Tom Waits, "Downtown Train"
16. Simon and Garfunkel, "The Only Living Boy in New York"
17. Bruce Springsteen, "Jungleland"
18. Run-D.M.C., "Christmas in Hollis"

I'll take any excuse to put the Beastie Boys and Rolling Stones on a mix CD, or to argue that the Apple hosts the world's finest hip-hop. Here, "The Message" follows its clearest influence, "Living in the City," and there isn't much that can top "C.R.E.A.M." or "Juicy." But to Talia's liking, I'm giving her a Satchmo and Sir Duke team-up and of course "Jungleland," honoring her Springsteen fandom and the late Clarence Clemons' greatest solo.

Ellen returned my CD with her own terrific New York mix, and  I've cherry-picked "No Better Place" and "The Only Living Boy in New York" from her choices. Over all, I avoided the decibel levels that usually distinguish my mixes, though I couldn't imagine anyone resisting Andrew W.K.'s "I Love NYC."

One of my favorite parts of Ellen's and Richard's mixes was ending each one with the Sex Pistols' "New York." What better way to pay tribute to the Capital of the World than to end with one big raspberry blown by Johnny Rotten? Yet for all of Talia's intellectual curiosity, I couldn't picture her getting down to being called a pile of shit. Thus, I'm ending New York for Talia with the less divisive but equally satisfying "Christmas in Hollis."

Download here: New York for Talia