Cult of Personality

I saw those guys live in NYC a bunch of times. They play there pretty regularly, as they are based in NY. Anyway, the are an amazing band, and anyone who tells you Reid is just playing a flurry of random notes and noise and could never reproduce the version on the album is dead wrong (I've heard this many times on the web). I've seen him do it live and hit it....every time, in fact.
 
I saw those guys live in NYC a bunch of times. They play there pretty regularly, as they are based in NY. Anyway, the are an amazing band, and anyone who tells you Reid is just playing a flurry of random notes and noise and could never reproduce the version on the album is dead wrong (I've heard this many times on the web). I've seen him do it live and hit it....every time, in fact.

i consider Vernon Reid one of my favorite guitarists. he's not everyone's cup of tea, but his playing really moves me. i agree there is definitely a method to the madness when he's going all out.
 
Love the song and a lot of songs from this band. The solo fits the song perfectly bit in any other situation, i would rather listen to cats in heat.
 
I have known Vernon off and on since I was about 18. Mostly from the NYC scene and Jazz clubs before he was a rock god. If you ever get a chance to sit and talk about anything with him I urge you to it.

Not long before this song was released I was playing in a gospel funk band (Doris White and Love). The Bass player in the Gospel band was Muzz Skillings. I still remember him saying "I think this band with Vernon is going to take off".

Within 6 months he and Living Colour were all over the media in NYC. These guys worked hard to get attention. They all deserve it.
 
i consider Vernon Reid one of my favorite guitarists. he's not everyone's cup of tea, but his playing really moves me. i agree there is definitely a method to the madness when he's going all out.

Vernon and Paige Hamilton are two of my absolute favorite players. Both are well trained and completely raw
 
I got to see Living Color in about 1989 or so at the Palace in Hollywood the week that Vivid went gold and it was one of the funnest shows I've ever been to. Fucking awsome. I saw them open for the Rolling Stones and Guns N Roses at the Rose Bowl a year or so later and they were terrible. Then I saw them at the Palladium in LA after that and they were rad but the crowd ruined everything with an out of control moshpit that had the show shut down.
 
I hung out with the band in the mid '80s.Great bunch of guys. Cory Glover has some pipes.One of my favorite rock singers.The gehy guitarist from Def Lepard hatwd the solo to Cult of Personality. Dick
 
My dad had a misheard lyric back in 89 when he heard him repeating "I need a blow job, I need a blow job....etc..." over and over at the end.

:grin:
 
i took my son to see Alter Bridge earlier this year and didn't realise that the support act was Living Color until i checked the tickets on the way. I assume they supported them as an extra gig to fill in their time out here in Aus while here for a few festival gigs. I was super pumped when i found out because i listened to Vivid a lot when it came out but i drifted away from their later stuff. But they were so good, and Reid was getting some amazing tones from his Parker Fly. When he cranked out the opening riff of Cult Of Personality the crowd went fookin mental. Then when Alter Bridge came out Myles Kennedy said 'how the hell do you follow Living Color'.
 
I have never seen them, but I would imagine that as awesome as the song WAS then, they probably play it even tighter now.....which would be mind-blowing.

And I agree with Mysitx......it fits the song perfectly, but anywhere else, it would sound like cats in heat.

One of those solos that just can't be duplicated.....or shouldn't be duplicated.
 
And Speaking of Paige and Vernon...

Anyone that questions these two noisy ass rock players ability to play or that they have not mastered their instruments is just crazy. Both are straight ahead Jazzers trained, tried and true.

Paige can bop with the best of them

 
Vernon is one of my favorite players. Vivid, Time's Up, and Stain are amazing albums. I also love Vernon's solo stuff, his playing just spoke to me from the first time I heard it. But he's just one part of the amazing unit that is Living Colour. Collideøscope and The Chair in the Doorway are also good, but I haven't had the time with them that I had dedicated to each first three Living Colour studio albums. I used to play Solace of You, Open Letter, and Leave It Alone. Nothingness, This is the Life, Wall, and Broken Hearts are such amazing songs. I'm split on some of the their covers, but their take on Al's Love and Happiness is excellent (nothing touches the original though :thu:).

I first heard them on BET who was playing the Middle Man video (their first single) before MTV even acknowledged them. I don't think anyone has to appreciate anything that doesn't sound good to them and hate the notion of having "get" an artist, but I think a lot of people couldn't wrap their head around agressive rock guitar soloing that didn't fall into the EVH, Yngwie, Vai mold that dominated the 1980s.

Anyway I missed them a ton of times, so I'm still waiting for the chance to see them live. I'd actually prefer them not to play Cult and I would love to see Muzz back in the band although I love Wimbish. Muzz's solo in Broken Hearts is one of the my favorite solos in recorded music, and Vernon's is wonderfully melodic as well. I'm always on the look out for the latest stuff that Vernon works on as well as the other guys from the band. Will Calhoun's last disc was great.
 
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