Living Colour: Muzz Skillings VS. Doug Wimbish

[JimK]

Originally Posted by jerry

I don't know........I thought the lyrics to Cult Of Personality & Open Letter To A Landlord where heads above most heavy rock lyrics of the time

Agree.
There's more of the same on Time's Up, too.

[NOLA Bass]

I think Wimbish is amazing! What a great player. The thing is though, there's no denying that those first two albums had the best songs Living Colour wrote. Vivid is a must have in the record collection.

[johnvice]

Wow what a great topic this is !

The first time I heard "Cult of Personality" by jaw dropped to the floor...it's like Led Zeppelin on acid....Vernon's totally over the top solo's frantic energy fits the song perfectly!

Muzz
The first two albums were my favorites.

Doug
He is a truly awesome bass player. I hope they do another tour as I'd love to see him live. According to livingcolour.com, they have one gig scheduled...in NYC this summer.

[mgmadian]

Great topic... I've been a big fan of LC since their first album, and played a few of their songs back in college cover bands. For me, Muzz is da man... very musical. "Broken Hearts" melodic solo + slapping on Funny Vibe + in-yo-face groove/rock playing on other tracks on that first album = very versatile player.

I'm kinda lukewarm on Doug Wimbish's playing with LC... not a big fan of all those effects and I don't think his fundamental sound complements the overall band all that well. Maybe I'm just kinda put-off from a concert I'd seen a few months ago here in San Francisco with his group Tackhead, whom I used to like a lot more maybe 7-8 years ago when they were more popular. It felt kinda 'tired', pretty much like a higher-tech jam band that just kept repeating and repeating and repeating and repeating and repeating and repeating and repeating and repeating...etc.

[KPJ]

[quote=burk48237 They had a ton of Airplay on MTV, they were given a prize slot by there record company (opening for the Stones!) and they had about the shelf life of most typical pop bands who right good not great songs (5 years).
[/QUOTE]

Mick Jagger discovered Living Colour and produced their demo and even sang back up on "Vivid". He helped get them signed. The weren't given the opening slot by the record company, Mick brought them along.

The first two LC discs are two of my favorite of all time, MUZZ is DA MAN!

+1 on the solo for "Broken Hearts".

[burk48237]

[quote=KPJ]

Originally Posted by burk48237 They had a ton of Airplay on MTV, they were given a prize slot by there record company (opening for the Stones!) and they had about the shelf life of most typical pop bands who right good not great songs (5 years).
[/QUOTE

Mick Jagger discovered Living Colour and produced their demo and even sang back up on "Vivid". He helped get them signed. The weren't given the opening slot by the record company, Mick brought them along.

The first two LC discs are two of my favorite of all time, MUZZ is DA MAN!

+1 on the solo for "Broken Hearts".

I don't want any one to think I'm down on LC!! They were certantly one of, if not the best pop band in that era. But, I think it hurt them with the public that they constantly pedaled the "were a poor opressed black band" routine. And I do think the public got tired of that sticht. They were very "dark" lyrically and it gets hard to sell after a while. They had a pretty good run, and there still touring and probobly makeing a better living then most of the contributors to this board. That said, I still go to see them every time there in town and Doug Wimbish is a monster, plus Will Calhoun is a treat to watch and Cory is a seriously talented singer. And yes as I said before Muzz is still the man!!!

[bassartist]

Originally Posted by dhadleyray

The bass solo on (I think...) "broken hearts", is the tastiest bass solo I've ever heard. It's comparable to anyone on the scene. I've learned Charlie Parker solos, and Stanley solo's, but every time I hear that one, It overwhelms me with it's simplicity and beauty.
I know about Victor Wooten and all of that stuff, but the "melodicism" of that brief statement moves me to the equal of all others.
I like Doug, but Living Colour haven't been the same since Muzz left..PERIOD.

I have to agree with you on this solo from "Broken Hearts" it is absolutely gorgeous. The simplicity and emotion is awesome. One of my alltime favorite solos.

[LiquidMidnight]

This thread has me all excited. We're planning on learning Cult of Personality; as soon as our guitarist learns the solos, it will be ready to go.

[notonthehorse]

MUZZZZZZZ

He was one of my first influences.

[thlayli]

I like 'em both, and everyone has good points in this thread.

One thing, though... it's "schtick".

S'gonna take me hours to get "Cult of Personality" out of my head now. Other posts on this board have already forced me to pick out the little "between scenes/commercials" lick in Seinfeld, and I hate Seinfeld. Thankfully, I like LC.

[just visiting]

hey! so i am not a bassist tho am in bands with good ones! i registered on this site purely to have my say as i found it awesome reading all this stuff about living colour so please hear what i have to say from a listening/megafan perspective:
i first heard time's up when i was about 15 or so and while i thought it was cool in a rockier prince type way i did not go crazy for them until i was 17 and they brought out stain - i had since heard nirvana and got into music in a participation way - having until then thought of it as something only technical geniuses did (prince being top of this list) - so when i see all these people saying about a. the lyrics and b. the better songs being on the first two albums i only half agree... all rock that is not dumb ass preening is fairly self obsessed and/or complaining. this runs through any bands with substance for the last god knows how long and while yes it is harder to sell i can't help but think we could do with more of that in these dark times and find it odd there are not more!
it's also worth noting that corey is not the sole lyric writer - pride is will calhoun (as is nothingness) and vernon writes many of them so their lyrical angst is obviously a shared one.
production wise (i have similar issues with early fnm) the earlier albums are really light and poppy - i had a hard time convincing fans of heavier stuff of LC's worth playing anything but stain and now chair in the doorway which is fantastic and the proper successor to stain (which i hold up one of the best heavy rock albums ever made). also the songwriting whilst charming in places is a bit silly - 'i wanna know' for example!
yes 'broken hearts' bass solo is amazing i can't argue with that. the intro to 'wall' is just as strong for opposite reasons. ultimately while they share a few similarities and play the same lines they are two very different players almost like saying who is a better singer out of bjork and pj harvey or something.
the thing is if they sounded like they did back in the 80's now they would make the chili's look heavy and that's pretty hard!
i also feel as each of them is amongst the very best at what they do - doug pushes them whereas a felt muzz kept up a bit. i was jealous of the dude who said he saw tackhead btw!
again fx and oddball sounds are a small issue between them with doug being so overt in his use live but not so much on record when u consider ology and some of the crazy chorus bass muzz used - another thing that screams 80's to me! for me rock started to sound heavy again in the 90's (not since zep/deep purple and black sabbath had it been raw and huge for me as a kid listening to those since i was ten) a great exapmple of this is 'open invitation' by santana which should sound titanic but instead comes off as lightweight - it's also the reason one of my favourite guitar players prince is never respected in hard rock circles! it just does not kick u in the gut enough. now i love living colour and go and see them a couple of times when they visit the uk - my first time was stain tour in cambridge and i formed a band straight after so i guess i am a bit biased but i hate it when the heavier side of the band is not appreciated as much now they are REALLY heavy. they still explore more than enough other territory both live and on record but with a far more palatable sonic make up to someone who did not actually grow up liking a lot of 80's stuff. doug's session stuff and little axe live are a factor too!
doug for me but yeah muzz is awesome of course - he was in living colour for god's sake so he must be! speaking of post activity i read somewhere he stepped in for doug on one show or something a while back - would have been nice to see as never saw that line up and he is in the video for michael jackson's 'give in to me' with slash tho i don't think he played the bass on the track, thankfully he was not holding an umbrella up for mj either so at least we know his fortunes have not slipped too far! thanks for giving me the chance to bang on about my favourite band in the world. wish more people did!
lee (www.smilex.co.uk) :-)x

[rtslinger]

Like Muzz playing over Dougs. Got to open for them in the 80's in the city. Early on Muzz wasn't in the band some guy Alex was playing bass for them the sound was more fusion jazz thing a lot of songs had no singing way different then what they would do later. I met Muzz when he joined the lined up and I liked his playing his groove was strong compared to Alex who was all over the place. Muzz was good people and he jokingly sign a set list for me and I sign his who knew? The next time I saw him he was in an elevator at Clear Channel Radio in Secaucus, NJ. They were doing and interview for Z100 and we were setting up a show case with Z100 next time I saw him he was on MTV!

[Roscoe East]

Originally Posted by Ian Perge

The fact that "Stain" is a rare album with no filler whatsoever is icing on the cake.

I haven't even heard Colliedoscope or The Chair In The Doorway, but just based on their first three albums I definitely prefer Doug...not because of his playing per se, but because, as Ian points out, Stain is an incredibly strong, compelling, consistent album from start to finish. I enjoy Vivid and Time's Up, though I can rarely sit through them in their entirety...whereas I am completely captivated by Stain and can almost never bring myself to stop listening once I've started.

So either Colliedoscope and The Chair In The Doorway really suck, or else I'm in the minority here in preferring Living Colour with Doug.


[edit: Just noticed the dates on most of these posts! Clearly they were written well before The Chair In The Doorway]

[Rev J]

I'm a huge Doug Wimbish fan. LC and his work with Seal are what initially ganed my interest and got me to research his stuff. Especially the intro to "Wall" off Stain.

Stay Brown,
Rev J

[tsar nicholas]

Wimbish is a monnnnnnster! I love Skillings too, but if I were to pick one for my band, it'd be Wimbish

[SDMFJay]

Hard to choose, Wimbish was one of the founding bassists that I first heard to keep me wanting to play bass through the early 90's. I've heard amazing AND horrible live sets from both bass players.

[Kitsapbass]

Absolutely love Doug's playing...but to me it's very very similar to the Van Halen situation. There are so many differences between the players (Doug's use of effects and how he plays vs. Muzz playing and meshing with Vernon and Will) almost makes it two different bands. I think Doug made LC sound more like TackHead or HeadFake (which is totally understandable because Doug was 90 percent of those bands), which maybe why they hired him - but it changed the dynamic of the band. And while I love TackHead (bought the expanded cd of Strange Things, and the only cassette I still own is Friendly as a Hand Grenade), it's not the same. So, to bring it back to the VH comparison, while Sammy Hagar is a better singer and better songwriter - Van Halen is David Lee Roth, Eddie VH, Alex VH, and Michael Anthony. IMO, the same applies to LC.

[Marial]

Muzz. Ology, from Times Up, sealed the deal for me back in the day. Multi-tracked bass wizardry with a gorgeous solo over the top of it. When Staind came out it just wasn't the same. Great, but not the same.

[dmusic148]

"Like Led Zeppelin on acid," well put.
As a poster from 2005 said, Muz era=better tunes but Doug=technically brilliant player. But heck, they're both great.

[cnltb]

Originally Posted by Blazer

Muzz Skillings
Plays on "Vivid" and "Times up"


Doug Wimbish
Plays on "Stained" and "Kaleidoscope"

Both of these Gentlemen are incredible funky players and rockers as well. Let's discuss their inpact and highlights with Living Colour.

First and formost, Living Colour has always been one of my favorite bands, because they were a Black band that played metal which was (and still is) a rarity. And they managed to get away from the shadows created by Mother's Finest and Jimi Hendrix.

I much prefer muzz skillings.