Vivid is the debut studio album by American rock band Living Colour, released on May 2, 1988, by Epic Records. It was one of the most popular albums of 1988, peaking at number six on the US Billboard 200 chart and being certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Musical style

Musically, Vivid has been described as a hard rock, heavy metal, funk metal, alternative metal, and funk rock album, with elements of soul, pop, rap,

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| rev5score = 8/10

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In The Philadelphia Inquirer, Ken Tucker commented that Living Colour "defies musical stereotypes by evincing influences that include Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jimi Hendrix, Roxy Music and Sly Stone to yield a fierce, funny album."

Among retrospective appraisals, AllMusic reviewer Greg Prato deemed Vivid "one of the finest hard rock albums of the '80s – and for that matter, all time."

Awards and accolades

Grammy Awards

{| class="wikitable"

!Year

!Winner

!Category

|-

|1990

|"Cult of Personality"

|Best Hard Rock Performance

|}

{|class="wikitable"

|+Accolades for Vivid

! Publication

! Country

! Accolade

! Year

! Rank

|-

| Rolling Stone

| US

| 100 Best Albums of the Eighties

| 1989

|align="center"|64

|-

| LA Weekly

| US

| Chuck Klosterman's Favorite Hair Metal Albums

| 2011

|align="center"|23

|-

| Loudwire

| US

| The 50 Best Metal + Hard Rock Debut Albums Ranked

| 2015

|align="center"|33

|-

| Loudwire

| US

| Top 80 Hard Rock + Metal Albums of the 1980s

| 2016

|align="center"|37

|-

| Rolling Stone

| US

| The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time

| 2017

|align="center"|71

|-

| KEXP

| US

| Top Albums of the Last 50 Years (1972–2022)

| 2022

|align="center"|637

|}

Track listing

  • Track 10 runs 3:56 on original CD issues, and 1:41 on original vinyl and remastered CD issues.

Personnel

Living Colour

  • Corey Glover – vocals
  • Vernon Reid – guitars
  • Muzz Skillings – bass
  • Will Calhoun – drums

Additional personnel

  • Mick Jagger – harmonica on track 8, backing vocals on track 9
  • Chuck D – rapping on track 6
  • Flavor Flav – social commentary on track 6
  • The Fowler Family – additional backing vocals on tracks 2 and 5
  • Dennis Diamond – carnival barker on track 8

Production

  • Ed Stasium – producer and engineer on tracks 1–8 and 10, mixing on tracks 9 and 11
  • Mick Jagger – producer on tracks 9 and 11
  • Ron St. Germain – engineer on tracks 9 and 11
  • Paul Hamingson – engineer on tracks 1–8 and 10, mixing
  • Danny Mormando, Debi Cornish, Stephen Immerwahr, Mike McMackin, Tom Durack, U.E. Natasi – assistant engineers
  • Greg Calbi – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

! scope="col"| Chart (1988–1989)

! scope="col"| Peak<br />position

|-

! scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)

| 52

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|-

|-

|-

|-

|}

Year-end charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

! scope="col"| Chart (1989)

! scope="col"| Position

|-

! scope="row"| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)

| 26

|-

! scope="row"| US Billboard 200

| 13

|}

Certifications

References

  • "Vivid" at Discogs