Wikipedia
Time's Up (Living Colour album)
Time's Up is the second studio album by the band Living Colour, released on August 28, 1990 through Epic Records. It was the follow-up to their successful 1988 album Vivid. Time's Up features a wide range of genres and also includes cameo appearances by Queen Latifah, Little Richard, Doug E. Fresh, Maceo Parker and James Earl Jones. The album reached gold status, peaking at #13 on the Billboard 200, and won a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. It is the final album to feature Muzz Skillings on bass, though it was not his last release with the band (as he appeared on the Biscuits EP). In late February 2014, the album was reissued in Europe by Music On CD and is available once again.
| Time's Up | |
|---|---|
| Studio album by | |
| Released | August 28, 1990 |
| Recorded | 1989–90 |
| Studio | A&M Studios, Hollywood, California; RPM Studios, Los Angeles, California |
| Genre | |
| Length | 57:35 |
| Label | Epic |
| Producer | Ed Stasium |
| Living Colour chronology | |
Music
Time's Up has been described as a hard rock[1] and funk metal album,[2] with elements of hip hop,[3][4][5] jazz,[3][4] funk,[4][5] jazz fusion,[5] Delta blues,[5] soul,[5] heavy metal,[1] punk rock,[4] and art rock.[6]
Critical reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | [7] |
| Chicago Sun-Times | [8] |
| Chicago Tribune | [3] |
| Entertainment Weekly | A[1] |
| Los Angeles Times | [9] |
| NME | 7/10[10] |
| Rolling Stone | [11] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [12] |
| Select | 4/5[13] |
| The Village Voice | A−[6] |
In The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll for the year's best albums, Time's Up finished at number five.[14]
Accolades
| Year | Winner | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Time's Up | Best Hard Rock Performance |
Track listing
All tracks are written by Vernon Reid, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Time's Up" | Reid, Muzz Skillings, Corey Glover, Will Calhoun | 3:05 |
| 2. | "History Lesson" | 0:52 | |
| 3. | "Pride" | Calhoun | 4:55 |
| 4. | "Love Rears Its Ugly Head" | 4:19 | |
| 5. | "New Jack Theme" | 3:30 | |
| 6. | "Someone Like You" | Skillings | 3:47 |
| 7. | "Elvis Is Dead" (feat. Little Richard) | 3:50 | |
| 8. | "Type" | 6:26 | |
| 9. | "Information Overload" | 6:11 | |
| 10. | "Under Cover of Darkness" (feat. Queen Latifah) | Glover | 4:17 |
| 11. | "Ology" | Skillings | 1:07 |
| 12. | "Fight the Fight" | Calhoun, Glover, Reid, Skillings | 4:32 |
| 13. | "Tag Team Partners" (feat. Doug E. Fresh) | Glover | 0:48 |
| 14. | "Solace of You" | Glover, Reid | 3:38 |
| 15. | "This Is the Life" | 6:23 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16. | "Final Solution" (Live in Chicago 1990) | Craig Bell, Tom Herman, Scott Krauss, Peter Laughner, Dave Taylor, David Thomas, Tim Wright | 5:44 |
| 17. | "Middle Man" (Live in Chicago 1990) | Glover, Reid | 3:40 |
| 18. | "Love Rears Its Ugly Head" (aka Soul Power Mix) | 4:05 |
Banded version
A special US advance promo version omitting "History Lesson", "Ology1" and "Tag Team Partners". Along with the CD, it was also pressed on transparent gold vinyl. Catalog number ESK 2171
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Time's Up" | |
| 2. | "Pride" | |
| 3. | "Love Rears Its Ugly Head" | |
| 4. | "New Jack Theme" | |
| 5. | "Someone Like You" | |
| 6. | "Elvis Is Dead" | |
| 7. | "Type" | |
| 8. | "Information Overload" | |
| 9. | "Under Cover of Darkness" | |
| 10. | "Fight the Fight" | |
| 11. | "Solace of You" | |
| 12. | "This Is the Life" |
Personnel
Living Colour
- Corey Glover – vocals, rhythm guitar on "Type"
- Vernon Reid – lead guitar
- Muzz Skillings – bass
- Will Calhoun – drums
Guest musicians
- Akbar Ali - strings
- Charles Burnham - strings
- Don Byron - clarinet, baritone saxophone
- Annette Daniels - background vocals
- D.K. Dyson - background vocals
- Eileen Folson - strings
- Doug E. Fresh - percussion, vocals
- Mick Jagger - background vocals
- Toshinobu Kubota - background vocals
- Little Richard - vocals
- Yubie Navas - background vocals
- Maceo Parker - saxophone
- Queen Latifah - vocals
- Alva Rogers - background vocals
- Rosa Russ - background vocals
- Francine Stasium - background vocals
- Reggie Workman - strings
- Derin Young - vocals, background vocals
Technical Personnel
- John Aguto - assistant engineer
- Greg Calbi - mastering
- Alan Friedman - programming
- Lolly Grodner - assistant engineer
- Paul Hamingson - engineer, assistant engineer
- Jeff Lippay - assistant engineer
- Ed Stasium - producer, engineer, mixing
- Lex Van Pieterson - photography
Charts
| Chart (1990) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)[15] | 15 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[16] | 24 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[17] | 56 |
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[18] | 10 |
| Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[19] | 13 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[20] | 11 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[21] | 20 |
| US Billboard 200[22] | 13 |
References
- ^ a b c Sandow, Greg (September 7, 1990). "Time's Up". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
- ^ "The 25 Best Albums of 1990". Paste. November 11, 2020. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
- ^ a b c Kot, Greg (August 30, 1990). "Living Colour: Time's Up (Epic)". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
- ^ a b c d Gallucci, Michael (March 3, 2018). "Living Colour Albums Ranked Worst to Best". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e Law, Sam (July 8, 2020). "The 50 Best Albums From 1990". Kerrang!. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
- ^ a b Christgau, Robert (September 25, 1990). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
- ^ Prato, Greg. "Time's Up – Living Colour". AllMusic. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
- ^ McLeese, Don (September 3, 1990). "Living Colour, 'Time's Up' (Epic)". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
- ^ Hochman, Steve (September 9, 1990). "Colourful Anthems to Black-Rock Movement". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
- ^ Fadele, Dele (September 1, 1990). "Living Colour: Time's Up". NME. p. 31.
- ^ Light, Alan (September 6, 1990). . Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on August 4, 2009. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
- ^ Considine, J. D. (2004). "Living Colour". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 491. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
- ^ Putterford, Mark (October 1990). "Perfect Timing". Select. No. 4. p. 107.
- ^ "The 1990 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". The Village Voice. March 5, 1991. from the original on August 15, 2020. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
- ^ "Australiancharts.com – Living Colour – Time's Up". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
- ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Living Colour – Time's Up" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
- ^ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
- ^ "Charts.nz – Living Colour – Time's Up". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
- ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Living Colour – Time's Up". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
- ^ "Swisscharts.com – Living Colour – Time's Up". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
- ^ "Living Colour | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
- ^ "Living Colour Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved September 23, 2017.