Time's Up
Studio album by
Living Colour
ReleasedAugust 28, 1990
Recorded1989–1990
StudioA&M (Hollywood)
RPM (Los Angeles)
Genre
Length57:35
LabelEpic
ProducerEd Stasium
Living Colour chronology
Vivid
(1988)		 Time's Up
(1990)		 Biscuits
(1991)

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.

Background

In 2015, Corey Glover explained, "Time's Up was an interesting one, because we spent part of the time making Time's Up in California - we were in LA. We did some of the basic tracks in LA. And that was really weird, because we're New York guys. Hanging out in California and being very 'California' was very strange to us. We were staying in the Valley, and it felt like we were in school, because we had to get up in the morning and I met Will at what felt like the bus stop. It was like, 'OK, we've got to go to work.' And jogging around in California and hanging around in California - and hanging out with the Fishbone guys while we were out there. Just hanging out and trying to dig this California thing, it was very, very interesting. I think it does hold up. With a few exceptions, it might falter, but 'Time's Up' and 'Pride' and the stuff we still play today, I think it still holds up and still works. The song 'Time's Up' is about the environment, and we're still talking about the environment - and the record is 20 years old!"[1]

Music

Time's Up has been described as a hard rock,[2] heavy metal,[2] and funk metal album,[3] with elements of hip hop,[4][5][6] jazz,[4][5] funk,[5][6] jazz fusion,[6] Delta blues,[6] soul,[6] punk rock,[5] and art rock.[7]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[8]
Chicago Sun-Times[9]
Chicago Tribune[4]
Entertainment WeeklyA[2]
Los Angeles Times[10]
NME7/10[11]
Rolling Stone[12]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[13]
Select4/5[14]
The Village VoiceA−[7]

In The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll for the year's best albums, Time's Up finished at number five.[15]

The album came in at #18 on the 1990 top-25 'albums of the year list' in Kerrang!.[16]

Accolades

Grammy Awards

Year Winner Category
1990 Time's Up Best Hard Rock Performance

Track listing

All tracks are written by Vernon Reid, except where noted

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Time's Up"Reid, Muzz Skillings, Corey Glover, Will Calhoun3:05
2."History Lesson" 0:52
3."Pride"Calhoun4:55
4."Love Rears Its Ugly Head" 4:19
5."New Jack Theme" 3:30
6."Someone Like You"Skillings3:47
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)Glover4:17
11."Ology"Skillings1:07
12."Fight the Fight"Calhoun, Glover, Reid, Skillings4:32
13."Tag Team Partners" (feat. Doug E. Fresh)Glover0:48
14."Solace of You"Glover, Reid3:38
15."This Is the Life" 6:23
Bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
16."Final Solution" (Live in Chicago 1990)Craig Bell, Tom Herman, Scott Krauss, Peter Laughner, Dave Taylor, David Thomas, Tim Wright5:44
17."Middle Man" (Live in Chicago 1990)Glover, Reid3:40
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.TitleLength
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

Guest musicians

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)[17] 15
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[18] 24
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[19] 56
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[20] 10
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[21] 13
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[22] 11
UK Albums (OCC)[23] 20
US Billboard 200[24] 13

References

  1. ↑ Prato, Greg (2015). Survival of the Fittest: Heavy Metal in the 1990s. Kindle Direct. p. 494. ISBN 9781500328184.
  2. 1 2 3 Sandow, Greg (September 7, 1990). "Time's Up". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
  3. ↑ "The 25 Best Albums of 1990". Paste. November 11, 2020. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 Kot, Greg (August 30, 1990). "Living Colour: Time's Up (Epic)". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Gallucci, Michael (March 3, 2018). "Living Colour Albums Ranked Worst to Best". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Law, Sam (July 8, 2020). "The 50 Best Albums From 1990". Kerrang!. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
  7. 1 2 Christgau, Robert (September 25, 1990). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
  8. ↑ Prato, Greg. "Time's Up – Living Colour". AllMusic. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
  9. ↑ McLeese, Don (September 3, 1990). "Living Colour, 'Time's Up' (Epic)". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
  10. ↑ Hochman, Steve (September 9, 1990). "Colourful Anthems to Black-Rock Movement". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
  11. ↑ Fadele, Dele (September 1, 1990). "Living Colour: Time's Up". NME. p. 31.
  12. ↑ Light, Alan (September 6, 1990). "Living Colour: Time's Up". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on August 4, 2009. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
  13. ↑ 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.
  14. ↑ Putterford, Mark (October 1990). "Perfect Timing". Select. No. 4. p. 107.
  15. ↑ "The 1990 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". The Village Voice. March 5, 1991. Archived from the original on August 15, 2020. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  16. ↑ "Rocklist.net...Kerrang! End of Year Lists". Rocklistmusic.co.uk. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  17. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – Living Colour – Time's Up". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
  18. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Living Colour – Time's Up" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
  19. ↑ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
  20. ↑ "Charts.nz – Living Colour – Time's Up". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
  21. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Living Colour – Time's Up". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
  22. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Living Colour – Time's Up". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
  23. ↑ "Living Colour | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
  24. ↑ "Living Colour Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
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