The men of Living Colour sure know how to keep busy. Drummer Will Calhoun released a stunning world-music CD called Native Lands last year, and now guitarist Vernon Reid and his band Masque return with their second CD, Other True Self, an all-instrumental affair that taps into his virtuoso playing and emerges as a dense yet rewarding sonic portrait of this ever-evolving artist. Just as he did in Living Colour, Reid aligns himself with three diverse players who push each other into new musical territory. Reid handles all guitars and even a six-string banjo, while keyboardist Leon Gruenbaum lets his fingers do the walking all over a variety of instruments, including the melodica, a toy piano and the glockenspiel. A deep rhythm section helmed by bassist Hank Schroy and drummer Don McKenzie keeps Other True Self from getting too, well, self-absorbed.
Reid's prowess is evident from the smoldering opening track, "Game Is Rigged," which finds the guitarist slowly building both speed and aggression. He delights in some slinky wah-wah work — accented by Schroy's subtly groovy bass and Gruenbaum's wall of sound — on a jaw-dropping cover of Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence," and Reid & Masque also cover Radiohead's "National Anthem." A new abstract take on the traditional melody of "Oxossi," and to a lesser extent Reid's own "G," allows the band to show off its quieter and jazzier (but no less charming) tendencies. Reid even pulls off some neoclassical arpeggios during the latter, of which Yngwie Malmsteen certainly would be proud. Elsewhere, Reid aurally explores his African lineage on "Prof. Bebey," indulges in reggae roots on "Flatbush and Church Revisited" (which boasts some especially playful and melodic fretwork), and flies into Middle-Eastern frenzies on "Mind of My Mind."
If all you know of Reid's work is Living Colour's biggest hit, "Cult of Personality," Other True Self will make for a revealing listen. The rest of us always knew he was capable of creating an album of this caliber.
Track Listing:
1) Game Is Rigged
2) National Anthem
3) Flatbush and Church Revisited
4) Afrerika
5) Enjoy the Silence
6) Whiteface
7) Oxossi
8) G
9) Wildlife
10) Overcoming
11) Kizzy
12) Mind of My Mind
13) Prof. Bebey
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