Living Colour’s Time’s Up is Getting a 33 1/3 Book

Since 2003, the 33 1/3 book series has become beloved, necessary reading for die-hard music fans, each title going deep on a singular, legendary album. With 149 books in the series thus far, the series has tackled a wide array of albums from all across the music spectrum, including classics by Neil Young, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Pixies, Sly and the Family Stone, Miles Davis, Celine Dion and many, many more, each by an author uniquely suited to the task. Metal or metal-friendly bands to get the nod include Slayer (by MetalSucks contributor D.X. Ferris), Black Sabbath, Fugazi, Metallica, Andrew W.K., Nine Inch Nails, AC/DC and Guns N’ Roses.

Add another to the list: Living Colour’s 1990 effort, Time’s Up. The 33 1/3 entry on the band’s sophomore album will be penned by Kimberly Mack, and joins 14 other titles in a new round of books in the series that also includes George Michael’s Faith, Marvin Gaye’s I Want You, Britney Spears’ Blackout and The National’s Boxer.

Time’s Up is an interesting choice, but not because a Living Colour entry isn’t deserved. Most fans would expect the band’s explosive debut, Vivid, to get the nod, not its less successful follow-up. That’ll likely serve to make it even more interesting, though; what was the band’s mindset coming off the Vivid cycle? What challenges were they up against? It’ll be the tale of a band struggling to maintain instead of the upstart story of Living Colour’s early years fans are already quite familiar with.

333Sound, the series’ publisher, says the books will come out one at a time from fall 2021 through spring 2023, so we’re gonna have to wait a while for this one. Something to look forward to!

Thanks: Ben Apatoff