Elvis Ate Dynamite

In honor of Corey Glover’s 61st birthday, I revisited his 1998 debut solo album, Hymns, today. 

I’m a huge fan of Glover and his main band, Living Colour, whom we saw very close up at City Winery in Chicago in 2017. It’s a small venue and we were sitting right by the stage. Easily the loudest concert I’ve ever been to. 

Funny story: during a pause between songs, someone yelled “We love you!” from the back of the room, to which Corey responded, “I don’t even know you.” It was classic Corey Glover. Not rude, just factual. And that’s who he is. He’s a guy who speaks the plain truth. We could use more of that these days.

Anyway, back to Hymns. It’s a very good album. It opens with “Hymn #1017,” a short, spoken word piece over a muted instrumental, then launches into “Do You First, Then Do Myself,” a track that could easily come from a Living Colour album. And while a few tracks on the album recall Living Colour’s hard rock sound, listening to it from start to finish, I discerned hints of Queen, the Beatles, Marvin Gaye, Buddy Guy, James Brown, Steve Miller Band, Joe Walsh, Stevie Wonder, Boz Scaggs and … maybe a little David Johansen? 

And then there’s the final song on the album — “Silence” — which starts out with a country vibe before going full 1970s Rolling Stones.

Which is not to say that he’s imitating those artists. Not at all. Every track has a very distinctive Corey Glover sound — a sound that’s been unmistakable since you first heard “Cult of Personality” back in the late 1980s.

No, the record isn’t derivative. Instead, it shows Glover’s range. He can, and does, perform virtually every kind of rock and soul imaginable, and he does it in his own way. Not only does Hymns show his range, but it serves as a reminder that none of us should stereotype Black artists — or for that matter, Black music fans. Music, in all its forms, belongs to all of us. 

And Corey Glover just happens to do all of it spectacularly.