POP AND JAZZ REVIEWS : Living Colour Tight, Too Cool

The much-lauded New York band Living Colour proved to be a technically superior quartet at the Hollywood Palladium on Friday: singer Corey Glover alternated powerful metal screams with more soulful R&B; deliveries, the musicianship was intuitive and tight, the lyrics intelligent.

But virtuosity does not necessarily make for a warm, grooving performance, and the group’s precise, tightly wound musicality was ultimately cold and uninvolving--though the compelling, laid-back vibe of its first hit, “Cult of Personality,” illustrated that Living Colour can blend musical chops and warmth when they put their minds--and hearts--to it.

It was somewhat ironic that Bad Brains, after 16 years of live shows, opened for a band they have so clearly influenced. With a thrashy, passionate, sometimes reggae-tinged delivery, the Washington hard-core band was less musically sterile than Living Colour, but when dynamic singer H. R. dived into the crowd at the set’s end, there was still a feeling of “is that all there is?”

While the audience seemed unmoved by third-billed Tool, the intense L.A. group possesses the right combination of power and soul--crucial qualities too often unconnected in Living Colour’s delivery.