Vernon Reid Readies New Solo Album ‘Hoodoo Telemetry’ With Single ‘Beautiful Bastard’

Vernon Reid, the Grammy-winning guitarist best known for his incendiary work with Living Colour, has announced the release of his new solo album Hoodoo Telemetry, due October 3 via Artone / The Players Club Records. Ahead of the full release, Reid has unveiled the single Beautiful Bastard, a song he originally considered for his Yohimbe Brothers project but has now reclaimed for this collection.

At 66, Reid remains one of the most adventurous and uncompromising guitarists of his generation. He was recently placed him among the top 50 guitar players of all time, a testament to the restless creativity that has defined his career. Beautiful Bastard reflects that spirit. Reid describes it as “an homage to doomed romance” that intentionally blurs gender associations. “It’s about when you know it’s doomed from the first kiss,” he says. “Anyone who’s lived a full life will know what I mean.”

Hoodoo Telemetry is a sprawling 14-track set that collages jazz, metal, funk, punk, and electronica into what Reid calls “a piece of my all-over-the-place mind.” Some songs are brand new, others are ideas revisited from decades past. “I found the focus and it was very clear to me: I gotta do this now,” Reid explains. The record features cuts like The Haunting, Bronx Paradox, Dying To Live, and In Effigy, alongside the new single.

Reid has never been content to stand still musically. His first solo outing came in 1996 with Mistaken Identity, an album that leaned heavily into his interest in electronic textures and hip-hop rhythms. He followed in 2004 with Known Unknown, which shifted back toward jazz with his group Masque. Later that same year, he recorded Other True Self, a set that showcased his blend of improvisation and genre-bending instincts. Alongside his solo work, Reid has kept multiple collaborations alive, including Yohimbe Brothers with DJ Logic, where his love of free-form soundscapes has found fertile ground.

Of course, Reid’s global reputation was made through Living Colour, the New York band he founded in 1984. Their 1988 debut Vivid exploded thanks to Cult of Personality, a song that won the group a Grammy and became a defining anthem of late-‘80s rock. Albums such as Time’s Up (1990), Stain (1993), Collideøscope (2003), The Chair in the Doorway (2009) and Shade (2017) kept the band vital, with Reid’s guitar at the centre of its genre-defying sound.

Living Colour’s rise owes much to Mick Jagger. In 1986, Jagger took Reid and his band under his wing, producing demos for what would become Vivid. Jagger later invited the group to open for him on his solo tour, providing a career-changing spotlight. That endorsement pushed Living Colour from New York clubs into the mainstream, where they quickly established themselves as one of the most original bands of the era.

Hoodoo Telemetry Tracklist:

Door Of No Return
Freedom Jazz Dance
Good Afternoon Everyone
The Haunting
Bronx Paradox
Or Knot
Dying To Live
Politician
Black Fathom Five
Beautiful Bastard
Meditation On The Last Times I Saw Arthur Rhames
My Little Zulu Babe
In Effigy
Brave New World

Watch the Vernon Reid Noise11 interview:

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Tagged as: 80s, alternative, Living Colour, rock, USA, Vernon Reid