I’ve written before about how one of the most influential albums on my musical sensibility was a 1993 copy of Now That’s What I Call Music, which featured the title track from this, Lenny Kravitz’s third studio album.
My first surprise here was that this was his third album; admittedly, I’ve never looked into Kravitz before, but I had assumed he broke out with “Are You Gonna Go My Way” and every great song came after that. Turns out two of my favourites of his – “Mr Cab Driver” (a cover band staple in the early 00s) and “Always On The Run” – were released in 1989 and 1991 respectively.
I had also forgotten about his brilliant track “Believe”, the second song here – its a brilliant track, a simple acoustic guitar topped with a string section, and a trippy lyric (“I am you and you are me / Why’s that such a mystery?”). It’s super evocative of some of The Beatles latter work.
This is a pretty good album, swinging from blues rock (my favourite track is “Is There Any Love In Your Heart”, with Kravitz in his upper register to match a jangly guitar) and soul ballads (late album track “Sugar” is a good example), and even to reggae on closer “Eleutheria”. Kravitz turns in solid guitar work throughout, wailing on “Sister” and straight rocking out on the title track.
I really enjoyed this one.
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CLTM (Chris Listens To Music) is my attempt to listen to a new album every day; you can follow my efforts on Instagram here (and send recommendations), and if you like what I’m doing, support my efforts by shouting me a cuppa at Buy Me A Coffee.