646. Let Love Rule - Lenny Kravitz

Lenny Kravitz is an artist I feel I should know more about than I do. Whilst I, and many others, could happily sing along to three or so of his biggest hits, I have never actually heard any of his albums, despite having seen him live last year (two word gig summary: surprisingly compelling). Released in 1989, this was Lenny Kravitz's debut album, and was a big success in Europe following some modest sales in the USA. He scaled much higher heights five years later with "Are you gonna go my way?".

This album is what I expected musically, but with lyrical elements I did not foresee. I had assumed that Lenny's songs would be funky, and primarily written about the opposite sex. They are, for the most part, very funky; great bass lines on "Fear" and "Freedom Train" (the intro of which sounds fairly like American Woman) set a high bar. However, I was not expecting the religious elements that abound on this album, with Rosemary exemplifying this. There are also a large number of references to the racial tensions that Lenny is obviously familiar with, "Mr Cab Driver" being the obvious, but not sole, example.

Both Chloe and I did enjoy this album, but it didn't gain much as the week progressed. The song-writing is none-too-subtle, and whilst there are some very catchy songs, there are also a fair few that could be cut from the album without an overall loss, such as My Precious Love. There is variety, but in a formulaic manner - it's other a slow bluesy number, or a funky upbeat number. In trying to emulate Prince, Lenny shows that he is not really in the same league musically or lyrically.

Chloe's rating: 6
Chloe's favourite track: 5. I build this Garden for us
Olly's rating: 6
Olly's favourite track: 6. Fear

Next week - 754. Very - Pet Shop Boys. I don't think that'll be too subtle either...