Lenny Kravitz is an interesting musician: despite the stabbings he's received throughout the years as being a retro-rock connoisseur incapable of anything original, he's still around. This is partly because, well, his musical template is classic rock and funk; and therefore if he sounds remotely close -- even sometimes -- to the wonderful period during the 70s he seamlessly emulates, he's placed himself above the moribund music we already suffer through. But that's the rub: he's good enough to stick around but not enough to be accepted; like the White Stripes, he reminds you of the joys of the original without entirely sounding like them, but take away this musical crutch, and he can't even break his fall with his arms. We admire him (for his good taste in past music), yet we revile him for doing nothing more than repeating it. Interestingly enough, he does have his own guitar tone; there is a definite strangeness in being able to know the difference between a Zeppelin-like riff played by no one in particular and a Zeppelin-like riff that is played by Lenny Kravitz. He's made an art form of sounding like himself sounding like others -- that's why he's still around, and why shite bands like Blink 1-82, Creed, et al, are not.
Okay, the album: this is one of many albums that I would classify as being of the 'taking-a-shit' variety, which is to say, it takes a shit roughly halfway through, transforming into a smatter of coagulated fester smitten in a public toilet bowl, never quite clean because of constant use. The lyrics are shallow, the music is blah and it's pretty awful. The first half, however, is pure indulgence. Like what I've said of Blur, Lenny wears his influences on his sleeve: Zeppelin, Grand Funk, Sly Stone, the Rolling Stones, Prince, etc. It's highly entertaining stuff, makes you bob your head up and down to his nifty rhythms and causes you to smile that someone still manages to play guitar solos. But don't mix this up with your old Floyd records. It's just a re-creation tie-dye tapestry, not the real thing. C-
6 comments:
Lenny comes up with about 1 song per album I can dig on, despite it being completey derivative. It ain't over till it's over always was my favorite of his. Oh well, could be worse, I guess. He fucked Lisa Bonet, so he wins.
Yeah, he's always got at least one or two. Most of his albums are pretty much Pearl Jam prototypes, though: lots of shit surrounding one or two worthwhile kernels. I think the only album I think is pretty good and listen to more often than the rest of his stuff is Baptism -- which everyone hates the most. Oh well. He loves classic rock, and so do I. He likes to play classic rock riffs on guitar, and so do I. He has lots of money, and I don't.
Plus he fucked lisa bonet, and you didn't. Back in her Huxtable days, too. You could be strung out in a doorway with open sores on your face, needles in your arm, and shit in your pants, but if some handsome dude with 7 girls and lots of money walked by, you could throw having fucked lisa bonet in his face and he'd walk away feeling worse than a hungover liquor shit. Yeah, I'm a little hung up on the whole lisa bonet thing, but I mean, we all wanted to fuck her, but lenny lived the dream.
Well, it definitely sounds like you're pretty hung up on it. I could care less for Lisa Bonet, which makes you all the more amusing in your snarky jealousy, hehe.
I'll be as snarky as I want, man, Lisa Bonet is sex on toast.
Unlike Sarah McLachlan.
And her gross witch mole.
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