Shane’s Music Challenge: LENNY KRAVITZ – 1989 – Let Love Rule

Shane | 20 March 2014 | Reply

Shane’s Music Challenge: LENNY KRAVITZ – 1989 – Let Love Rule
6.5/10

Lenny’s debut album set the foundations for his next couple of records – smash hits which, coincidentally, remain the peak of his creative work. Let Love Rule combines retro rock with funk and soul and the kitchen sink – whatever Kravitz could find lying around, he threw into the mix, often playing many of the instruments himself like some mad professor in his basement studio.

To his credit, it works a treat. The title track is a super love fest punctuated by his Hendrix-like guitar phrasing and an ultra passionate vocal *. I Build This Garden For Us is an acid drenched love song, and Mr Cab Driver and Flower Child combine modern rock with Sixties groove and keen lyrical wit to great effect.

* I recall seeing Kravitz at Wembley Arena, resplendent in a white 3 piece suit, supporting Aerosmith on their 9 Lives tour. He exhorted the crowd to sing Let Love Rule loud enough so everyone fighting in Yugoslavia would hear it and stop the war. I guess we weren’t loud enough, but you have to admire his sincerity, mired though it was in a thick cloud of dope smoke!