Shane’s Rock Challenge: LENNY KRAVITZ – 1998 – 5

Shane’s Music Challenge: LENNY KRAVITZ – 1998 – 5
6.5/10

By Lenny Kravitz’s fifth album he had established an ever-broadening palate for his musical portraits, spreading himself across rock, pop, soul, funk grooves without letting any of them define him totally.

It’s worth noting that for everyone like me who has a wide and eclectic taste in music, there are ten of thousands who prefer their listening to be more… pigeon-holed, shall we say?

Having said that, Kravitz found a way to navigate through the murky water of the music-buyer’s narrow fickleness. He’d already scored hits and acclaim with his big Hendrixian rocker Are You Gonna Go My Way, Motowney funk rock (It Ain’t Over Til It’s Over), a soulful wigout (Let Love Rule) and more, but the velvety smooth rock-with-a-pinch-of-funk Fly Away was perhaps his biggest chart success of all , hitting #1 in the UK and #12 in the USA.

The rest of the album fades in comparison, with nothing really coming close to Fly Away in terms of memorability – but that song was enough to propel the album to over 3 million sales.

The only other really noteworthy tune is Black Velveteen, which has a Prince-like groove that throbs with sass and cooler-than-you style, even though its lyrics aren’t worth boasting about. “Black Velveteen ‘s cat smells like strawberry kisses”? Reaaaaaally…

By Shane Pinnegar

Category: Shane's Rock Challenge