He's a very ahem rudimentary instrumentalist who once dedicated an entire album to his divorce and writes songs in which "get away" rhymes with "fly away". His breakthrough hit was a bad imitation of Hey Jude. Also, I once saw him live and he was very, very tepid. Low point was when his guitar amp broke down and he didn't have a proper backup or something so we had to watch him smoke a joint thinking he was really cool (in Holland, we're not THAT impressed with someone doing that) while his people tried to repair it. Is that reason enough to diss a guy? I'm tempted to think so.

I ll say this much more. I like the stuff of his albums...his live material may be more in question...so i will believe about the Amsterdam gig...but no denying he can play that guitar well...and i am sucker 4 that.

He is still 1 of the best artists around. Dig these (and others) and forget any bad moments. We all have those. It's life.

Battlefield Of Love
yesterday is gone
fields of joy
Come on & love me
believe
again
stand by my woman
mr cab driver

I say Lenny got Deep on Circus.

Don't Go Put A Bullet In Your Head is real. Don't mess with that! A shame that our most dark moments turn out to be our funkiest, and when I look at Lenny's career - it seemed to be a challenging time for him, personally and professionally.

For the Lenny fans out there, do you remember that Circus was marketed as one HALF of a double CD? and that the second half (the "more funky" one) was going to be sent out later that year? That had to feel like an insult to Lenny. Circus was fine all by itself. Them Virgin cats can be jerks at times.

Lenny peed enough of his personal life into Mama Said and that basically shut me up for awhile. Anything that seems unfocused after that, you have to take into account where he was. People will call Chaos and Disorder, Come, etc. some very unfocused work too. Why can't we learn how to praise our artists based on how HUMAN they show themselves... not how glamorous or perfect? ugh!

Comparisons to Lenny and Prince are unnecessary. Lenny hangs with Prince (obvious). Lenny looks up to Prince (obvious). We don't have to make it any more difficult for the guy than it already is. It's like when Prince came out and there were all these references to Jimi Hendrix. I don't think the references spoke to Prince's talent as much as they spoke to how race and stereo-type minded the media is.

From now on, anytime a black man picks up a guitar, he's gonna be compared to the EXACT SAME people! (SAD PEOPLE!! It's very sad!!)

Leave Lenny alone. Anybody willing to preach "Love Love Love" after losing his mom AND after losing the woman he loved, is an ARTIST in his own right to me. Only 6 albums in, i'm a happy customer.

Funk on!

CDHTUNE u say it well. right on!

Lenny is great... he's not Prince but who is? Oh yeah, Prince.

Anyway all of his albums have been a consistent high standard. Circus was my favourite, by far.

"LENNY RULZES!" His music is cool. He is a true artist. There is nothing fake about him. He still puts out good albums despite what some of ya think.

I love Lenny!! He is a great musician and is sooo sexy (especially when he had those long dreadlocks.)

I have almost all of his albums on CD, and I enjoy listening to them. I have never been to a Lenny concert, but if he comes back to my town, I would DEFINITELY catch him in concert.

ian said:

Prince ain't even Prince anymore. and if we're also talking about the name "Prince", he has NEVER been Prince...

Sounds confusing, right?

I am sorry that I have to say this to you. Because I like you, you are a good decent person. But... Lenny is crap!!!

Sorry

Crap? u r out of ur mind. I am sorry.

Crap? u r out of ur mind. I am sorry.

He's so dissable and unoriginal

2 each their own. Fair 'nuff. it's just opinions and i have my own as do others. I probably don't like some of the stuff u like sinister. Movin' on 4rom 'ere.

agentmonday said:

yep it's all subjective sweeheart though i do like most of that mamma said album

This is a horrible thread.

It's even more horrible agter that picture.

CDHTUNE said:

RIGHT ON. Indeed there was supposed to be a follow up to Circus. I remember hearing that it was supposed to be more of a techno-dance album (I will take to my grave that Black Velveteen is from those sessions)... But fuck that. Circus was supposed to be the soundtrack to a movie! Lenny talked about it in a bunch of interviews around the time of it's release.

I'll venture further and say that most of the people on this board hating on Mr. Kravitz are unfamiliar with his work, especially his earliest work. The person who basically said "well, I saw him perform on TV once, and decided fuck Lenny Kravitz" is obviously completely unaware of how foolish and idiotic that sounded. I'll bet 17 dollars that it was a performance of American Woman. (definately his worst moment).

Yes, the "5" album was far inferiour to anything he'd released up to that point, and his latest self titled lp is unfocused at best, I still say the best is yet to come. Hardcore fans, have you heard the 8 song bonus disc that came with the vinyl pressing of Are You Gonna Go My Way? Some amazing things on there, including a fucking mind blowing live version of Sister which features his most beautiful guitar work ever before, or since.

Derivative? Sure. His Style Went Out In The Seventies? Hardly. Who gives a shit. It's a matter of opinion, but when I see people saying things to the effect of Kravitz is no more than a Prince imitator by way of the Beatles Highway... What a shame.

And Even the "5" album shits all over anything Prince has done since '95.