blackguitaristz said:

To be fair to Lenny, funk isn't his thing. Not even funk/rock. And that's cool. I've dug Lenny his whole career. Mainly cuz he's a real musician. What hurts Lenny more than anything is he's not original. I mean, not a shred of originality. EVERYONE has influences. Look at P. He's stolen his WHOLE career. BUT, he does have some original ideas and concepts on how to use his influences. That's what saves Prince. Lenny lacks that and always has. P, in most cases, is a better musician and songwriter than the people he's actually stealing from. In Lenny's case, he's mo where near as good as the folks he's biting off of so it's like "If u can't do Curtis or Zeppelin BETTER than Curtis or Zeppelin, then why bother?". When P tries to do a Hendrix type cut, he's gonna put his maniac type screaming vocals on it. Something that Jimi never would have done. That seperates himself from Jimi. Although he's biting off of Jimi, musically. Gotta mix i up. Lenny doesn't grasp that. He's so heavy handed with his bites that it's like "Damn bro." .

blackguitaristz said:

COLD

blackguitaristz said:

I used to get so much slack for defending Lenny. Around the time of "Dig In" I was let down and just gave up. But I've since forgiven his music atrocities. You can't deny that he has talent, that he's a good performer or that he makes good songs. To gain perspective, look out at the music landscape and then you'll remember that you're glad he's there. I am.

anon said:

I can agree with all this.
I'm still rooting for him.
I also like the 2 new songs. I'll have to hear more before getting too involved.
As it stands, Circus is my favourite. Also remember wanting so badly to dig Lenny and Baptism and well just couldn't do it at the time. After the initial letdown of those 2 Cds, and some time, I've realized they're not as bad as I made them out to be. They have some moments.

blackguitaristz said:

I disagree..I thought 5 had a couple of funky tracks on it.

Bfunkthe1 said:

Im rootin for him too! Although I have bought the self titled cd (and havent listened to it for a while for reasons that I only like 2 tracks on it) Im awaiting the ressurection of his career.

And to those who dont think Lenny is original ...Really how original can u truley get in the type of music he does?? There's nothing new under the sun! He does play all his own instruments(which requires mad talent) and half the time his own lyrics. If he dressed up crazy all the time and changed his hair people would say he's too much like Prince...or if he went real crazy Boosty Collins. If he stayed the same with his rocker look he would be called generic! Where does it end? I just love him cause he is who he is - with his incredible voice and skills on the guitar.Alot of his songs have touched me where other legends have failed.

So hats off to Lennys (hopeful) Comeback!

JackieBlue said:

Could have been filler for his last two disappointing albums. I don't believe I shut off my Dylan set for this (granted, it was late eighties stretch of disc 3 of "Dylan"...not the stuff of his prime). I can't imagine this is the new single? Where is the singing? Too much instrumentation for radio. It's not like he is Neil Young and can get away with 18 mintue jam sessions....He's Lenny and he still wants hits and to be viable to pop audiences! Hasn't done much for me since 5, which was great overall. He has good singles and songs here and there but his albums lately have been flat and boring.

I'm listening to "I'll Be Waiting". Better but still filler! Typical Lenny ballad. Just kind of there. I highly doubt this "Funk"...more like "Skunk".

I think "Baptism" is the rare case where it's an artist I really like but I dislike the CD so much that I tried to sell it!
[Edited 10/28/07 17:08pm]
[Edited 10/28/07 17:13pm]

novabrkr said:

co-sign

JonnyApplesauce said:

dang!! that means listening to My Name Is Prince to compare


nevermind.....
[Edited 10/29/07 7:06am]

Brutha B so good to hear from you..hope all is cool. Good points.

I'll be Waiting is good. Bring it on sounds like more Zeppelin rippage. To quote Lars Ulrich's dad in Some Kind of Monster: "I would delete that."

Cool! I'm looking forward to new music from Lenny. I've been a fan since the beginning and anything new from Lenny is ok with me.

Plus - he's one sexy MF!

eh, i have to say i turned both tracks off midway through. it's just not good. the first song is a blatant rip off from zeppelin's when the levee breaks, i can't imagine they won't sue (assuming they aren't credited). the second track sounds like every other slow song he's ever written.

i dug him right up through "lenny" but i can't mess with him anymore. if he were less concerned with fashion and more concerned with music we would get another good record from the man.

I just listened to LZ's When the Levees Break. You guys are so right. I've dug Lenny from his debut and have enjoyed his live performances but he's been sketchy the last few years. I only bought Baptism because I thought it might grow on me but it never did and the cover still makes me shudder. Perms aren't for every man. I'm not going to give up but I don't look to him to knock my socks off anymore.

For me the difference between a respected artist and a clone is do you believe what they are doing musically. Is it authentic?

With Lenny I don't know anymore. I believed him in the beginning.

I'll give an example... Cody Chestnutt.... I hear Marvin, Stevie, and even Lenny on his headphone masterpiece...so I could write him off right there.... but I believe he is authentic in his influences. In that he truly loves those artists and strives to get to that point musically.

Jay Kay is another... yes he sounds like Stevie, but I still believe at the heart of the matter he would sound the same if you held a gun to his head and told him to sing like Axl Rose.

Although some artists are not pushing boundaries I still think if they play live and can give off a good vibe of music past why not, It's still better than sh*t hop anyday of the week.

What was the 2nd song - I'll Be Waiting?
I thought I was listening to Flight of the Conchords.
Things are pretty bad when he starts to sound
like a New Zealand comedy duo.
[Edited 10/30/07 14:41pm]

As I said earlier, I'm still rooting for him. Yes, his last two albums weren't up to par, and he seems too focused on fashion than writing interesting music but I'll wait until the new album and pass judgement then.
And he's always been rather blatant about his influences but he can still play and promotes live music and musicians so I'm glad he's still doing it.
And I would still choose him over most music that is popular today.

i'm sorry but just because someone's bad music is better than someone else's worse music does not give cause to support that person's bad music.

some twisted logic up in here. lenny sucks these days. sure, he sucks less than others but he sucks nonetheless.

there is far too much good music passing under the radar to go about supporting this guy and his lame sound.

sassybritches said:

Understand me now,...I've always championed Kravitz on this site. Always. I've seen Lenny 5 times live. At various times of his career too. I have all of his albums. That sounds to me, like I like Lenny. But still, I stand by the points I made in my earlier posts. Cuz I believe it to be true. His best albums, to me, are his earlier ones, Circus, and even Let Love Rule. He was more focused. The only unfair judegement he gets is being compared to P. He's no where near on P's level. In nothing. But cuz he's a brother that plays guitar and plays rock, then he's going to get that. The only reason Hendrix is hardly ever brought up is cuz Lenny can't fuck with lead guitar. But Lenny has his fan base. Mostly white folks who can't stand funk. And knows even less about it. Lenny feels obligated to get with funk cuz he likes funk. He's sensibilty is not there. His funk is closer to The Doobie Brothers, Grand Funk Railroad. And again, that's cool. Just cuz he can't evoke P-Funkadelic, Ohio Players, or even early Prince, doesn't mean his thing is valid.

I was really looking forward for this but these songs didn't move me at all. Leeny needs to get his shit together or call it a day, seriously.

sassybritches said:

My "twisted logic" goes something like this.
Lenny has 2 somewhat bad albums (last 2). And the rest are really good with a few being great. Circus and Let Love Rule. Imo. He's a good live performer and his band live always rocks. So because he's released a couple of sub-par releases I'm supposed to just give up on him?
Well if I dig someone I stick by. I've never been a fair-weather fan. All my fave groups/artists have released stuff that's sub par but I still dig them.
If he released only 1 or 2 good albums and the rest were crap it would be a differnt story. There's not a lot of artist who don't have a few "bad ones" in there catalog. And I'd still take his music over most music that is currently popular today NOT music that is under the radar. That's a whole other issue.