psychodelicide said:

And VERY talented she's mostly famous for the Helen Willis character from The Jeffersons, but she was a strong force in theatre & broadway which many people didn't know.

Harlepolis said:

Most definitely.

I've never liked Mr. Kravitz music; he'a a bore, overrated, and a poser.

they're those who strongly disagree (that's just fine), but I've spoken about this already.
http://prince.org/msg/8/325770?&pg=1

marginally talented, i'd say. he's done a few good songs and probably has a few more in him, but he's never really progressed as an artist. every album is the same shit. not original at all (very poser-ish, like someone said) and i go back and forth from being mildly and immensely annoyed by him . beautiful man though (no homo )

great to see some love for the Vanessa Paradis record here. Probably my favorite thing that he's ever did. Some of those songs came out of a time warp, I swear

Harlepolis said:

my favourite Lenny album. damn i love that album!!

IMO.. i think Lenny is very talented. though his albums after the release of his greatest hits album were a bit bland and disappointing to me.
i think he's one of the few true ROCK stars left. i do enjoy his music and style.

Personally I though that it was all down hill (slowly but surely) after Mama Said (...Which is a fantastic album, by the way.)

I like all his work and find it to be far more consistent in sound and theme than the purple one.

He's more talented than a lot of people give him credit for but less talented than Rolling Stone would say.
He coasts a lot of the time and that makes him look like a poser. Maybe if he would lay off the weed a lil' bit more...
Who am I kidding? That's not gonna happen.

He's very talented.

If you don't like his music, that's okay, but he is definitely a talented musician.

Yes.

Graycap23 said:

You don't have a 20 year music career because your parents are moderately wealthy

endymion said:

U missed the point.
Can Lenny play? Yes
Can u find his level of talent just about EVERYWHERE u look? Yes
If take ANY professional unknown and back them with some funding they would be famous as well. let me give u some examples:

If Eddie Murphy was not rich, do u think he would have made an album?
How about, Jasmine Guy? I'd give u more examples but u don't get the point, it serves no purpose.

Graycap23 said:

Personally I disagree where Lenny is concerned

I think he is famous because he has produced some great music

I purchased the Let love rule album in '89 and loved it from the moment I heard his fingers screech along the strings on Sitting on top of the world

That album signalled a talented artist imo

Virgin record label promoted him I believe but the reason he broke through was the music

And the Eddie thing, he was a famous guy already (Lenny was not) and he still used Rick who was talented

I don't actually listen to his albums from front to back so most of what I know I've heard from his first two albums or from singles, but:


1) I really dislike his voice. It's not very good.

2) His tunes seem derivative.

He's talented. He's just sold out in recent years.

endymion said:

It is all good. I dig Lenny but I've been around professional musicians all of my life and in my opinion the guy is average at best. If think otherwise, cool with me.

The man is very talented... the man can play allot of instruments, and plays them well at that! Only problem I have with mr. Kravitz... he takes his time with releasing new albums!

Let Love Rule is a CLASSIC album!
Are You Gonna Go My was is a CLASSIC!
Mamma Said - very good!
Baptism - Not Good enough
Lenny - Not Good enough
5 - CLASSIC!
Love Revolution! - best of 2009!
Circus - Kinda dark... like it!

can't wait to hear the all funk album negrophilia.. he better bring it
[Edited 1/15/10 13:42pm]

This is what talent looks like.

Can your favorite band do this, save for Prince? And does Prince actually
make you wanna dance anymore?

What Vanessa Paradis record? This is the 1st time I'm hearing about this.

Harlepolis said:

album info


[Edited 1/15/10 15:35pm]

Yeah that Vanessa Paradis album is tight!

My favorite songs on it are "Natural High" (such a funky song!), "Lonely Rainbows", and "The Future Song."

CHIC0 said:

I love the whole thing, all the way through

Has he written some cool stuff? Yes.

Is he really all that as a musician? No way.

If you watch live performances you'll notice that most of the time he just sticks to rhythm guitar while his backing band play the lead solos.

He's quite a rudimentary piano player as well.
[Edited 1/16/10 3:35am]

he's talented. but he's very boring, to me, overall. he has zero ability to synthesize his influences into something new and unique and his own thing. he's a great mimic of styles, though.

No question that he's talented, but he needs to be in a band or something. With a lyric writer in it. Cause his are pretty awful.

errant said:

I think that's somewhat of an odd thing to say and it's been repeated ever since the start of his career. It might have more to do with his utilization of 60s and 70s music technology and themes during a time when hardly anyone else was doing it (late-80s, early-90s). But what exactly do songs like "Rock'n'Roll Is Dead", "Thin Ice" and "Are You Gonna Go My Way?" remind you of? Who is he imitating on them? They're distinctively "Lenny Kravitz", to the degree that when e.g. Terence Trent D'Arby included a few rockers on his albums they were instantly compared to those by Lenny Kravitz. Lenny does have his own signature guitar riffs, which are quite different from what other "funkish rock acts" have been doing. He's nowhere nearly as eclectic as other one man band acts have been on their records though.

At least, I don't see him any less or more original than most retro rock acts that have appeared after him.
[Edited 1/16/10 6:50am]

In a word....Nope.

I really Liked his first 3 albums, but from there it was down hill. The last album of his I got was 5, it was Ok, but after that I gave up on him.

Hopefully he will deliver a decent Funk album next.