well, let's hope that the album is way better than the first single

go2theMax said:

well, let's hope that the album is way better than the first single

"Stand" is more of a pop single, but here are some other funkier tracks he's recorded for the album:

I like all of these better than "Baptism" from a few years back. Lenny's opening for U2 now, but I hope he does his own US tour for this new release (he stayed in Europe for most of the "Love Revolution" tour).

sosgemini said:

I will buy it. And I will love parts of it (Super Love at the very least).

But 'Fields of Joy' this ain't.

Lenny Kravitz Talks Drake, Jay-Z Collaborations on Black and White America

June 28, 2011

Lenny Kravitz's forthcoming "Black and White America" actually started life as another project altogether, one he describes as "a very funky album, really interesting and something that I am still going to put out." But "Black and White America" was an unexpected wild card he just could not ignore.

"As I was finishing that other (album), I started writing these other songs," Kravitz tells Billboard.com. "They were coming out of the blue, and they had nothing to do with what I was doing. At first I figured, 'Well, I'll put these aside for now and deal with these later,' and they kept coming -- one, two, three, four of them. And I was dreaming a lot of the music. It was just coming to me and it was really fluid, so at that point I had to say, 'Well, OK, I guess this is where I'm going,' and I went on to make 'Black and White America.' "

The self-produced 16-song set -- due out Aug. 30 and his first since "It's Time For a Love Revolution," as well as his debut for Roadrunner/Atlantic -- is one of the typically diverse Kravitz's broadest-reaching yet. There's plenty of hard riffing in tracks like the first single, "Stand," "Rock Star City Life" and "Come and Get It," which the NBA used for promotional TV pieces earlier this year, but the set also delves into old school R&B on the title track and "Super Love," reggae on "Boongie Drop" and the airy ambience of "I Can't Be Without You."

"As a person I am all over the place. I'm completely schizophrenic," Kravitz explains. "I've tried to make a record that sort of has one sound throughout, and I just can't do it. When I go left, I want to go right; When I go up, I want to go down. I have so many musical styles inside of me. Growing up, I listened to every kind of music and it's in me and it's just the way I am, so the albums always come out like that, all over the place."

Recorded mostly by Kravitz and guitarist Craig Ross, "Black and White America" features New Orleans' Trombone Shorty on several tracks, as well as Jay-Z and DJ Military on "Boongie Drop" and Drake on "Sunflower," which Kravitz co-wrote with Swizz Beatz. It's more rap than he's usually included on his albums, but Kravitz says that also wasn't pre-conceived.

"It's all music, you know?" he says. "I only go where the music takes me, so if I hear it in the track, I'll do it. I won't do something for the sake of, 'Well, this is hip now.' When I wrote 'Boongie Drop' I heard a rap in the middle, and I immediately heard Jay's voice and we had collaborated twice before, so I called him and when I went to New York I put him on the track. And then I got on the phone with Drake for ('Sunflower') before he had even heard the track and he said, 'Yeah, I'll do it. I'm a fan and I love your work and I would love to be on it.' So that was cool."

Kravitz, who recently opened four shows for U2, will be touring Europe starting in mid-October, then returning to North America for shows in November and December. And he promises the "Black and White America" material will work well on stage. "I'm looking forward to playing a lot of new material -- really looking forward to that," he notes. "that's what makes this thing really fresh as well is that I have all of this new material to play. I can't wait."

The complete "Black and White America" track list includes:

Black and White America
Come and Get It
Into the Black
Liquid Jesus
Rock Star City Life
Boongie Drop (featuring Jay-Z and DJ Military)
Stand
Super Love
Everything
I Can't Be Without You
Looking Back On Love
Life Ain't Ever Been Better Than It Is Now
The Faith of a Child
Sunflower (featuring Drake)
Dream
Pus

Link

MattyJam said:

Is anybody still buying Lenny Kravitz music??

We are and we love it.

Lol i love the haters!

I love when people hate on Lenny it's very amusing , People act like Lenny is some has been yet he just got done doing a show with U2, And his last album went platinum with little promotion. He has managed to stay in the public eye since 1989 and even had a small role in the oscar winner Precious...

Yes Lenny is definitely a has been & he definitely has no soul

Where's Negrophilia?

[img:$uid]http://i.imgur.com/xBfkz.jpg[/img:$uid]

Above is the rumored album cover for Black and White America.

Can't wait for the album!!!

Lenny Kravitz is one cool ass dude. His sense of fashion is cool, he looks cool,

his life is seemingly cool as well - look at the birds he's bagged over the years.

Lenny Kravitz is one helluva producer as well. He knows his way around the

studio and can capture hallmark sounds of any generation: he can cut tracks

that sound like the Beatles, Sly Stone, Hendrix, Led Zep, Stevie, Prince, the

Stones, Mayfield...anybody. His studio skills are off the hook.

Lenny Kravitz writes some of the most cliched and uninspiring songs

I've ever heard. I can't name one song in his catalogue (I haven't heard

it all but my guess is pretty safe I bet) that doesn't sound like he's

following a preceding blueprint. But he does it so well - jeezus!

I can't explain how well he produces his albums; he's brilliant, in that regard.

Lenny Kravitz is an underrated musician. No, he's no virtuoso on any

instrument, but he's a pretty good rhythm guitarist, an above average

drummer, a decent keyboard player and a suberb bassist. But nobody

(fans, critics) ever seem to acknowledge this.

Lenny Kravitz composed one of the sexiest albums I've ever heard:

Mama Said. The production was vintage 70s, the songs were tightly

written and interesting and the lyrics weren't the usual toss offs he's

prone to. It's so stylish and sleek and contains more substance

than any of his other albums.

Lenny Kravitz, I will not buy your new album or even venture

to listen to it. You are boring and predictable (how many Led Zep/Hendrix riffs

will you remind us of and how many Lennon ballads will you

write?).

But Lenny Kravitz, you are one cool ass dude.

The end.

Gunsnhalen said:

Lol i love the haters!

I love when people hate on Lenny it's very amusing , People act like Lenny is some has been yet he just got done doing a show with U2, And his last album went platinum with little promotion. He has managed to stay in the public eye since 1989 and even had a small role in the oscar winner Precious...

Yes Lenny is definitely a has been & he definitely has no soul

Totally agree! I just laugh when I hear all the negative comments about Lenny. I've heard it all. All I can say is he has been around for over 20 years, had made some decent music, seems like a decent well-rounded man and has a lot more on the go then just music. Lenny will always be around and will always make decent music. He is awesome live too. I've seen him about 6 times.

Tell me, where will the likes of Drake, Lil Wayne, 50 Cent, Katy Perry, Britney be in 10 years? Jail, on welfare, claiming backruptcy? Take your pick!

"Rockstar City Life" track preview.

sosgemini said:

It's as if Lenny is competing with Hootie for the most souless brotha on the planet.

but he wears it a lot better!

MendesCity said:

Identity said:

[youtube:X]...[/youtube:X]

Ah, that clip says it all. Brilliant sound, great hooks and absolutely zilch to say as an artist.

LOL that has always been the way with him

Sorry... Lenny's 1st 3.5 albums were great & fresh, but this is just the same old noise... Nothing new to hear here...