CD REVIEWS
Lenny Kravitz has nothing new to say (again)

May 23, 2004


LENNY KRAVITZ

"Baptism," Virgin Records. Reviewed by A.D. Amorosi, The Philadelphia Inquirer



When Prince sings, "Don't you miss the feeling music gave you back in the day?" on "Musicology," he could be talking to Lenny Kravitz.

Has Kravitz ever been anything but back-in-the-day? The retro rocker's guitars and primal screams merely ape the Purple One and Lennon and Aerosmith and (fill in the blank). Though Kravitz has shown great moments in cloning experiments ("Are You Gonna Go My Way?"), "Baptism" is the sound of a man who has stopped trying to be anything but copycat.

On "Where Are We Runnin'?" and "Flash," he discusses that burnout with lackluster bluster, instead of his usual brio. Though his signature growl-and-howl is still mightily intact, he seems tired, tritely name-dropping, complaining about celebrity, and showing a willingness to chill in his Chevy rather than stay, as he puts it, "a minister of rock 'n' roll."

Kravitz had better work on getting more worked up, or the title of his "I Don't Want to Be a Star" will become sadly prescient. Actually, that would be new.

I've read several other reviews that are similar to this one.

It's weird, I really like the new record, but as with every negative view of Kravitz, I can't help but agree.

He's very derivative, but somehow I end up liking the results, cause I can feel the soul in his music.