Lenny Kravitz Greatest Hits - Lenny Kravitz > Reviews > Are you gonna go his way?

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Completely unoriginal
Lyrics	Standard
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	-
Disadvantages:	-

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Note to Ciao: what this is doing in the House, R&B, Soul and Rap section of music I don't know. There is about as much chance of Mr Kravitz fitting into this genre as there is of me becoming a Spurs supporter. Ho hum. Tra lee la lee la. Anway.....

Brought this CD on impulse one day. Now my impulse buys are usually disastrous, cos I know what I like and I like what I know, but this happily turned out to be one of the better decisions. It is a collection of the singles and album cuts from Lenny Kravitz, an American singer-singwriter-musician who's big in the States but still mostly remembered over here for Are You Gonna Go My Way, a stonking hit single in 1993 and Fly Away, which reached no 1 with the help of a car ad (where have I heard that one before?)

I personally don't know anyone who'd buy all his albums, but this CD hoovers up stuff from his first five releases and serves as a good introduction to the man and his music. It first came out in November 2000.

A BIT ABOUT THE ARTIST
Born in New York 26.05.64 to an actress mother and TV producer father, Lenny's interest in music was sparked after the family's move to Los Angeles and his parents subsequent friendships with a number of famous jazz musicians. Moving back to New York in the late 1980's, he landed a contract with Virgin and released his first album in 1989.

His philosophy is that rock peaked in the late 1960s and has subsequently used up much of his career making music to recreate that particular period, going as far as even using amps and guitars from the time to get that sound just right. Call it pedantic, call him a trainspotter, call it anything you want, but he is a talented multi-instrumentalist and has sold millions of records so he must be doing something right! He's written many songs for others, notably Madonna, (who took the bump & grind of "Justify My Love" to the top of the charts in 1991) and French cutie Vanessa Paradis, of all people (sadly not Joe Le Taxi but her 1992 album instead.)

selections from Let Love Rule (1989); Let Love Rule / Mr Cab Driver

His first album and it caused quite a bit of a stir in the rock world at the time too, Lenny getting name-checked by heavyweights like Guns & Roses and Aerosmith. Let Love Rule itself is all rising horns (ooer missus) and massed choruses, whilst Mr Cab Driver has Kravitz dissing the man who "don't like dreads, he thinks we're all crooks". Anyone who's heard Kiss' "Firehouse" will recognise the bassline......it's a rip!! E-C-G-C-G.......

selections from Mama Said (1991); It Ain't Over Till It's Over / Always On The Run / Stand By My Woman

Lenny's best album, written during and after his divorce, as sadly so many of the best solo artists albums are. It Ain't Over Til It's Over, a no 11 hit in June 1991, with its recognisable keyboard line and skanking guitar, is a light, breezy tune yet loaded with pleading lyrics. "so many tears we've cried, so much pain inside…." whereas Always On The Run is a straightforward bottom-end hard rock number, laced with horns in the vein of "Exile" era Rolling Stones, and Slash from GnR gets to solo too!

Completing a fine trio of songs is Stand By My Woman, one of the most beautiful love songs this writer has ever heard. Lenny gives it real emotion over a simple echoing production and nice piano work. The mighty Elvis himself could not have sung this any better.

selections from Are You Gonna Go My Way (1993); Heaven Help / Are You Gonna Go My Way / Believe

The fabulous title track is a sheer three and a half minutes of driving, pumping rock music, yet so simple too, a stripped-down classic that will get any party started. If you ain't heard it yet, you ain't lived. What Lenny really wants to know is....well are you gonna go his way? Believe is a much slower, spacier number, and really is a snoozefest. Treated vocals and 6th form lyrics like "if you want it, you got it, you just got to believe, believe in yourself...." don't help either. ZZZzzzzzzz....sorry I dropped off there. Just woke up in time for Heaven Help, a gorgeous lush love song with drums in the front of the mix, done in the style of The Isley Brothers "Summer Breeze". Mmmmmm this is superb.

selections from Circus (1995); Rock N Roll Is Dead / Can't Get You Off My Mind

If the two tracks selected from Circus are anything to go by, this must be a very poor album. Rock n Roll....takes a looped riff and drags it on and on, though with admittedly powerful production and the other one is a slower love song. Dullorama.

selections from 5 (1999); Fly Away / I Belong To You / American Woman / Black Velveteen

Lenny updates his sound with electronica, drumbeats and sharp production, for his fifth album Four songs taken here, I Belong To You a determined mid-paced number with beeps and timed percussion; Black Velveteen, an overlong but not uninteresting electronic rocker; the 1999 no 1 Fly Away and his remake of The Guess Who's 1970 hit American Woman, all stop start electronic grunge.

Well that's the full track listing. Currently avaliable for £5.97 at Amazon. With his music still selling by the bucketload (though his latest album Baptism was pretty dreadful) it's safe to say Mr K will be around for a long time to come yet. You'll know more of his songs than you thought, and this is a pretty good compilation. Four stars.