Lenny Kravitz, Yay or Nay?

I have never been a fan but I saw him about 10 years ago on a multi-band radio station show and enjoyed the set while it lasted. I'll still never buy an album or pay to see him, but the guy sure gives off a lot of sincere enthusiasm for the music and general positivity, which makes him better than most (and 1000x better than John Mayer, who he followed on that night -- ugh).

 

That's the curse of the opening act; I've gone to a few shows where I was as psyched for the opener as for the headliner, but the opener always gets the short end on the venue sound.

 

Ok....but nothing special....I own nothing by him.

 

Another poll where the options are not that great. I voted Option 1 because I think he deserves better than Option 2 but I'm somewhere in between.

 

I think you forgot Hendrix. The Are You Gonna Go My Way album was a total Hendrix-rip off. Ahem, inspiration then.

 

I think he has a great deal of talent and his first five albums are very different from each other but really good. There is a steep drop in quality for the albums following '5', but 'Love Revolution' features a couple tracks comparable to his best work, IMO. I've seen him live 3 times and the man can put on a rock show!

 

I was never into Kravitz. But 20 years ago my friend worked at the Rock 103.5 in Chicago and Kravitz was visiting the station that day. Adam Sandler was expected to come in as well, so my friend took my guitar to be signed by Sandler. Instead, Kravitz signed the back of the guitar (an acoustic Seagull). I still have the guitar and to this day always wondered why he had it signed on the back. Anyway, it's still the real sig, but I doubt most would care. However since I am mentioning it - if anyone wants to buy this guitar, let me know. If you are a big Kravitz fan, then you'll certainly appreciate it more than me.

 

In hindsight I wish I hadn't breathed fresh air into this thread after four months. Yay or nay isn't even my thing.

 

Really surprised by the lack of support here. Hope it's not for the wrong reasons. Seen a lot of support for artists
with half the talent. Obviously I am a supporter. He keeps the flame going for past and future rock and roll.

 

...by aping what came before rather than forging his own identity. That's what my issue is and has always been. When he's original ("My Little Girl's Eyes", "If You Can't Say No"), he's good. When he's not ("Fly Away", "Let Love Rule", "It Ain't Over", "Storm"), he's not. Even when he's musically good, he doesn't have a clue about lyrics. He's always needed a collaborator in that sense as his lyrics undercut everything he tries to say. "My Little Girl's Eyes" should be very sweet but it misses because he can't articulate the emotion.

Ed

 

IMHO he's got talent but nothing standout-ish. He's got enough good tracks out to create a decent "greatest hits" recording - which I own. I can listen to his music and enjoy most of it but it's not on my "must have" list

 

Big nay for me and never any of his music. His cover of "American Woman", alone, is a crime against humanity.

 

Oh, that cover. Why he thought that was a good idea, I will never know.

Ed

 

Meh.
Indifferent.

 

I love Kravitz. Especially the first two albums. I burned up my CD player (back in the roaring 90's) rotating Let Love Rule and Mama Said. He definitely borrowed (sometimes more obviously than others) from his influences but it didn't bother me. Probably because his influences were the same as mine (70's rock, 60's psychedelia, R&B, etc). Not sure where history will place him (and don't really care) but I'll always revisit his music.

 

I'm thinking that if Kravitz came out of nowhere today, he'd be huge. His persona is very 2018, whereas it was just kind of quirky in the '90s.

 

“Mama Said” is, in my opinion, his pinnacle. After that he ditched the soul aspectn and went rock. Lost me at that point.

I saw him open for The Cult and he was really good live.

 

Circus is an absolutely brilliant album.

 

- Your friend saved your guitar! (I mean, Adam Sandler?! Gah.)

 

I'm a fan of Lenny Kravitz to a point.

First album Let Love Rule (1989) and Mama Said (1991) were great from beginning to end even though Mama Said was purely Lenny pining for Lisa Bonnet.

Beyond that Lenny had a few good tunes but as whole the tunes on the following albums were IMO hit or miss for the most part. To be honest I don't think he ever lived up to his potential but I hold out hope.

 

His version of American Woman is an abomination, but it probably made a lot of money for him, because people are terrible.

 

Poor Lisa Bonnet. LOL!!!

I'm sorry. I had to...

Ed

 

I feel kind of burned by him. When that first record came out i was a true beliver. As time went on he pulled a Rod Stewart. Just sold out to nothingness. Bummer.

 

Not YAY or NAY, just MEH....

 

to me, let love rule and mama said are essential albums. are you gonna go my way was good ... i haven't really followed much after that