Lenny Kravitz - 5 (REISSUED WITH 2 BONUS TRACKS)
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Free Music Notes for 5 (REISSUED WITH 2 BONUS TRACKS)
Free Music Review: Lenny's Soul and his Soul Music
Hit: 5 Stars
While it's mostly the big rock tracks that have gained the most attention from this set, it's the great trend setting soul that really is shown all over "5". Lenny's never frightened to take old signature sounds and use his words and great guitar style. The set starts off with "Live", which is ruined by a monotonous chorus but saved by very funky verses and rock meets horns. Hot buttered soul continues on the theme song like "Super Soul Fighter" and the melodic "I Belong To You" (a great Lenny love song), and the "Pick Up The Pieces"-like "Straight Cold Player". Wild experiments are were Lenny shines like in dreamy ballad "If You Can't Say No" and the technoish "Black Velveteen". The big hits "Fly Away" and "American Woman" are welcome rock tunes and genius playing on behalf of Kravitz. Dedications are best coming from his soul. "Little Girl's Eyes" is alt rock meets Motown in a song to his baby girl Zoë. Far and away the tribute to Roxy, Lenny's mother, is the best song on the entire album. The song is called "Thinking Of You" and even with a cliché title, it manages to be the best work on the already stellar album. This sensitive and creative fusion of Lenny's sympathetic vocals, soft guitar and green Heineken bottles (read the liner notes) is brilliant. It's the only reason I bought the album. It's tearfully beautiful and a great track that truly should have been the big hit off the album.
The entire mix of funk, soul and rock is pitch perfect and makes the album move along extremely well. Fans of old soul, rock and current music will love this set. Not his best but still one of the most impressive records out there.
Free Music Review: Lenny is a Genius
Hit: 5 Stars
This album is incredible! While I do love all of Kravitz's other albums, this one grabbed my attention the most (even more so than "Mama Said"). Many bands try to change the way they play from album to album, but lose many fans in doing so. Lenny Kravitz can do that successfully and still sound like Lenny Kravitz! This album experiments with a lot of techno-type stuff and digitized sounds and what not. But when Lenny comes in with his guitar playing, it is quite obvious that it is still the same old Lenny. Another thing that stood out on this album is Lenny's incredible voice. He harmonizes abundantly on this album. I believe the harmonies are his own voice-overs on top of his singing. Also, the album is so incredibly emotional! You can really tell that Lenny put his whole heart into this one. On songs like "I belong to you," "Thinking of you (awesome song about his mother)," and "Little Girl's Eyes," Lenny's emotions are full-swing. A favorite of mine is "Black Velveteen." It is a very techno-oriented song, and I never thought I'd say I liked it being a guitar player, but when Lenny comes in on the chorus with his guitar, it rocks! "If you can't say no," "It's your life," and "Can we find a reason" are the other A rated songs on the album. My least favorite on this album are "Fly Away" and "American Woman." So if you are also bored with those songs from being overplayed, don't worry. This album is very diverse and has much more to offer than those two songs! If you are a Kravitz fan, get this immediately. If you are new to Lenny, get it anyway and give it a few listens. Maybe it will grow on you. Also Recommended: Kravitz' Mama Said and Let Love Rule albumsFree Music Review: One of the best
Hit: 5 Stars
No, this is not Lenny's sell-out album. Yes, there is a techno/house song ("Black Velveteen") and yes, there are things you won't see on any other Lenny album (electronic drums, "If You Can't Say No"), but is that all so terrible? Here, Lenny not only let loose and experimented with almighty digital recording, but recruited a new generation of fans.Why is it that people always get so mad when an artist wants to experiment? If you listen to Circus, Lenny's previous album, you hear unhappiness. Lenny flew off to the Bahamas, took a break, and ended up writing lyrics for 5, which is his most positive and upbeat album to date. "Live" tells us to get off our butts and dance; "It's Your Life" is about grabbing the opportunity of love and running with it. The longest track on the album is "Little Girl's Eyes", about his daughter Zoe, and it's really a good song. No, really, listen to it. I happen to have the rereleased version that has "American Woman" and "Without You" tacked onto the end, bringing the total number of songs to 15. "American Woman" never was a big deal to me, but it probably got the most airplay, next to "Fly Away". In fact, "Fly Away" is the song that got a lot of people turned onto Lenny, mostly the younger fans like myself. Don't hate him (or us) for that. Even if Lenny strays from his classic rock roots on 5, it doesn't make for a bad album. You should still buy it. Trust me.
Free Music Review: A little like the X-men...
Hit: 5 Stars
...my introduction to this was at a movie theatre over a year ago. My wife and I got there before the previews and were snacking on our popcorn when this jam comes bumping out of the theatre music repertoire...E and I were like, "Hey, who's that? We really like it". It turned out to be our hero Lenny with his cut "If You Can't Say No" and that jam is a smooth funk number. When we picked up the CD, it was like, we were blown away, but to our chagrin, no one else was groovin' on the vibe of "5"... can you believe it? I mean, it's a little too much funk for straight-up rock'n'roll and a little too much rock'n'roll for funkin', but heck E and me were jammin' the sugar honey iced tea outta it. I especially dug "Straight Cold Playa" and "Black Velveteen"..but no one else seem to be on that vibe until "Fly Away" and its video. I mean, Lenny sure must've felt like Wolverine of the X-men to be endowed with such great power, but scaring the heck outta evvybody because of his mutant state. That's ok, kid. Me and my wife were behind you from it's release. We feel that your recent Grammy win was much deserved and we can't wait for your next project. Thanks.Free Music Review: Funky!
Hit: 5 Stars
Lenny Kravitz aptly titled 5 album is a breath of fresh air. All of his albums previously have been excellent, but didn't stray too far from each other musically. There were the rock and roll songs, which are also included here, but Lenny has gone funky with this album. The album makes good use of funk, mixed in with a bit of soul and rock. The result is excellent. Using fanfare and soulful background singers, there's a new sound here which is quite refreshing and nice to listen to. The album is also personal, "Thinking Of You" for his mother, and "Little Girls Eyes" for his daughter, clocking at a near 8 minutes. There is nice use of fanfare on tracks like "Live", "Supersoulfighter", and others. There's also use of drum machine on songs like "If You Can't Say No" and "Black Velveteen". Of course also are the huge hits "Fly Away" and his version of "American Woman". Overall if you're looking for some music thats a little different than the cookie cutter type music around these days, this is your album, it encorporates different styles of music together to create an excellent album.