Lenny Kravitz

Even after taking a vow of chastity, the ladies' man still lets love rule. He may no longer "need no one to get him laid," but Kravitz remains one of the funkiest love advocates around. His hippie spirit sings about Vietnam like he was there ("Back in Vietnam"), and his Hendrix adoration soaks in psych reverb on "Bring It On" and "I Love the Rain." He gets more current with the Red Hot Chili Peppers-flavored "Love Love Love" and the Prince-y "Dancin' Til Dawn," but Kravitz is most powerful when he's most vulnerable, as in "A Long and Sad Goodbye," an ode to his estranged late father.

As a blast back to the past, this is the best album Lenny Kravitz has ever made — a visceral,
expertly tailored blend of late-Sixties and early-Seventies classic-rock paraphrases with
just enough modernizing to justify the record's copyright date. "Love Love Love" is a Red
Hot Chili Peppers-style thump, and for a stretch in "A Love Revolution," Kravitz's scrappy,
compressed vocal sounds like a phone-machine message left by the Strokes' Juli... More >