I’ll start this post with a confession: for a very brief time in the early ’90s, Lenny Kravitz was one of my style gurus. I wanted to be some kind of cross between him and “El Segundo”-era Q-Tip, so there were lots of beads, brightly colored pants, and if I could’ve gotten them at the time, there would’ve been sideburns, dreads and tattoos, as well.
Thankfully Tip, myself and Lenny are all older and wiser. Hell, who’d have thought that the man formerly known as Romeo Blue would still be kicking around 25 years later? He’s certainly never been a critical darling (and I doubt he cares very much,) but he’s delivered a consistent catalog of albums, with only one true turd (Baptism) in his entire oeuvre.
Lenny is getting set to release his tenth studio album, Strut, in September. He’s previewing it with the simply titled “Sex.” It’s got a very ’80s vibe to it (interesting because in the ’80s, Lenny was trying to sound like a cat from the ’60s.) Someone on Twitter mentioned that it sounds a bit like “Heart of Glass.” I hear that. Okayplayer says it sounds like Vivid-era Living Colour. Corey Glover would never sing lyrics this banal, but I hear that too. I also hear some Prince, and the chorus is obviously indebted to “Cold Blooded” by Rick James. In other words–it’s Lenny being Lenny. From a lyrical standpoint, I give the song a 3, but musically this record comes off hard. Hard enough to get me to preorder the album. Check it out for yourself.
Also, I am very happy that there is no photographic evidence supporting my confession in the first paragraph.