When you pick up a new Lenny Kravitz album, you can never be quite sure what you’re gonna get. This is both a compliment and an insult.
Lenny’s one of the more musically diverse artists to arrive on the scene post-Prince (an artist who he owes a large debt to.) Over the course of nine studio albums and a quarter-century, the singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has indulged in everything from sensitive acoustic ne0-hippie isms to hard funk. 2012’s Black & White America managed to stuff cock-rock anthems, disco/pop and a Drake cameo into less than an hour.
Lenny’s albums, while always musically diverse, can also be frustrating because the quality often shifts wildly from album to album-hell, from song to song. As has been said many times over the course of his career, Lenny’s very transparent when it comes to his influences. This occasionally results in ponderous or straight out bad songs. Add in the fact that Lenny’s never been a top-notch lyricist and you’ll get why I approach every new Kravitz album with a bit of trepidation. Even if I own every album he’s ever put out.
Strut is Lenny’s landmark 10th album, and the first released on his own label, Roxie Records (named after his late mother-Jeffersons actress Roxie Roker.) The album finds Lenny indulging in a sound that’s splits the difference between rock and dance music. No, Lenny hasn’t gone EDM (thank God.) The sound is more in line with a lot of post-punk dance music circa 1980. In other words, he was listening to a lot of Gang of Four and Blondie when recording-one track, “One In The Chamber,” even includes lyrics referring to a “heart of glass.” This sound definitely is responsible for some of the best material on Strut, including lead track “Sex,” which is the perfect marriage of INXS and Rick James with a little Lenny swagger.
Elsewhere, Lenny indulges in the balladry that’s been his trademark since “Again” became the biggest hit of his career. “You’re A Beast” overcomes its unfortunate title and is pleasant in that sincere-Lenny-ballad kind of way. “The Pleasure And The Pain” and “I Never Want To Let You Down,” though, are as generic as their titles may indicate. He does a better job with the power-pop jam “I’m A Believer” and a smoking cover of Smokey Robinson & The Miracles’ smash “Ooo Baby Baby.”
If you were to rank Lenny’s albums by quality, Strut would probably place dead center. Which leaves me with…not a lot to say about it. He’s certainly not gonna win any converts at this stage in his career, but if you’re a fan I can pretty much guarantee you’ll find something to like here. Of course, you’ll probably also find something you dislike, but thats the way it’s gone with Lenny since day one. Why should he stop now?
Grade: B? B-? Somewhere in that neighborhood.