LENNY KRAVITZ
All music and lyrics by Lenny Kravitz
except "Sex," The Chamber," "Dirty White Boots," "New York City," and "I'm A Believer"
music by Lenny Kravitz and Craig Ross lyrics by Lenny Kravitz
"Ooh Baby Baby" music and lyrics by Smokey Robinson and Warren Moore
All vocals and instruments performed by Lenny Kravitz
with
Craig Ross: Acoustic and Electric Guitars
Harold Todd: Saxophone
Ludovic Louis: Trumpet
Dave Baron: Synthesizer programming
Produced by Lenny Kravitz
Released September 23, 2014
Believe it or not, dear readers and listeners, Lenny Kravitz is 50 years old. And believe it or not once again, Mr. Kravitz has now officially entered his 25th year as a recording artist as his classic debut album "Let Love Rule" was released to the world on September 19, 1989 and confirmed him as a musical force to be reckoned with. He has long outlasted many of his musical peers of the same era as well as his longtime detractors and with "Strut," we now have Lenny Kravitz's 10th album, an album that sounds like a well deserved victory lap and he has invited us to celebrate right alongside him.
While Kravitz's genre hopping and sprawling previous album, "Black And White America" (released August 30, 2011), seemed as if he had created his own version of Stevie Wonder's "Songs In The Key Of Life" (released September 28, 1976) as it featured political commentary and utopian anthems alongside his ballads and rave ups, "Strut" straddles the musical worlds of the slick and the sleazy. As Kravitz presents his trademark songs about the intricacies of love as well as celebratory anthems of affirmation and uplift they are all filtered through a musical gumbo that is equal parts glam rock, sweaty rhythm and blues, flashes of swaggering metal and the glittery excess of disco. "Strut" is not a deep experience, not it is remotely meant to be. It is just one big bash from start to finish.
In recent interviews, Lenny Kravitz explained that for this new album, he devised of the song titles first and did not change them, forcing himself to write to whatever emotions the titles invoked and also keeping the music infused with a certain immediacy. With "Sex," the album's stomping, propulsive opening track, we are given an intoxicating rush into Kravitz's carnal desires but we have to have our foreplay on the dance floor. By the album' second and third tracks, "The Chamber" and "Dirty White Boots" respectively, we arrive at Kravitz's full intent and purpose; to create a sonic palate that suggests a hybrid of The Rolling Stones' late 1970's era, the music of Blondie, whose classic "Heart Of Glass" is openly referenced, plus all manner of bar bands and stadium roof raisers designed and ready made for the stage.
It is a vigorously performed as well as a beautifully produced and mixed album that, once again, showcases Kravitz's musical aesthetic of keeping the digital technology to a minimum and stressing the priceless glory of hearing real musicians playing real instruments. Lenny Kravitz remains at the tip top of his chosen field as his multi-instrumental skills can still trick your ears into thinking that you are hearing an entire band when it's often Kravitz all alone. You can feel the drums just pop through the speakers, Kravitz's exuberant vocals from beginning to end, and blasts of guitar that will make you wish to play alongside him. But, for me, it is Kravitz's stellar bass playing throughout the album that will make you involuntarily perform the act contained within the album title for the entire duration, and even if you are in a seated position!!
The low rider, pimp stroll of "Frankenstein," the runway groove of the devotional "New York City," the go-go dancer garage rock tinged with rock gospel of "I'm A Believer" (incidentally not a cover of the classic track by The Monkees), and the bluesy R&B sway of the celebratory "Happy Birthday" all represent the "all killer-no filler" velocity and overall energy of this new release as we can easily hear just how much ecstatic fun Kravitz is having. Even his cover of Smokey Robinson's classic soul heartbreaker "Ooh Baby Baby" is presented as a euphoric sing-a-long. Only "The Pleasure And The Pain" and the country influenced "She's A Beast" give us space to catch our breath and even then, Kravitz hold us within rapt attention as each selection provides a slow burn that builds to triumphant emotional peaks.
Granted, Kravitz is not always the finest of lyricists and to my ears, I always feel that he is much stronger with words the more personal and deeply he probes his subject matter. But in the case of "Strut," this album is not meant for deep thinking, so to speak. It is an album of movement, of attitude, of confidence and style, and therefore the discovery and sense of self and communal adoration we can all find once we commit ourselves to meeting the world with the fullest command to perform the act of the album's title. Kravitz wants for us to leave all of our inhibitions and insecurities aside, to take life's minor keys, wrestle them to the round and rise higher than we ever could have hoped for ourselves--a sentiment and feeling that has been Kravitz's objective for all of us from the very beginning and the outpouring of his undeniable commitment to his material is grandly palpable.
Lenny Kravitz's "Strut" is not an epic artistic statement but it is also not disposable pap either. This is a superbly winning album of accomplishment and if we can utilize his unique spoils as fuel for ourselves to reach our individual plateaus, then I have a strong feeling that Kravitz himself would be more than proud if we did just that using his music as our personal soundtracks.
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