Lenny Kravitz has had a long, successful career. 35 years to be exact. While never creating something truly original or singular, he’s successfully built a decades-spanning discography on the shoulders of innovators like Sly and the Family Stone, John Lennon, Prince, Stevie Wonder, and the list goes on. His take on 60s free love, 70s funk n soul, and 80s R&B has given us three great albums(Let Love Rule, Mama Said, Are You Gonna Go My Way?), one breakout hit(5), and then 30 more years of attempting to catch lightning in a bottle.
On Lenny’s 12th studio album, Blue Electric Light, Kravitz works once again with his longtime collaborator and multi-instrumentalist Craig Ross. The album sees Kravitz mining 80s pop electronic music for gold, but only coming up with bronze at best. It’s disappointing hearing an artist that’s so talented coming up with so little.
Even if Lenny Kravitz wasn’t all that original, he used to make great sounding albums. There was a personality with those early records. We now have Blue Electric Light and its opener “It’s Just Another Fine Day(In This Universe Of Love)”, a middling faux funky song that goes nowhere with sophomoric lyrics. Lenny has made this song before, and it was much better then. Then there’s the single “TK421”. Who knew Lenny was a Star Wars fan? Anyway, it’s a repetitive dance-y song that sees Kravitz hitting up Prince and James Brown for some funky, horn-drenched soul. And for you Satriani fans, doesn’t that guitar sound a lot like his song “Strange” off Flying In A Blue Dream? Maybe it’s just me. “Human” melds 70s disco with early 80s Depeche Mode into a forgettable track.
Blue Electric Light is definitely an 80s-leaning record. More dance-oriented with guitar peppered throughout, which is a shame since Kravitz and collaborator Craig Ross are great guitar players. There are some guitar-centric tracks, like “Paralyzed” and “Heaven”, but they’re more like afterthoughts. For the most part Lenny Kravitz is exploring the 80s vibes of Prince, George Michael, Pet Shop Boys, and even Janet Jackson to some degree. Songs like “Let It Ride”, “Bundle Of Joy”, “Heaven” and the synth-heavy title track “Blue Electric Light” are closer to albums like Prince’s Sign O’ The Times and Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 than anything else.
If Lenny Kravitz is enjoying himself and the music he’s making, then more power to him. Blue Electric Light is an 80s dance party more than a 70s funk album. If that’s your thing, this might be your summer jam. For everyone else, we’ll always have Mama Said.
And just for reference…..
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I’ll need to give this one a chance. I love that debut album so it sounds like I should stick to that one.
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I loved his first four albums. After that it seemed like he wanted to be more of a modern radio artist. Lost something I thought at that point. Yeah, just crank up Let Love Rule. You’ll be happy you did.
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