Let Love Rule

I dunno some of these reviews. Just cos they were two black guys with guitars round their necks doesn't mean Kravitz and Prince have much in common. Kravitz, at this point, was committed to making music that whole heartedly referenced/recreated the 60s and 70s. He said it in interviews and followed through even as far as the studio gear he used.

Prince of course had influences from the past but he was very much an 80s act in his sound pallette and how he used the studio.

Kravitz music was Beatles, 70s rock and classic soul. Prince was way more about the funk, modern pop and a bit of gospel with sure some classic soul in the ballads, and plenty other genre blending aside.

Kravitz is lyrically obvious and SINCERE! Prince had loads of different lyrical modes including obscure, freaky and funny.

Anyway, I have some fond memories of my university room mate enjoying this. It was good for soundtracking a sunny day dangling my legs out of our window when I was supposed to be studying.

I can't really put my finger on it, but this feels aggressively OK for the most part. Part of it is expectations going in. Maybe it's just him losing cultural cache, or maybe he just was never culturally that big, but I can't really imagine Lenny Kravitz being important enough to be included on a list like this?

But a lot of this just feels derivative of stuff I've heard before. And when it's not good (Like the straight up porn music going on in Fear), it's a little off putting.

And holy cow did I not need Lenny's voice so forward in the mix in the beginning Does Anybody Out There Even Care? That made my skin crawl.

But yeah, I don't really know about this one. I think some preconceived notions are affecting my rating on this one, but yeah, I'm just not feeling it.

My only exposure to Lenny Kravitz before now is the side-splittingly hilarious Architectural Digest videos. It’s pleasing to see that he is the exact same character here. He takes the most dramatic and forceful elements of The Beatles and adds a dash of Soul singing. It’s all a bit cheesy and overwrought for my personal tastes. He regularly pushes the performance too hard into quite grating territory.

𝘓𝘦𝘵 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘙𝘶𝘭𝘦 is a solid debut that shows Lenny Kravitz’s talent right from the start. The album blends soul, rock, and a retro 70s sensibility with ease, and the production has a warm, homemade feel that suits his style. While the songwriting isn’t consistently gripping across the entire record, there’s enough personality and musical ability here to make the album stand out. It’s a promising introduction rather than a fully realized statement, but the talent is unmistakable.

I actually think there's room for this one to grow on me. It's got a really cool DIY, organic feel that reminds me a bit of McCartney's first album. I imagine that a lot of people probably do prefer Lenny's later stuff that's a bit more polished, but as someone who's never been a huge fan of his lusher, more R&B-inspired efforts, I dig the homespun atmosphere quite a bit. The Beatles, Hendrix, and Prince influences are *very* clear, but they never feel like cheap imitations either. I'm interested to keep returning to this one.

3.5/5

Hadn’t realized he was already around in the 80s. This one is more Prince than Hendrix and not nearly as fully realized as his later stuff.

If Lenny Kravitz didn’t look like a rock star, would we have turned him into one based on his music alone? Obviously Lenny can’t help being conventionally handsome, but this album feels a bit like the record company wanted a Prince without the sexual ambiguity. Unfortunately, he also didn’t have the tunes.

Not bad but not great either. Loved some of the vocal production towards the end and there was some cool riffs.

This album is a weird choice to include over one of his more popular 90s albums. After listening to it, I learned that it has all the trite lyrics Kravitz's hits have with none of the fun and energy. He would probably do well to shy away from political statements and social activism and stick to "Are You Gonna Go My Way?".

Worse than Coldplay

I loved this album when it came out. I think because it was a retro sound to start with, it still holds up now.

Wasn't sure about this one. Some of it felt derivative other songs were really lovely and his voice seemed so familiar, so similar to another singer but could not place it. I will give it a three as while it didn't make me sit up and go "Whoa" in a good way it didn't hurt my ears.

I thought this album was pretty good. It seems to get a lot of hate in the reviews but I don't know if the comparisons to other artists are fair. Yes the songwriting isn't 5 star, but it's kind of funky and easy to listen to.

Ok, so debut album of Kravitz. Almost halfway through on my first listen, it is quite enjoyable experience. Title track is very nice. "I Built this Garden For Us" is pretty cool. Lyrically full of clichés, however still a very enjoyable listen.

P.S. It's kind of disappointing reading many low reviews for this album and people seem to base their opinion on whatever bullshit was spouted by rock journalists comparing him to Hendrix or Prince when this came out. Maybe just take this as a work of art by itself and make up your own opinion. It's not a masterpiece by any means, but I don't see this as utter garbage as some people seem to think it is.

3.5 first half is strongest

Lenny Kravitz is simply a cool guy and an incredibly talented musician. This was already evident on his debut album “Let Love Rule,” which is really worth listening to. I find it remarkable that the songs are so different that I don't really want to single out any one of them. On the other hand, Lenny manages to convey each of the 13 different moods convincingly and fill them with his personality. It makes sense that he was compared to Prince early on—even though I see him more as a successor to Jimi Hendrix in terms of style. Strong debut!

No one needs 5 and a half minutes of "let love rule" and no one needs to waste an hour of this.
Somehow this wasn't just boring, it actually made my day worse.

Some reviewers are acting like this is the worst album in the West. It's not; it's okay. I didn't hate listening to it, and some of the parts were neat.

Let Love Rule is Lenny Kravitz’s debut album, but unfortunately, it didn’t leave much of an impression. Overall, the record felt like a diluted version of Prince — lacking the charisma, energy, and standout moments that might have elevated it. Most of the tracks faded into the background, with a consistently low-key, slow-paced vibe that never really gained momentum.

Standout Tracks: Let Love Rule and Fear were decent, but even they didn’t quite hit the mark.

Weakest Aspect: The rest of the album was forgettable — not bad enough to be offensive, just overwhelmingly average.

Album Artwork: Nothing remarkable here either — a fairly standard cover that matched the overall tone of the music.

Verdict: A forgettable listen. I won’t be revisiting this one

Vähän geneeriseksi jäävää pop-rockia. 2.5/5