Let Love Rule

Lenny in his early psychedelic rock phase, but not really... A little funky, a little bit in his feelings, has quite reached his Hendrix guitar shredder phase of the early 90s. So it's hippy music, mostly, 20 years too late.

But my one abiding memory is a friend who'd change lyrics of songs while singing them, so we gotta let dogs drool (LET DOGS DROOL)

Didn't know Lenny's music outside of "are you gonna go my way"; this is a great listen. Kinda funky. 4*
Highlights: let love rule, i build this garden for us

I really liked the album. I think it's pretty cool.
4/5

I’m at a 3.5 that I think I’m going to incredibly graciously bump up to a 4 that it just barely earns.

I liked most of this album. It has plenty of flaws, but I can look past most of them. I think the self-control in his vocals is a bit lost at times; he can’t decide if he wants to be Ozzy Osbourne, Paul McCartney, Prince, or Stevie Wonder for most of this album. You can’t be all 4. Somehow, he ends up sounding like the lead vocalist from Bowling for Soup for parts of this album as a result, but ultimately, that’s fine.

I think the lyrics on most of the tracks are good – pretty solid messaging throughout. I think the main issue I have with this album’s lyrics simply comes in its repetition, and I Build This Garden for Us is distinctly terrible about it. Really retreading a lot of ground throughout that track. The same thing goes for Be, which quite frankly, just stunlocked me with that “or am I a rapist who needs a release” line, because what the fuck does that mean? Is it about leaving prison? Is it about getting off? It’s a weird fucking line to throw in regardless.

Instrumentation is great across the album – no complaints from me on this one. Some of the tracks went a little long on their outros, but I could forgive it in the same way I can forgive a Stevie Wonder outro for going long, because the vibes are good and the music is a jam.

Ultimately, I do think this album just does more right than wrong to get up to a 4, but that could change on a relisten or two. It’s definitely not within the range of being a 5, though. This is, so far, the only album to have a straight 3 in the reviews so far, which tells me I might be a little generous, and I can see why. This is the type of album that might have more holes or flaws open up over time to bump it back down to a 3, but right now, I feel good about giving it the 4.

While not my taste, clearly thoughtful and well made. Extremely diverse song writing that still somehow works together

Honesty is important. I wasn't blown away by this. His voice grated on me, and I wound up trying to like it because the lyrics were at times really interesting. It felt quite tame?

Its pretty good but at some points the guy just sounded like a tesco Prince

This has to be a joke. Probably better off going your whole life without hearing this. Cheers Len.
Watch Pat Finnerty's Kravitzbowl on YouTube instead of wasting your time here.

"Let Love Rule" is plodding. So is "I Built This Garden". Just because the tempo is moderately slow doesn't mean they have to be lacking in energy, but these are limp and lifeless. A low 2.

Good, but not great, and lacking some of the attitude and swagger that made his later work brilliant. Loads of religious references, which surprised me.

Funkadelic, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Hendrix... he's copying from good source material. But the problem with wearing your influences on your sleeve is that when you're this bad it just reminds everyone how much better music there is they could be listening too instead. Insipid lyrics. "There is a woman who does drugs and has sex for money, ain't that a shame." "What if we like, did a love, instead of like, doing a hate?" It's so embarrasing when dumb rock guys really go for it with the deep social issues songs. Thin grating voice. Slow repetitive songs that just play the one-line choruses over and over again. The sax is good at least and Fear has a a pretty good groove until the boring riff kills it.

I don't know what to rate this thing. It's not offensive, but I don't really want to listen to it again anytime soon. But I probably wouldn't turn it off if it was one, either.

Everything on here has been done better by The Beatles, Prince, and Bowie. So what's the point?

It's totally fine. I just didn't care about it at all. Probably a 2.5 that I'll bump to a 3 just because it's fine.

Very well performed and produced, a few really good songs (Let Love Rule, Fear, Mr. Cab Driver). But the lyrics are a bit too Jesus-y and on the nose for me in places. Like half of the songs on here are basically Christian Rock.

I remember my flatmates hating Kravitz as a kind of faux-Hendrix, but he's really not is he? He's just doing his own thing, and I really like it. Lyrics are occasionally a little cheesy but all good otherwise.

Really loved the instrumentation and his voice, but I would never listen again unless there was an instrumental version? or just like him scatting for an hour? these lyrics are horrendous

I actually enjoyed this album a bit, but it was pretty repetitive and the topics of the songs started to repeat enough it got kind of old. Still, pretty good. There's a style to this that's generic but still it's own flair to make it different.

From all the negative reviews I thought this'd be terrible, but it's really pretty decent all the way through. The songs are pretty varied, there's nice instrumentation across the board, and it's sang well with plenty of character.

I've always liked Lenny but never dug deep into his albums (with the exception of "5", which I've listened to a lot). Great groove, funk, rock, psychedelic. Lots of great moments - I particularly like the transition from Let Love Rule to Freedom Train. Every song is good, but the main strike against the album is a lot of it is pretty derivative. That said, I'd listen again any day, which makes it at least a 4 for me.

This is a phenomenal album! I remember the first Lenny Kravitz song I ever heard (American Woman, off of Big Shiny Tunes 4). I thought it was a fantastic song, and really liked his style, but never really delved into his back catalog at all. I found myself enjoying that same sound on this album (rock mixed with strong funk/jazz/blues vibes). This album touches on topics such as peace & love, racism, and religion. The piano breakdown in My Precious Love was fantastic!!

Favourite songs : Let Love Rule, Rosemary, Blues For Sister Someone, I Build This Garden for Us, Flower Child

Least favourite songs: if forced to pick, Mr. Cab Driver, Freedom Train, Sitting on Top of the World

5/5

Only really heard his hits before. Enjoyed this more than I was expecting great debut and probably deserves its place on the list.