Lenny Kravitz - Mama Said (1991) {Virgin} **[RE-UP]**

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Lenny Kravitz - Mama Said (1991) {Virgin} **[RE-UP]**

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It may be hard to believe now, and then again maybe not, but there was a time when Lenny Kravitz came off like the Paris Hilton of rock & roll. Or at least made himself out to be bigger than others even if he was homeless and without a control. He was known in some circles as Romeo Blue, a black guy who was a rocker, a hybrid of Jimi Hendrix and Prince. He would be part of the L.A. rock scene, seen but rarely heard, someone who seemed to know how to promote himself but without ever doing much. Or so it seemed. Romeo Blue became a "someone" only when he hooked up with actress Lisa Bonet. How could this Cosby kid hang out with this bohemian nobody? No one knows.

Bonet was one of the "it" actresses of the moment, being the "bohemian" in the American television show The Cosby Show, where she would become the more eccentric member of the family. This was more true to what she was about in real life, so maybe the union between her and Romeo Blue was inevitable. Blue knocked the bullshit off and decided to let the world know what his real name was: Lenny Kravitz. People still thought he was pulling a Whoopi Goldberg: a man like him, with a man like Kravitz? In his case it was true, as his father was an NBC-TV executive (and maybe that's how he hooked up with Bonet) and his mother a well known actress, Roxie Roker. When Kravitz was signed to Virgin, people weren't sure if he could pull it off. Then the promotional machine started to roll. It seemed to be perfect timing too, for 1989 coincided with the 20th anniversary of Woodstock, people were talking about the wonders of the late 60's and approached the 90's with uncertainty. When he came out with Let Love Rule it received as much praise as it did hate. Some felt he was the new John Lennon, while some felt all he did was duplicate what everyone had done before. The album may have had the vibe of Lennon, but Kravitz took a cue from Paul McCartney by playing the majority of instruments on the album.

As Kravitz was putting together his second album, he was going through a lot of issues and problems. He had since married Bonet, but the relationship was falling apart. At the same time his first child was born, daughter Zoë. He was a free spirit with a conscience, and he brought that to the forefront on Mama Said. He brought in high school buddy Slash to play in two songs, as well as jazz musician Karl Denson. The new material still had a retro sound, but was a lot more funkier in spots, as if his love for Stevie Wonder (the horn passage at the end of "Always On The Run") and Curtis Mayfield ("What Goes Around Comes Around") were entering the picture.

Kravitz not only had a love for music from the late 60's and early 70's, but that love carried on to how he recorded the album, which is all analog. The production techniques make it sound very much like a long lost 70's album, which may be heard in the warmth of the drums, the harmony of the horns, the use of the Mellotron, or the extreme panning effects. Todd Rundgren would be proud.

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Lenny Kravitz - Mama Said (1991) {Virgin} **[RE-UP]**

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Moving forward a couple years from the psychedelic fixations of his debut, Mama Said finds Lenny Kravitz in the early '70s, trying to graft Curtis Mayfield and Jimi Hendrix influences to his Prince and Lennon obsessions. This time around, he synthesizes his influences better; it's essentially a seamless record, with all of its classic rock homages so carefully produced that it sounds as if it could have been released in 1972. Kravitz's songcraft has gotten better as well, with the swirling Philly soul of "It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over" and the rampaging Sly Stone-meets-Hendrix "Always on the Run" standing out as instantly addictive singles. Still, some of the joy that informed Let Love Rule has worn off, largely because it's more polished and studied than its predecessor. That, however, doesn't prevent Mama Said from being another thoroughly enjoyable guilty pleasure – its sweet soul and fuzzy hard rock are slyly seductive. Ironically for such an inviting record, Mama Said is Kravitz's divorce album, yet it never quite conveys any true pain or emotion, since he puts sound over substance. Essentially, the lyrics are afterthoughts, but with a record as immaculately produced and sonically pleasurable as Mama Said, it doesn't really matter that it's talking loud and saying nothing, because it sounds good while it's talking.

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Lenny Kravitz - Mama Said (1991) {Virgin} **[RE-UP]**

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