Sunday, November 01, 2009
A+E, Music, Reviews

Lenny Kravitz

“LET LOVE RULE” (20TH ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION)  (VIRGIN)

Depending on how you look at it, reissuing a 20-year-old album with extra tracks (and a second platter of live recordings), then touring behind it, is either a joyous, victory-lap nod to an influential musician’s past or a desperate attempt to wring extra cash from a dwindling fan base.

    We’ll leave the latter theory for ornery music-business majors and concentrate on Kravitz’s 1989 classic, now expanded to a lavishly appointed double package featuring remastered sound, rare B-sides, home demos and an entire 1990 concert from Boston’s Paradise club. While “… Rule” never ranked higher than No. 61 on Billboard’s album chart, it’s a remarkably durable mile marker that encapsulates many of the influences that flourished on future Kravitz releases.

Listening to “Rule” now, it’s remarkable to note that it was a predominantly self-recorded and produced project, with only occasional overdubbed guests—including saxophonist Karl Denson, who displays his sizzling chops on the live material.

    Even if some of the lyrical concepts are dated—most notably the “We can all live as one” hippie vibe that permeates songs such as “I Built This Garden for Us,” “Flower Child” and the title cut, and continues to be a thread in Kravitz’s work, as seen from 2008’s “It Is Time for a Love Revolution”—they were dated back in 1989, too. But the funky rock-soul edge of “Mr. Cab Driver” and the Sly Stone-influenced “Blues for Sister Someone” sound as raw, rugged and refreshing today as they did two decades ago. 3.5 STARS—Hal Horowitz