4/5
Electric Dreams.
Firmly in his own vault, not the one that's currently being picked apart at Paisley Park, Lenny Kravitz holds an unreleased album with the late, great Prince. Something the two funky and too freaky guitar Gods were working on together before Prince proclaimed at the end of the sessions, something like, "this is just for us!"
Talk about a kind of blue. You can imagine the look on his face behind those iconic, signature shades.
Maybe some of that can be heard on the 'Blue Electric Light' of Lenny's latest album, which now sets him at a baker's dozen (twelfth for twelve) with his first LP since the 'Raise Vibration' of 2018. It's been a long six years. In that time, he's recorded songs for soundtracks (like the 'Road To Freedom' for Colman Domingo's Oscar nominated civil rights drama 'Rustin' (this album was actually pushed back for Lenny to honour commitments to Bayard Rustin) on Netflix). He's been chosen as the "main event" at the UEFA Champions League final. He's become a nominee for the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. Zoë's pop also got his Soul Train flowers. AND was named one of PETA's 'Most Beautiful Vegan Celebrities'.
Get your teeth into all that...but let's hope they are faux leather pants.
It looks like Lenny is finally getting the props he deserved. The ones he said he already had earned in an epic Esquire interview last fall. But what about that album? Spearheaded by the big three singles of 'TK421', 'Human' and the latest 'Paralyzed' ("You’re the sun that always shines/Stare you down until I’m blind/Everyday my dreams come true/I can’t get enough of you"), you can hear Prince drums fresh from a 'Purple Rain' on tracks like 'Stuck In The Middle', 'Bundle Of Joy' and 'Spirit In My Heart'. It's like a new revolution for the power of your generation.
Yet, from the beautiful beginnings of 'It's Just Another Fine Day (In This Universe Of Love)' that pledges "All our days are borrowed/And we don’t know tomorrow/I hear your voice, feel your power/Let’s heal our souls from sorrow", to the titular track classic closer, this 'Blue Electric Light' is beautiful for your Oyster Cult in an electron blue that R.E.M. sang about. It's a dream from one of the genre's, and all the other ones he encompasses in this musical landscape, greatest. A Roxie Record smooth groove recorded in the Bahamas like 'Eleuthera' evoking as Lenny let's love rule once again in a world that sorely needs it right now. Even more than ever.
Sweet like Mariah Carey 'Honey', floating like a butterfly, Lenny lets the drums roll on a funky slow bassline that sets the mood like Al Green's 'Let's Stay Together' as Kravitz sings, "my spirit starts to move when I look in your eyes/And I'm shaking, baby 'cause your spell's got me hypnotized." Keeping it rolling as he 'Let(s) It Ride' on the futuristic funk of something the purple one would have been proud of ("can I eat your mind?" Well, that depends, buddy. You gonna buy me dinner first?) for this 'Blue Electric Light'.
Still, it's the spiritual duo of 'Heaven' and 'Love Is My Religion' that you'll really put two hands together for. 'Heaven' helps us to even more of that island soul and Prince drumbeats as Len sings, "killing in the name of God, it won't do/I just can't believe that we can't live together." Whereas the religion of love gets down on two knees at the pulpit and prays, "love is my God/ I keep believing, and I'll never stop." Amen.
A dozen definitive tracks for this terrific twelfth set. Electric and eclectic in a beautiful blue. Let the light shine. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'TK421', 'Human', 'Love Is My Religion'.
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