Lenny Kravitz - Lenny 
Label: Virgin
Rating: 
 

Having tasted the sweet fruit of mainstream success with his last studio album, Lenny Kravitz wasn't going to take any chances on losing his new found audience with this new release "Lenny".  If anything his go for the middle ground approach this time gives this album a consistency missing from his past releases which seemed to go from full throttle rockers to "cigarette lighters in the air" ballads. 

Lenny still knows how to rock, but his guitars are a bit subtler this time around and his ballads capture a more "rock" feel than his previous love opuses. While Kravitz has found fame on his own terms, refusing to cash in on trends and instead focusing on modernizing classic rock and funk grooves, "Lenny" doesn't exactly break with that tradition as much as it skates around the edges of the modern mainstream rock world. Collectively, this album contains some of Kravitz's finest work to date and shows that Lenny hasn't let his new found commercial appeal go to his head too much. 

The bottom line is "Lenny" is a worthy addition to any Kravitz fan's CD library as well as a welcome new acquisition for guitar rock fans.