Review by Paul Monkhouse for MPM
One of the coolest people on the planet, Lenny Kravitz has been spreading his cosmic love for thirty-five years now. Things have changed certainly from his ‘Let Love Rule’ debut in 1989, the artist growing and moving as his muse guided him and ‘Blue Electric Light’ sees Kravitz with one foot in the now but the other firmly planted in the 1970’s.
Always a bit of a chameleon, like Bowie and Prince before him, this approach is one that really works and shows a confidence in what he’s creating rather than any rudderless drifting. The key here is his skill in seamlessly blending sounds to produce something that embraces the past fifty years of music but shot through with his very own stamp of soulful wizardry.
Whilst most of the album is far from some of the early, rockier output, there’s still so much to love and explore, his kaleidoscopic talent on dazzling form and firing on all cylinders. The strident, arse-kicking rhythm of ‘Are You Gonna Go My Way’ is replaced here with a very different opener in the chilled and sunny vibe of ‘It’s Just Another Fine Day (In This Universe of Love)’, a first step on a journey that twists and turns into dip into Alice’s Wonderland.
From the pastoral to the stratospheric, the spacey stomper ‘TK421’ adds a futuristic sheen before the smooth and soulful ‘Honey’ brings things back down to earth with a warm and sensually intent embrace.
Dusting off his guitar, ‘Paralyzed’ rocks with a dripping testosterone that beats its chest like prime 70’s swagger, the ability to turn up the volume certainly not a thing of the past in this world that Kravitz has created. Elsewhere, the dizzying shifts in tone are more a voyage of discovery that keep things fresh rather than utterly disorientating and when the bright, shiny 80’s pop feel of ‘Human’ and the electronic shimmer and stutter of a sensual ‘Let It Ride’ can sit together happily there’s nothing to do but bathe in its wonder.
This free-spirited ethos crackles with an otherworldy electricity but its when Kravitz channels the modern funk of the aforementioned Prince on numbers like ‘Bundle of Joy’ and ‘Heaven’ that sparks really fly the highest.
Whilst the sound and fury that stole the show from Aerosmith at Wembley Stadium back a few years ago may be toned down a little, this newer man of the world with all his free-spirited vibes is a much more rounded performer.
He was great then, but time has seen his particular growth as an artist really reap rewards and by the time the closing triumph of the title track comes, its grandstanding yet assuredly cool form hitting all the right emotions, it’s a sign that magic still exists.
Where he goes to next is anyone’s guess but that’s a thought for another day as the waves of ‘Electric Blue Light’ radiate out and Kravitz continues to create unique art on such a lustrous canvas.
Blue Electric Light out now: https://lennykravitz.lnk.to/BlueElect…
