Lenny Kravitz, Let Love Rule

This was not the first Lenny Kravitz album I bought. For much of high school, when I veered towards pop and folk songs, Lenny Kravitz seemed like someone whose music I wouldn't like. He seemed almost metal — 'dreds flying everywhere, a severe looking electric guitar. I was wrong, of course. I might have become enamored by his music during the VH1 Behind the Music about him, but I may be mistaken.

In any event, I like Lenny Kravitz. He has a good ear for melody, and is one of those rare artists who can make his rocking songs sound just as good as his slower stuff.

Let Love Rule, his first album, is not him in his prime. I do love the title track, but some of the other songs don't have the hooks that others do. Sometimes on this album, he reminds me of the novice jazz improviser who plays a measure that he really likes during a solo and then just plays that measure over and over again because he knows it sounds good. But then it starts sounding boring and repetitive, and he's got nothing else to save him.