Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way [2 LP] (LP) M

Personnel: Lenny Kravitz (vocals, electric & acoustic guitars, Mellotron, bass, drums, chimes); Craig Ross (acoustic & electric guitars); Dave Domanich (electric guitar, drums); Eric Delente, Soye Kim, Robert Lawrence (violins); Sarah Adams, Liuh-Wen Ting (viola); Allen Whear, Frank Murphy (cello); Michael Hunter (French horn, flugelhorn); Henry Hirsch (piano, Wurlitzer organ, synthesizer, bass); Michael "Ibo" Cooper (Hammond B-3 organ, Clavinet); Carolyn Davis Fryer (acoustic bass); Tony Breit (bass); Gerry DeVeaux, Angie Stone (background vocals).
Recorded at Waterfront Recording Studios, Hoboken, New Jersey.
Lenny Kravitz's performance of "Are You Gonna Go My Way" was nominated for a 1994 Grammy Award as "Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo."
"Are You Gonna Go My Way" (Lenny Kravitz/Craig Ross) was nominated for a 1994 Grammy Award as "Best Rock Song."
Lenny Kravitz comes roaring out of the gate on his third full-length release, ARE YOU GONNA GO MY WAY, with the lead-off title track--a blazing, riff-propelled rocker that proudly bears the influence of Jimi Hendrix. As evidenced by that song's homage, Kravitz's late-1960s and early-'70s fixations are still firmly in place here (especially on the Led Zeppelin-esque "Is There Any Love in Your Heart" and "My Love," which recalls SGT. PEPPER'S-era Beatles). However, the singer/multi-instrumentalist also expands his palette on this album with the contemporary R&B of "Heaven Help" and the reggae-drenched "Eleutheria."
Fortunately for fans of Kravitz's tried-and-true aesthetic, he never strays far from his stomping grounds. "Believe" draws on dreamy '60s soul (complete with phased vocals and sing-along chorus), and "Come On and Love Me" works a hard funk-rock groove. Kravitz's retro-minded songwriting and rough-hewn voice (which revs on upbeat tunes and croons soulfully on ballads) conjure the spirits of rock's greatest icons, updating pop's history books in one stylish, hard-to-resist package.

• Genre: Pop
• RSD Date: DDD
• Format: Vinyl