FEATURE:
Second Spin
Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way
___________
I have featured Lenny Kravitz before …
when I included his 1991 album, Mama Said, in Vinyl Corner. It is, perhaps, his greatest album and one that includes incredible songs such as It Ain't Over 'til It's Over, and Always on the Run. I think that the follow-up, Are You Gonna Go My Way, of 1993 is less regarded and seen as weaker than Mama Said. I feel that it has been positively reviewed by some, though others feel it lacks the importance and consistency of Mama Said. I think the first Lenny Kravitz album I experienced when growing up was Are You Gonna Go My Way. Its title track was a single I remember fondly and, before I bring in a couple of reviews for the album, a little background is required. Recorded at Waterfront Studios, Hoboken, New Jersey, whilst some fee that Are You Gonna Go My Way is one of Kravitz’s best works, there are reviews that are pretty mixed. Apart from the title track, one does not hear too much from the album. Believe, and Just Be a Woman are other particularly strong cuts from the album. Are You Gonna Go My Way has been very successful, not only in the United States but also worldwide - particularly in Europe and South America. It reached number-twelve on the Billboard 200 and number-one in the U.K. It is a shame that there has been some mixed reception among the acclaim for Kravitz’s third studio album.
I think it is the non-singles that strike hardest on Are You Gonna Go My Way. Sugar, and Sister are sublime, whilst My Love is one of his very finest tracks. I think 1993 was one of the most important years for music in my view. That is when I was really immersing myself in the sounds of the times. Released on 9th March, 1993, Are You Gonna Go My Way was a big album when I was at middle school. Pop Matters reviewed the Deluxe edition of Are You Gonna Go My Way in 2013 – they gave it a mixed review:
“The ghost of Led Zeppelin appears now and then on the actual album, but its presence is strongest on these demos and b-sides. The non-album single/Reality Bites soundtrack cut "Spinning Around Over You" has such a characteristically Jimmy Page riff, it's surprising he didn't sue for royalties. Maybe the irony of it might have been too much even for him. Not all of this can be laid on Kravitz' door, as guitarist Craig Ross certainly added his own Page-isms to the mix. On b-side "Someone Like You", Kravitz, Ross, and company use a guitar tone straight out of Page's book to pay homage to the Beatles, with a huge dollop of "She Said She Said", Lennonesque vocal doubling, and a dash of the "I got blisters on my fingers" echoed background voicing from "Helter Skelter". It works because the sources are so strong, not because the resulting song is a masterpiece on its own.
On Are You Gonna Go My Way, those steps happened again and again. Listen to the organ work and arrangements by Henry Hirsch and Kravitz on "Believe"; they're straight out of the John Paul Jones handbook, but Led Zeppelin never went for that sort of deep soul. Same with that Jimmy Page guitar from Craig Ross on "Is There Any Love in Your Heart" -- those ultra-talented Brits could play funk, but the meld here is Kravitz's own kind of nasty beast. The debt to John Lennon on a song like "My Love" is a little different, as the vocal tricks, doubling, and range make it harder to hear that the mix of blues rock and Beatlesque harmonies Lenny Kravitz crafts is one of his own.
This was not a perfect album in 1993, and its problems remain the same 20 years later. There are still some songs that feel half-baked if beautifully played and recorded; "Eleutheria", for instance, has one of the strongest vocal performances on any of his records, but the limp reggae backing track is a nightmare. Even the sublime organ from Michael "Ibo" Cooper of genre stalwarts Third World can't rescue it from Maxi Priest b-side territory. To close the record with it was criminal”.
I have a lot of respect for Lenny Kravitz. I think some of his later work lacks a certain depth and memorability, but his first three albums are sublime. From his masterful 1989 debut, Let Love Rule, to Mama Said (which is thirty in April), and 1993’s Are You Gonna Go My Way, the New York-based Kravitz was in incredible form!
I want to bring in a review from AllMusic. Although they note clear influences for Kravitz, they highlight positives on Are You Gonna Go My Way:
“The cover indicates that Are You Gonna Go My Way is Lenny Kravitz's bid for rock stardom. Designed in the style of an early-'70s record, it features Kravitz in hippie clothing, apparently exposing himself to a photographer -- in other words, he's a dangerously sexy counterculture rebel. That may have been true in 1970, but in 1993, he simply sounds like a weird sideshow exhibit, the man who never lived past 1973. Of course, it's easy to make such potshots, but Kravitz opens himself up to such attacks. No other artist, especially a successful one, has been quite so devoted to the past and ignorant of the present. Since he has considerable talent for songcraft and production, Kravitz isn't nearly as bad as he could be, and Are You Gonna Go My Way is just as enjoyable and more accomplished than its predecessors. This time around, Hendrix is his chief influence, as evidenced by the roaring title track, and he does expand that with his traditional Lennon, Curtis Mayfield, and Prince obsessions. Song for song, it's his most consistent album, although by the end of the record, his painstaking reproduction of classic rock sounds begins to appear a bit too studied, suggesting that Kravitz may have hit a creative wall. Nevertheless, that does nothing to diminish the enjoyment of this record”.
I will end up by sourcing from a great article from udiscovermusic from last year:
“In many ways, his third studio album, Are You Gonna Go My Way, released on 9 March 1993, is a homage record. In much the same way that poets write homages in tribute to their mentors, Are You Gonna Go My Way takes the very best of 60s and 70s rock, soul, R&B and reggae, from Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin to The Beatles and Al Green, Bill Withers and Curtis Mayfield, to craft a tight, compelling album.
Even with his penchant for vintage analogue equipment, clothing and musical styles, Are You Gonna Go My Way is very much a product of the sampling culture of the 90s. And while Kravitz had already tasted success with his first two albums, Are You Gonna Go My Way – and its title track – proved he was no mere nostalgia merchant.
As a black musician who wailed on guitar, Kravitz was faced with immediate comparisons to Jimi Hendrix. With his phase-shifter guitar in hand, declaring himself “the chosen, the one come to save the day” in the indelible music video, it was hard to argue otherwise.
Comparisons aside, from the infectious opening riffage over a pounding snare drum, to the fuzz lead over phased-out guitars during the coda, it was clear that Kravitz had penned a rock classic with ‘Are You Gonna Go My Way’.
Hailed as the new Gen Xer rock star, Kravitz didn’t confine his talents to guitar-driven rock. The chameleonic multi-instrumentalist, who produced, wrote and arranged the album, also paid tribute to his soul, funk and R&B heroes. ‘Come On And Love Me’ has a funky Prince vibe, while ‘Heaven Help’ has the sparse instrumentation and hopeful hopelessness of Bill Withers. Elsewhere, the subtle horns on ‘Sugar’ bring to mind Al Green, while the strings on both ‘Sugar’ and ’Sister‘ evoke Curtis Mayfield. Kravitz even dabbles with reggae on ‘Eleutheria’, a tribute to the Bahamian island Eleuthera, to which he would eventually move.
Kravitz continues his homage with the album’s second track and single ‘Believe’. The song begins with an organ intro reminiscent of John Paul Jones’ Hammond coda on Led Zeppelin’s ‘Your Time Is Gonna Come’, and also features that chime-like, Beatles guitar tone you can hear so much of on Abbey Road”.
If you have not heard Lenny Kravitz’s Are You Gonna Go My Way, ensure that you check out an album that boasts some terrific songs. Maybe it is best-known for its titular single, but there is not a weak or wasted moment on Are You Gonna Go My Way. I feel that it is an album that has received some unfair criticism and, in some cases, a half-hearted pat on the back. The more you listen to Are You Gonna Go My Way, the more phenomenal it gets! I feel that Lenny Kravitz’s third studio album is deserving of…
NEW evaluation.