Cons: Lenny wears his influences on his sleeve, and sometimes they're TOO obvious.
The Bottom Line: "Mama Said" marked Lenny Kravitz's artistic breakthrough. With thoughtful (if cliche) lyrics and some great playing, this is close to, if not his best album.
speeddemon531's Full Review: Mama Said [Edited] [PA] by Lenny Kravitz
Before Lenny Kravitz was LENNY KRAVITZ, he was better known as Mr. Lisa Bonet. At the time Kravitz recorded and released his debut, Let Love Rule, Bonet (who played Denise Huxtable on The Cosby Show) was the much bigger star, and consequently Kravitz took a lot of guff for what was seen as him riding on his wife's coattails. He took equal amounts of guff for a sound that was a throwback to the flower-power Sixties, with hippy-dippy lyrics and a sound that suggested that Lenny had been listening to way too much Beatles. Of course, twenty years into his career, Kravitz has the last laugh, but at the outset of his career, it appeared that he was destined to be a footnote in rock history-the dude who was married to the Cosby kid.
Somewhat ironically, it took Lenny's split from Lisa to establish him as a star. 1991's Mama Said is unquestionably his "divorce" album, as many of the songs deal with heartbreak and can be seen as open letters to Lisa. It wound up becoming his breakthrough album commercially as well as one of the better albums in his catalog. Nearly two decades later, it still holds up as one of the better genre-blending experiments in Nineties music. There's a little something for everyone here-easy listening pop, funky soul and sneering rock.
Lenny's first album, Let Love Rule, was sort of a homage to the Sixties, so it seemed only fitting that Lenny move into the next decade with the follow-up. Despite their obvious cliche titles, What Goes Around Comes Around and It Ain't Over 'til It's Over are two of Mama Said's better songs. The former is a world-weary song that will remind you of Curtis Mayfield's "Superfly", from the mellow but funky musical background to Lenny's falsetto vocal. Lenny keeps the falsetto goods coming on It Ain't Over 'til It's Over, a lush throwback soul number that wound up giving Lenny his first taste of chart success, hitting #2 on the charts.
While those songs find Lenny indulging his smooth side, it's certainly not the only mood on the album. The aggressive Always on the Run has a swaggering bassline as well as some tasty riffage from Guns 'n Roses guitarist Slash. Lenny's vocal is full of attitude here, and the song turns out to be a near-perfect mix of funk and rock. The anguished All I Ever Wanted and the pretty piano ballad Stand by My Woman (which has a passing resemblance to John Lennon's "Imagine") serve as the other side of the coin, finding Lenny at his most vulnerable and heartbroken. Turning away from the subject of the impending end of his relationship, Lenny sings about a drug-addicted friend on the Hendrix-esque When the Morning Turns to Night, ponders the state of the world on the dark What the F*ck Are We Saying? (written with a teenage Sean Lennon) and pays tribute to his daughter on the folky Flowers for Zoe.
Any discussion of anything that has to do with Lenny Kravitz will undoubtedly contain the word "derivative", and it's true, Lenny definitely wears his influences on his sleeve. This is one of the albums where those influences are more obvious (you can tell that he's going after a sound similar to popular oldies), but it holds up remarkably well despite that. The feeling and soul he puts into these songs is definitely not derivative, and you can tell he has immersed himself in these songs, even the ones that don't directly address the heartbreak he was going through have a personal edge to them. Furthermore, he doesn't sound jaded the way he has on more recent albums. If you're just getting into Lenny Kravitz for the first time, Mama Said is probably the album I'd suggest you pick up.
"Mama Said" by Lenny Kravitz Released 1991 on Virgin Records Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Track Listing: Fields of Joy/Always on the Run/Stand By My Woman/It Ain't Over'til It's Over/More Than Anything in This World/What Goes Around Comes Around/The Difference is Why/Stop Draggin' Around/Flowers for Zoe/Fields of Joy (reprise)/All I Ever Wanted/When the Morning Turns to Night/What the F*ck Are We Saying?/Butterfly
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
![Mama Said [Edited] [PA] by Lenny Kravitz](http://di1.shopping.com/images1/pi/6c/5e/3a/2002013573-177x150-0-0.jpg)
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.