Day 0637 - Let Love Rule

Lenny Kravitz "Let Love Rule" (1989)

Lenny recorded his debut album almost single-handedly, playing all of the drums, guitars and vocals, with a few guest musicians overdubbing other instruments. 

He had slowly been building his artistic chops, learning various musical instruments, performing in the California Boys Choir,  acting in commercials, and developing music under the moniker Romeo Blue.  By the time he was ready to release the album, he had dropped his nom de plume and released the album as Lenny Kravitz. 

Kravitz had been in the news around this time for eloping with then-partner Lisa Bonet, who was well known for her role in the Cosby Show.  Not surprisingly she is the subject of songs on the album, and helped write a couple of them.

The ingredients for Kravitz's sound, though it has changed a little throughout the years, are laid out here.  Soulful rock vocals, Beatles-esque backing vocals, funky Hendrix-style guitar, Ringo-style drumming.  It's pretty well laid out in the song that I knew best here before listening through the album "I Build this Garden for us".

This album features some horns and the odd ballad to mix things up.  You could never call Kravitz the most original musician/composer ever, as his influences are worn very much on sleeve, but he still makes some enjoyable music.

Day 0381 - One World

John Martyn "One World" (1977)

 
Martyn was by this time burnt out on the music industry.  A hippy folkster who'd lived several of these years in a druggy haze.  Martyn took some time out to chill out and clean up in Jamaica with producer Lee 'Scratch' Perry.

Martyn came back kicking, with this album that meshes his folk background with some modern instrumentation and interesting techniques (some songs were recorded outside at night with additional microphones set up at a distance to capture the ambience). "Big Muff" despite being the name of one of the more popular guitar fuzz pedals, is a beautifully atmospheric and melodic track.

Day 0375 - Hard Again

Muddy Waters "Hard Again" (1977) - got it

Muddy let's everyone know how hard he is... thanks Mud'

Muddy had recently parted company with Chess Records after some 28 years and set out to prove that he still had it: spoiler: he did!

I find that the blues... I can take em or leave em. My issue with them is much the same as my problems with reggae, that there is some good material, but that over the runtime of an album it all starts to sound a bit 'samey'.  I belive that part of the draw with the blues is the stories, but as I don't spend much time listening to lyrics, that doesn't elevate the material at all for me.

With that all said, this album is at another level. Hard is in fact one of the better adjectives to describe these tracks, and the arrangements are pretty straightforward.  The vocals are unadorned and passionate, and this music rocks!  There are some tracks here that would give Hendrix a run for his money as far as rocking, deep-grooving blues go.

This is an album that I actually picked up as a result of listening to it for this list.

Day 0008 - The Chirping Crickets

The Crickets "The Chirping Crickets"

The most interesting thing that struck me on reading the entry in the book (other than the fact that the album is well under half an hour) is that this is the only LP to feature Buddy Holly that was released during his lifetime.  I wasn't that familiar with his death aside from the fact that he died in a plane crash, but I'd always assumed that it was at the end of a very long run in the music industry.

As is often the case with albums in the 50s and early 60s, there's not a lot of diversity across the album, but the Crickets really keep it fresh between doowoppy ballads and upbeat rockabilly so that it never really feels stale.

Love the backing vocals from the Crickets