Lenny Kravitz

Are You Gonna Go My Way

The beginning of Lenny's road to critical acceptance

Review Score:

(10/10)
By most artist's third albums, the artist is beginning to rehash old ideas & lose their inspiration. Others start to finally find their footing & discover their own sound, which is what happened to Lenny Kravitz. After his bitter divorce from Lisa Bonet, Lenny had to have been both angry & bitter about losing his chance at love as well as with his dissatisfaction with the world in general. This not only brought a more pronounced edginess in his music, but maybe intensified his search for his own identity, which finally started to happen on his third album 1993's ARE YOU GONNA GO MY WAY?. 1989's LET LOVE RULE was firmly rooted in Beatles-derived psychedelia, while 1991's MAMA SAID had him ever so slightly updating himself towards early '70s soul. ARE YOU GONNA GO MY WAY? finds Lenny backtracking a little towards the late 1960s, but not staying there totally.

The opening title track was indeed the biggest hit from this album, a piledriving tune that could have easily been a Cream outtake. But I dare you not to start banging your head to this 3 1/2-minute slice of blues-rock that is sure to get any party started. The retro-rock continues on "Come On & Love Me" (which is more suited for the bedroom than the bar), "My Love" & "Is There Any Love In Your Heart" (probably a raspberry to Lisa Bonet), establishing Lenny's main personality as a rocker.

But the real focus of the album is old-school soul on songs like "Heaven Help" (later covered by Angie Stone), the album's second single "Believe" (could have used some lyrical help, but still enjoyable), "Just Be A Woman", & "Sugar". With all that, the album's biggest surprise is the reggae-tinged closer "Eleutheria", which in spite of its esoteric title indicates that a Bob Marley influence may be another part of Lenny we have yet to see exploited further.

ARE YOU GONNA GO MY WAY surely does show that Lenny Kravitz was starting to make his influences a part of him & not the opposite. Whether it was agony over his failed marriage to Lisa Bonet or the growing critical scorn against him, something gave Lenny a kick in the pants towards making better music. As a result, critics really did start seeing the light & fans began to see that there was more to Lenny Kravitz than a musician born about two decades too late. Furthermore, it resulted in Lenny's best album to date, one that wouldn't be equaled until 2001's LENNY.

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