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Lenny Kravitz e` un personaggio singolare della musica rock. Musicista di colore
come Jimi Hendrix, ha un retroterra multiculturale come pochi e una sensibilita`
retro quasi unica.
Lenny Kravitz, nato a New York nel 1965, figlio di un'attrice televisiva di
colore e di un produttore di telegiornale russo-ebreo, cresciuto a Los Angeles
(dove ebbe per compagni di classe il futuro Slash e
Maria McKee) e alle Bahamas,
si affermo'
con Let Love Rule (Virgin, 1989), sul quale suona chitarra, organo e
batteria,
come un tardo esponente della generazione di Woodstock (o, meglio, di
Monterey), che ricicla la fusion di soul, funk e rock resa celebre da Hendrix,
Sly Stone e Prince (Let Love Rule, Mr Cab Driver ),
e la psichedelia piu` barocca degli anni '60
(I Built This Garden For Us),
con il pretesto di tematiche hippie.
A renderlo famoso non furono tanto i brani di quel disco
ne' il successivo Mama Said (Virgin, 1990), in cui spaziava con maggior
padronanza
da Stop Draggin' Round in chiave "hendrixiana" al soul "dolce" di
It Ain't Over Till It's Over, dal lamento Lennon-iano di
Stand By My Woman al singolo violento Always On The Run,
bensi` la Justify My Love che scrisse per
Madonna nel 1991.
Are You Gonna Go My Way (Virgin, 1993) ripete stancamente
il canovaccio dei dischi precedenti, oscillando fra un rock alla Hendrix
(Are You Gonna Go My Way)
e un popsoul sempre piu` sensuale (Black Girl). Le novita` sono
un hard-rock come Is There Any Love In Your Heart e un funk da discoteca
come Sugar.
Il disco sara` comunque il suo best-seller.
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(Translated by Elena Castelli)
Lenny Kravitz is a peculiar character of rock music.
A black musician as Hendrix, Kravitz boasts a multicultural background
as anybody ever had and an almost unique sensibility.
Lenny Kravitz, born in New York in 1965 to a black television actress
and to a Russian-Jewish tv news producter, grew up in Los Angeles
(where he had as schoolmates the current Slash and Maria McKee) and in the
Bahamas, became famous with Let Love Rule, in Which he plays guitar, organ and
drums, as a late proponent of the Woodstock generation (or better, Monterey)
who recycled the fusion of soul, funk and rock made
famous from Hendrix, Sly Stone and Prince, and the most baroque psichedelia of
the 1960s', using the pretext of hippies themes.
What made him famous were neither the pieces of that record nor the following
Mama Said, in which he runs with more control from Stop draggin'Round in Hendrix Style to the sweet soul of It Ain't Over Till It's Over,
from the Lennon's lament of Stand By My Woman to the violent single Always On The Run, but rather Justify My Love
which was written for Madonna in 1991.
Are You Gonna Go My Way repeats wearily the pattern of previous records,
ranging between a Hendrix rock
and an ever more sensual popsoul style.
The news are a hard-rock tracks like Is There Any Love In Your Heart and a
funky disco track like Sugar. However, that record will become his best-seller.
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