Customer Reviews

Baptism

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I could easily just write the word "Awesome" and explain this cd thoroughly, but it deserves way more praise than that. I must say that Baptism is the album where Lenny comes back, and back with a vengance!!!! Every single song on this album really felt like he was singing from his heart, like the lyrics had meaning rather than just sounding good. Not only were the lyrics good, but also the music is just as good if not better! If every song were an instrumental, I'd enjoy it just as much. Although I am a little saddened that his former drummer Cindy Blackman is no longer part of his band, I must say the new band (including the back up singers) are great. The music was put together, written, aranged and performed greatly. The ballads were simple, but beautiful. Perhaps it is the simplicity, which made it so great for his ballad "Calling all Angels" track 4. It was pure and he wasn't trying so hard...it just came out simply sounding great. I also thought "Baptized" track 8 was a ballad that was written with feeling and soul.

Now on to my favorite part of this album.... the faster, more upbeat, ROCK n' ROLL songs!!! Tracks like "Lady", "Flash", "Where are we Runnin'" and "I Don't Want to be a Star" made me want to dance, move, tap my feet and slap the steering wheel while listening and driving! These were songs that truly brought us back to the true Lenny. Not so much cookie cutter...the Lenny we all love and going from tracks like "Minister of Rock n' Roll" to "Storm", really showed that diverse side of Lenny. He can easily go from Rock n' roll to a more r&b, hip-hop song; something only Lenny can do so graciously. The only negative thing in my opinion is that for "Storm", it would've been better without JayZ. I like JayZ and all but I really didn't see the need for him in this song.

Overall, this album is worth buying whether you are a Lenny fan or just a fan of good music.

I picked this album up used at a record store for $6, and I think it's well worth it. I'd only heard "Lady" (pretty good) and "Where are we Runnin'?" (great), so I thought I'd get it. I like the album for about half the songs. I appreciate that Lenny does slow songs, but 6 out of 13 songs? I don't even find them very good slow songs. If they were good slow songs, I'd give this CD 5 stars, but no. The fast songs are really good, so why aren't the rest like that?

1. Minister of Rock 'N' Roll: 9.5/10 Perfect way to start the album.
2. I Don't Want To Be a Star: 7/10 I don't like his whiny voice in the intro and chorus, but the verses are good.
3. Lady: 8/10 Too long and repetitive, but the solo is cool.
4. Calling All Angels: 5/10 Ugh. Slow, boring, lame lyrics, too long, etc. Skip this track.
5. California: 9/10 Fun song, good tune to dance to.
6. Sistamamalover: 9/10: Nice funky feel to the song, but odd lyrics.
7. Where Are We Runnin'?: 10/10 Awesome. Heavy bass, heavy guitar, good verses.
8. Baptized: 7/10 Bad verses, good chorus.
9. Flash: 9.5/10 I love this song. Again, odd lyrics, but good.
10. What Did I Do With My Life?: 7/10 Lenny sounds like Elvis Costello in this song, but it doesn't help.
11. Storm: 9/10 Another funky song, but this has Jay-Z, so it's that much better.
12. The Other Side: 6.5/10 Wow. This sounds just like all the other piano ballads on this album.
13. Destiny: 6/10 Sub-par defines this song. Lenny with an acoustic guitar and a falsetto. Almost worse than it sounds.

Apparently a lot of people don't seem to care about this album. I was really surprised to see that this is only the twentieth review for it. Basically, I've always been a fan of Lenny Kravitz, but like another reviewer said, things have been going south since 5. Take his last album, Lenny, for example: it was one of those albums that critics loved but fans hated. I agreed with the rest of the fans, because aside from "Dig In", it really didn't have much to offer. And I hoped that Baptism would be a step up, but it's not. But it's not a step DOWN either; it's more like an equivalent of walking in place.

Editorial reviewer Robert Burrow really reviewed this album well (and what IS going on on the album cover?), but I'll voice my own opinion here also. It's not to say that the entire album is bad, but I'll just say that it's a good thing his label picked "Where Are We Runnin'", "California" and "Lady" as the singles, because those are really the only completely good songs on here. There's also one of those not-quite-great, not-quite-filler songs: "Storm" with Jay-Z. It's better than Jay and Lenny's "Guns and Roses", but that's not really saying much.

The mellow songs on the album aren't impressive either. "Calling All Angels" really starts to drag after a while, but the biggest problem is that Lenny sings these smooth songs in very strange voices. This is obvious by listening to "What Did I Do With My Life" and the strangely produced "The Other Side". But the greatest mistake he made would have to be his choice to try to sing falsetto on "Destiny". That song actually almost gave me an earache.

There are also a few well-produced songs that have bizarre lyrics, like "Sistamamalover" and the failed party joint "Flash". And "I Don't Want to Be a Star" is the kind of song you'd expect to find on his first album, not his seventh. All in all, this album is really for diehard Lenny Kravitz fans only. The rest of us will have to continue rolling our eyes until he makes a decent comeback.

Anthony Rupert

I had never really been a big Lenny Kravitz fan before i heard "Lady" on the radio. After falling in love with that song, i chacked out this most recent cd and was very impressed with all of the songs. He is upbeat, funky, and original.... a perfect mix.

Some people like this albulm some don't.I really like it.
There are several great songs on this albulm like Lady,
California & Were are we runnin? If your a lenny kravits
fan its the albulm to buy!

"Baptism" is certainly better then his last album "Lenny" there's more variety on it aswell. Lenny goes back to his older days with catchy guitar songs like "Minister Of Rock N Roll" But he also proves his lyrical skills and make some very soft ballads such as "Calling all Angels". There's plenty of trademark Lenny songs here too, like the singles released from the last 2 albums. Most of the songs are pleasant with a few exceptions but otherwise i think this is overall among the better Lenny albums. It proves maturity and musical skills, so all you doubters take a look.

The album starts with one of the best songs "Minister of Rock N Roll" which is both catchy and a great guitar song. Reminds me abit of classic stuff like "Are You gonna go my way". lenny defenitely wanted to show off what he's capable of. "Don't Wanna Be A Star" is a midtempo song where Rock Wannabe Pharell Williams appear. Yet another great guitar solo here. "Lady" is also a midtempo song, but it lacks a real hook. "Calling All Angels" is a beautiful piano ballad though, don't think i've heard Lenny like this before. It's deep and lyrically wonderful, a bit too long though. "California" is a trademark song, reminds me a bit of "Fly Away". "Sistamamalover" is good, a guiatar song that won't make any Lenny fan dissapointed. "Where are We Runnin?" it's so so, fast but we've heard it before. "Baptized" is one of many slow songs here, It's Romantic with good lyrics. "Flash" is one of my favorites, fast rock n roll song with good hook. "What Did I Do With My Life" and "Storm" are slow but forgettable. "The Other Side" is yet another piano ballad and quite good. It get's faster on the hook.

"Baptism" is a very good album that reaches not only Lenny fans, great variety and a few top songs. Give it a try, it's a very fresh new start and you'll find both old skool rock and some more modern Lenny Stuff. Recommended.

Ahhh, this album sounds terrible. Totally terrible.

I miss the days when albums (especially Lenny's) were recorded on nice warm analog equipment. This CD sounds so bad I can't even listen to it. Don't get me wrong, I like a few of the songs on this album, but the way he recorded it is just awful.

Digital recording technology is good for getting a low-noise recording, but the sound of the instruments and vocals just totally suffer. If the peak level goes above 0 db you get nasty distortion and nasty clipping, which this CD has all OVER it! Pro tools recordings make live drums sound like junk. If you don't run the microphones through tube pre-amps and equalizers you get...well...this!

The good news is he does a lot of those Plastic Ono Band songs where it's just piano, bass and Ringo-sounding drums. I like those numbers a lot. He's done a lot of those in the past, but I don't care, they're always cool to hear.

I don't like "Storm" because it has rapping on it. I mean, if it was Lenny doing the rap that would be cool, but it's somebody else doing it.

Craig Ross appears on several tracks. He's a good musician. I wish he would do a solo album. He looks like Noel Redding in some pictures.

Lenny, wrap up all your pro tools equipment and dedicate to the VH1 school kids. Then go and dust off your old 16-track reel to reel and your tube pre-amps that cost more than a BMW! Listen to your album Mama Said and hear how warm it sounds and try and make your new music sound like that again.

Then we would all be happy again.

Also, the drumming is not good on this album. Previous albums and songs ("Is There Any Love In Your Heart") showed us that Lenny is quite proficient as a drummer. This album just sounds like he recorded 8 measure drum patterns and looped them for the whole song. Except he doesn't even put cymbals on the top like he did on the last album ("A Million Miles Away" where he recorded three crash hits and just copied and pasted them everywhere there needed to be a cymbal crash! Urgh...that sounds so robotic! Get an 808 if you want to do that!).

Songs on this album are o.k. The best song on the whole album is the last one, "My Destiny." The only thing wrong with it is it's just acoustic guitar and falsetto vocal. It's the one song he should have put some real drums on (with REAl-time cymbal hits, not copy and paste specials!)and maybe a wurlitzer electric piano, a light cello and a muted trumpet! And Hirsch on bass guitar!

I'm sorry if I am over-critical of this album, I was just very disappointed. This one and his last CD are not very good. And I imagine the next one he do with be worse, but I hope he will get better.

If you are a new fan, stick to his first four albums. They're all 5 star, no matter what anybody says. 5 and on are only for die-hard fans.

Peace,

Keith

First things first, this album easily claims the title for having the worst cover in a long, long time... What is up with that? But what about the music on Leyy Kravtiz's 7th studio album?

"Baptized" (13 tracks, 54 min.) cover familiar territory for Lenny Kravitz, and while some of it works, a lot of it doesn't. The best tracks are the 1-2-3 punch (midway through the album) of "California", "Sistamamalover" and "Where Are we Runnin", a total of 9 min. of pure musical guilty pleasure, just great. But the rest is a very mixed bag. Worst are "I Don't Wanna Be a Star", as disengenuous as you will ever find (hey Lenny, quit the music business then!), and "What Did I Do With My Life", as if we should feel sorry or sympathy.... Not! There are too many lazy songs, with wafer-thin musical ideas (example: "Flash", with its Rolling Stones-like intro, falls flat after about a minute or so).

At 54 min. the album is just WAY too long. Chop off some 3-4 songs, and we may have something to work with here. But alas, as it stands, "Baptized" is a very mixed bag at best, with a couple of highlights.

Simply put, Lenny Kravitz would do well to have stuck to what he does best: funky power rock combined with good songwriting. There are definate high spots on this album. "Where Are We Runnin", "California", and "I Don't Wanna Be A Star" are great rockin songs. However, the ballads on this album really seem out of place. Lenny Kravitz is NOT a balladier, and it shows.

This is a worthwhile album for fans of Lenny Kravitz, but it is not by far his best work.

Another great CD by Lenny. One surprise was the rap by Jay-Z on "Storm"...horrible track and boring rap. "What Did I Do With My Life?" and "The Other Side" sound like the same songs-I was surprised over that. Lenny is best when doing the all out rock tunes like "Where Are We Runnin'?" and "California." He falters a little bit at the midtempo stuff like "I Don't Want To Be A Star" and "Minister Of Rock And Roll" is suprisingly sluggish in rhythm when you'd think it'd be a rocking song judging by the title. He is also good with the ballads...He did a lot them on previous CD "Lenny" on this new CD there are just as many. Great Singer and songwriter. I don't see what everyone is whining about(pro tools, etc). Buy it if you like his music, but try not to laugh when you see his new hairstyle in the pictures inside the CD booklet! Lenny, go back to the FRO!!