Well, there go the rumors that with each album,
Lenny Kravitz was going to jump ahead three years stylistically, catching up
with the present some time around 2008. From its title on down, It Is Time
For A Love Revolution is spiritually interchangeable with his debut, 1989's Let
Love Rule. Think
about that: Lenny Kravitz has had a longer stint as an oldies act than most
actual oldies acts. And in spite of a couple of bright riffs (the chunky "Love
Revolution," the space-soul of "This Moment Is All There Is"), Love
Revolution contains
some of his hackiest work yet (which is really saying something), from the
ponderous refrain of "I Love The Rain" back to "Love Revolution" itself, on
which Kravitz overdubs himself in breathy "soulful" mode over his rockin'
chorus, just to cover the bases. He's also got zip to say, most gratuitously on
"Back In Vietnam," the most nuanced Iraq commentary since 10th-grade lunch
hour. Kravitz used to catch hell for sounding like other people. Now people can
make fun of him for sounding like himself.