Lenny [Re-post minus links]

EDIT 07/14/2009: Not sure when it happened, but this post disappeared without so much as a Blogger notice. It's back minus links, though it's vaguely unsettling.


In the land of covers, Kravitz is best known for his okay but unnecessary revision of the Guess Who classic American Woman, which actually earned him a Grammy Award in 2000, the second of a four straight wins in the Best Male Rock Vocal Performance category. It's kinda hard to believe his debut album Let Love Rule came out twenty years ago, a fact marked by a semi-recently released 2-disc deluxe edition. Though I haven't really listened to much of his stuff after the mid-90s, a handful of his songs still get a fair amount of regular play on the ol' iPod. Today, a mini cover tribute to Lenny Kravitz.

Aira Mitsuki - Rock and Roll is Dead [originally by Lenny Kravitz]
This throbbing, schizophrenic electro cover from Japan is a little frightening, but I love that it exists. I recently watched the excellent film The Diving Bell & The Butterfly, in which Lenny Kravitz popped up in a cameo and was reminded that I had been meaning to share this cover for a while.

Riovolt - It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over [originally by Lenny Kravitz]
There are a surprising number of smooth jazz/bossa covers of this song. This is one of the better ones.

The Moog Cookbook - Are You Gonna Go My Way [originally by Lenny Kravitz]
As if a Moog synthesizer cover wasn't enough, it just had to be a an Moog oompah hoedown. The Moog Cookbook put out Moog covers of 90s alternative rock on their 1995 self-titled debut followed by 1997's Ye Olde Space Bande (classic rock covers) and 2005's Bartell (mixed bag o' covers).

Cactus Jack - Are You Gonna Go My Way [originally by Lenny Kravitz]
Serbian rock band Cactus Jack do a more straight up rock cover with some playful zest from their 2002 cover album DisCover. You should just flat-out avoid the Tom Jones & Robbie Williams version of this song.

Lenny Kravitz - Have You Ever (Been to Electric Ladyland) [originally by The Jimi Hendrix Experience]
Remember when Kravitz was rumoured to play Jimi Hendrix in a biopic years ago? The Let Love Rule deluxe edition also features a live cover of Jimi's If 6 Was 9 recorded in 1989.

My all-time favourite Lenny:

I know it's horrible, but it still makes me laugh after all these years.