Lenny Kravitz: Mama Said (2LP) [VIRGIN]

Why you'll love it

This is the first time Mama Said has been pressed as a 2LP set, on 180g vinyl in a gatefold jacket with printed inner sleeves. The album reached No. 8 in the UK and went platinum in the US.

This edition

• 2LP set
• 180g vinyl
• Gatefold jacket
• Printed inner sleeves
• Download card included
• Pressed in the EU

About the album

Lenny Kravitz has always worn his love of '60s and '70s records on his sleeve. On his second album he produced everything himself and played most of it too, mixing late-'60s rock, Philly soul and psychedelic pop into something that sounds like a great old record you somehow never heard before.

Slash from Guns N' Roses co-wrote and tears through "Always On The Run," a big, swaggering riff with horns, and adds guitar to the opener "Fields Of Joy." "It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over" is the sweet, string-kissed soul ballad that became his signature, and "All I Ever Wanted" was co-written with a teenage Sean Lennon. "Stand By My Woman," "Stop Draggin' Around" and the lilting "Flowers For Zoë," written for his daughter, round out a generous set that fills all four sides.

Q's Phil Sutcliffe called it truly inspired, and Record Collector later rated it even more accomplished than his debut. Thirty-odd years on, Kravitz still looks exactly like the cover of a Lenny Kravitz album, which is a level of commitment we admire greatly from behind the counter.

Also at Kops: more Lenny Kravitz on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Virgin, a reissue of the 1991 album.