The return of Lenny Kravitz on many levels comes with a sort of rebirth as well for his songwriting. The last many albums have just been weak and tough to like for many reasons. This album starts off with a groovy rocker in the form of the title track. Lenny's love for 70's funk is ever present here but he does it with a well written song that has a good chorus and some nice horn section punches. The album gets a little funkier but with all the goodness from his second album Mama Said this is what has been missing for many years from his songwriting.
The ability for him to write music that appeals to all people without sounding too black or too white or too R&B or too Rock has not been easy for him over the last few years. Here he seems to not care about anything but writing good songs that have hooks like "In The Black" that reminds me of the wicked good glam rock era from the 70's. One of the best tracks on the album "Rockstar City Life" is a complete winner from all sides. The uptempo groovy rocker has a solid chorus and pre-chorus and Lenny sounds like he means what he's singing.
The album is over long and could have been about 11 tracks long tossing a bit of the filler to the garbage can. Nobody needs to hear "Boongie Drop" a total piece of shite and if this was on his last record might have been more fitting. My personal favorite song on Black & White America is the pop masterpiece "Stand" that has all the right stuff to be a huge hit and should be one of the high points in concert for years to come. The album continues to ebb and flow through rockier material a couple of slow songs one track with Drake being featured and the excellent closing tune "Push". This is Kravitz best album in ten years for sure, don't ignore it because he's been lame for so long it deserves your attention.
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