More than two decades after its release, Lenny Kravitz is planning a deluxe edition of his sophomore album, 1991's Mama Said.
The Grammy-winning singer/songwriter has been noted more for his film work lately than his musical career, with solid supporting turns in Precious (2010) and the smash hit The Hunger Games (2012). But Mama Said continued to solidify Kravitz as a unique persona with a bright future ahead of him, the groundwork of which was laid with his 1989 debut, Let Love Rule.
Kravitz's second album was his first to reach the Top 40 in America, and gave him the highest charting single of his career, the sublime "It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over." But, he told Billboard, the album reflects "a crazy time" in his life, one that saw the then-27-year-old musician coping with fame and family (daughter Zoë, mothered by actress Lisa Bonet, was born in 1988; the pair would divorce within years of Mama Said's release). "It was a lot to deal with,” he said. “I ended up kind of going into hibernation, ’cause at that point I went through a pretty serious depression. I just let all these feelings out onto the songs. It was very cathartic for me.”
In addition to those original songs, the double-disc reissue features six non-LP B-sides and 15 unreleased tracks, including rough demos, unreleased remixes of "It Ain't Over" and several unheard songs, including a funk-based tune, "Riding on the Wings of My Lord," and the instrumental "Framed, Lying, Crying."
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmENMZFUU_0]
The deluxe Mama Said is out June 5. The track list is after the jump.
Lenny Kravitz, Mama Said: Deluxe Edition (Virgin/EMI 50999 643320 2 4, 2012)
Disc 1: Original LP and bonus material
- Fields of Joy
- Always on the Run
- Stand by My Woman
- It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over
- More Than Anything in This World
- What Goes Around Comes Around
- The Difference is Why
- Stop Draggin' Around
- Flowers for Zoe
- Fields of Joy (Reprise)
- All I Ever Wanted
- When the Morning Turns to Night
- What the Fuck Are We Saying?
- Butterfly
- Light Skin Girl from London
- I'll Be Around
- Always on the Run (Instrumental)
- It Ain't Over Til It's Over (12" Remix Instrumental) *
- It Ain't Over Til It's Over (12" Extended/Dub version) *
Disc 2: More bonus material
- Riding on the Wings of My Lord (Rough Demo) *
- It Ain't Over Til It's Over (Home Demo) *
- What the Fuck Are We Saying? (Home Demo) *
- The Difference is Why (Home Demo) *
- Riding on the Wings of My Lord (Funky Vocal) *
- Riding on the Wings of My Lord (Instrumental) *
- Framed, Lying, Crying (Instrumental) *
- Stand by My Woman (Instrumental) *
- Stop Draggin' Around (Live in Rotterdam) *
- Always on the Run (Live in Rotterdam) *
- Fields of Joy (Live in Rotterdam) *
- Stand by My Woman (Live in Rotterdam) *
- More Than Anything in This World (Live in Rotterdam) *
- Always on the Run (Live in Kawasaki, Japan - July 1991)
- Stop Draggin' Around (Live in Kawasaki, Japan - July 1991)
- What the Fuck Are We Saying? (Live in Kawasaki, Japan - July 1991)
Disc 1, Tracks 1-14 released as Virgin Records V2 86209, 1991
Disc 1, Tracks 15 and 17 from "Always on the Run" 12" single - Virgin VUST 34 (U.K.), 1991
Disc 1, Track 16 from "It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over" 12" single - Virgin VUST 43 (U.K.), 1991
Disc 2, Tracks 14 and 16 from "Stand by My Woman" CD single - Virgin VUSCD 45 (U.K.), 1991
Disc 2, Track 15 from "Stand by My Woman" 12" single - Virgin VUST 45 (U.K.), 1991
zs (@Gonzeux) says
The live stuff doesn't interest me at this point, but in my book, this is THE Lenny Kravitz album.
Matias says
A GREAT album from the 90's, another one that should be included in that sacred 91' albums list (YES, along with Illusion, Metallica, Nevermind etc)