I'm finding that lately I really don't care for Mondays. It never used to be that way. For some odd reason Tuesday was usually my least favorite day of the week and I didn't mind Monday so much. All that has changed now. I've kind of dropped out of the "I Don't Mind Mondays" Club. Suddenly Tuesdays are looking a whole lot better.
I try and time out when exactly I'm going to hit the shuffle button in the morning. I don't like doing when I have to make a turn or go around a traffic circle. I prefer to wait until there's a bit of a straight stretch and then I hit it. It also helps to wait for a commercial break from Mike and Mike or a topic that I'm not interested in or feel they're beating to death. Every morning I have to go through a traffic circle and it's usually then that I hit the shuffle button (most days any way). Today I must have been feeling a bit edgy because I hit shuffle a little before the traffic circle. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. I feel with hitting the shuffle button during an open stretch I'm able to focus more on the song and less on driving. Sounds real safe I'm sure.
I used to be such a huge Lenny Kravitz fan. Not that I'm not a fan anymore I would just say that the passion has dwindled a bit. 5 was a real take off album for Lenny (yes we're on a first name basis), and I was felt a bit indifferent to it. There was some really, really good stuff on their (Fly Away, Supersoulfighter, I Belong To You) but it was a switch in sound and style. The Lenny Kravitz I love can be heard on Let Love Rule and Circus. This was a beginning of a change in tone that I didn't really care for (Spoiler Alert- I feel that some of his newer material is starting to return back to basics and I find this to be exciting).
There is a hidden dark streak in Lenny Kravitz and I not so secretly enjoy his darker song materials. Things like Blues For Sister Someone or Don't Go and Put A Bullet In Your Head are two of my favorite Lenny Kravitz songs because they shy away from his pro-love side and express what could possibly the other side of the pro-love coin. It's ballsy and I like it. I feel that Take Time fits into that dark material of his. It's a simplistic song (and much like O.A.R.'s Heaven) I don't much care for the synthesiser stuff or is it a drum machine? Lenny Kravitz is far too talented to have to rely on a machine to make his music for him. For those of you who don't know Lenny Kravitz records albums all by his lonesome (meaning it's just him and the instruments). That's pretty badass so please don't cop out and use a machine to supply your drum beat.
While I was listening to it this morning I heard some obvious musical influences. The guitar solo is a such a Hendrix nod it's not even funny. I'm not saying this to criticize it's just something I noticed. The dirtiness of the riff and the way it kind of hangs in the air just reminded me a lot of Hendrix. Also there's a part that sounds a little Prince-esq. It's that "you can have it if you really want it heeeeeey" stuff. It just screams Prince. But I love when he goes "it's about to get wild". I just like the way it fits into the song.
Lenny Kravitz takes a lot of heat for portraying his musical influences in his music (like the Zeppelin and Prince stuff) and I don't think that's particularly fair. I like that I can hear his musical influences, it's not like he's trying to be them he's taking what he loves about them and tries to add his own spin to it. That's why I like Take Time because those influences are very present but this still comes across as a Lenny Kravtiz song. Now that I'm thinking about it this might be one of my favorite tracks off of 5. It might be time to start digging through my Lenny archives and putting some more stuff on my ipod. I'm telling you I used to be obsessed with all things Lenny Kravitz and it might be time to go back and visit all the awesome I have forgotten about.
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