Thirty years after ‘Circus’ became his first top 10 album, Lenny Kravitz is celebrating that anniversary with a deluxe edition. I spoke to him and guitarist Craig Ross.
Great music is timeless. While the best albums –The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds; Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On; Prince, Purple Rain, The Clash, London Calling; Carole King, Tapestry – or great bands – Zeppelin, Stones, Public Enemy, Sly & The Family Stone — can define an era, to those hearing it for the first time today it feels just as fresh today as it did then.
So, when hearing Lenny Kravitz’s Circus album on its thirtieth anniversary, songs like “Rock And Roll Is Dead” and “Can’t Get You Off My Mind” feel as powerful and compelling as they did three decades ago.
Released originally September 12, 1995, Circus became Kravitz’s first U.S. top 10 album and cemented his status as a rock star of the Nineties. Now the album is being celebrated with a deluxe edition that includes bonus tracks and several live cuts.
I spoke with Kravitz and his long time guitarist, as well as more recently his engineer, Craig Ross, about revisiting the record three decades in.
Steve Baltin: After 30 years does this feel like a new album to you guys?
Lenny Kravitz: Yeah, the music is always changing even though you know it, you recorded it, you wrote it, just because your perception changes and your sensibilities change. It’s like a familiar piece of your past, like a photograph. It’s a record that I’m very fond of. Right now, we’re just playing one song from that album. We’re going to be incorporating some more on the upcoming legs but as of right now we’re just playing one.
Baltin: Have you been surprised by how the songs have held up?
Kravitz: I don’t know if I’m surprised, I’m thankful. That was part of my intention when making the album. When I make the albums, I have no preconceived ideas. I channel the music, it comes to me, I’m the antenna. But as far as the recordings go, the technical aspect, I was making music that way from Let Love Rule on up purposely because I knew that when I put the record on 10, 20, 30, 40 years later, I don’t want it to sound dated. And that was an intention. Why I was thinking that I don’t know. But that’s what I was thinking. So that’s why I recorded in a very classical sense, a very pure sense, real instruments for the most part. That was the blueprint, to use my hands, for us to play these instruments, to
Baltin: With your hunger for music still strong, is the passion for knowledge just as strong as when you were starting?
Kravitz: When I’m on the road, which I am now, I don’t get to play all the instruments because obviously I have a band, and I can’t play all the instruments live. So, when I get home, it’s all about just getting back in the studio, getting on the drums, getting on the keyboards, getting on the bass, getting on the guitar. Craig’s always playing. Craig always has a guitar with him. Craig is also now, for the last couple albums, our engineer. So, we’re always looking for new ways to do things. I think when you have the student mentality that’s what keeps you going. As I said before, this is for life, this is not for business. This is for pure pleasure.
Baltin: For both of you, talk about what you’ve learned this year, your biggest lesson this year.
