''5'' is the fifth full-length studio album by American rock musician

Lenny Kravitz Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. His style incorporates elements of rock, blues, soul, R&B, funk, jazz, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, pop and folk. Kravitz won the Grammy Award for Best Male R ...

, released on May 12, 1998, by

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a world ...

. The album produced six singles released over the course of 1998 and 1999.

Background

The album featured such hits as " Fly Away" and " I Belong to You", which helped Kravitz to expand his success in Europe. The album won two

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

s. ''5'' was re-issued in 1999, including Lenny Kravitz's latest single from the soundtrack of '' Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me'', "

American Woman "American Woman" is a song by Canadian rock band the Guess Who, released January 1970, from the album of the same name. It was later released in March 1970 as a single backed with " No Sugar Tonight", and it reached number one for three weeks ...

", plus a bonus track called "Without You"—initially a

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

to the lead single, "If You Can't Say No". Initially, the album received mediocre reviews by some critics, and its rise to commercial success was quite slow, until it gained traction towards the end of 1998 and throughout 1999 producing a string of worldwide hits and becoming one of the most successful albums of 1999. Despite paling in comparison in US chart position with Kravitz's other albums, it managed to have a remarkably long chart-life, charting for nearly three years straight on the ''Billboard'' 200, two of which were spent in the top 100. The album gained Kravitz multiple awards nominations and gave him his first two Grammy Awards in the Best Male Rock Vocal Performance category for the hits "Fly Away" and "American Woman".

Critical reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, oc ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

stated "Without hooks, melodies, and style, Kravitz's Sly, Mayfield, Hendrix, Lennon, and Prince pastiches are a bore. 5 has a few passable cuts, yet it falls short of the quirky hero worship and melodic smarts that made his first three records so enjoyable". Jim Farber of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'' commented "It's useless to keep railing about Kravitz’ endless grave robbing. On 5, he shows no signs of halting his lifts from Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield, and the Beatles. At least this time he targets some new catalogs (Gary Numan, Depeche Mode)".

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

wrote "His racially convoluted formalism having long since come clean as a total absence of original ideas, he grabs the brass ring from the back of a tacked-on Guess Who cover best heard on the far more imaginative ''Austin Powers'' soundtrack. Lenny, your work here on earth is done". A reviewer of Classic Rock Review added "This winner of two Grammy Awards, successfully found Kravitz both establishing himself as a genuine funk and R&B artist while also advancing his incredibly diverse fusion of rock and soul which he had established early on in his recording career. The result is an accessible and accomplished work that offers an array of sonic candy... While 5 is pretty solid throughout, the second half of the album is where real gems lie with rock, funk and soul musical diversity". Stephen Thompson of '' The A.V. Club'' wrote "Kravitz's fifth album—appropriately enough, it's titled 5—has a few exhilarating fragments scattered throughout its 66 minutes. But those moments are too infrequent to be easily extracted... Kravitz's most forgiving fans will appreciate the diversity and sheer volume of 5; everyone else should give it a pass."

Production

In the production of the album, Kravitz worked with digital technology such as synthesizers and tape loops providing the album with a more modern sound. The album contained more of his '70s-inspired songs, funk and soul, mixed with his rock style.

Track listing

Personnel

*Lenny Kravitz – vocals, all other instruments *

Craig Ross Craig David Ross is an American guitarist best known for performing and recording with Lenny Kravitz. Early life Craig Ross was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He has two daughters named Mia and Devon with his first wife Anna. Sinc ...

– electric guitar,

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos t ...

, keyboards *

Terry Manning Terry Manning is an American photographer, composer, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, audio engineer, and visual artist. In a career spanning more than 50 years, he has worked with Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Bryan Adams, ...

–

toy piano The toy piano, also known as the ''kinderklavier'' (child's keyboard), is a small piano-like musical instrument. Most modern toy pianos use round metal rods, as opposed to strings in a regular piano, to produce sound. The U.S. Library of Congress ...

on "I Belong to You" and Screams on "Straight Cold Player" *

Cindy Blackman Cindy Blackman Santana (born November 18, 1959), sometimes known as Cindy Blackman, is an American jazz and rock drummer. Blackman has recorded several jazz albums as a bandleader and has performed with Pharoah Sanders, Sonny Simmons, Ron Carter ...

– drums on "Straight Cold Player" *Jack Daley – bass guitar *Michael Hunter – trumpet *Harold Todd – saxophone *George Laks – keyboards *Alex Alvarez – keyboards * Stephen Dorff – 'uh' sounds on "American Woman" Production *Engineered by

except "American Woman" engineered by Matt Knobel *Recorded by Tom "T-Bone" Edmonds *Mixed by Manning and Kravitz *Pro Tools operation by Matt Knobel *Programming by Kravitz, Knobel, Mark Browne and Eric Rehl *Horn arrangements by Kravitz, Michael Hunter and Harold Todd *Art direction and design by Len Peltier *Photography by Mark Seliger

Singles

*"If You Can't Say No" – No. 48 UK *"Thinking of You" *"I Belong to You" – No. 71 US, No. 75 UK *"Fly Away" – No. 12 US, No. 1 UK *"

" – No. 49 US *"Black Velveteen" – No. 83 UK

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

!scope="row", Worldwide , , 6,000,000 , -

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:5 (Lenny Kravitz Album) 1998 albums Lenny Kravitz albums Virgin Records albums Albums produced by Lenny Kravitz Trip hop albums by American artists