"Heaven Help" is a song by American rock musician

Lenny Kravitz Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. His debut album ''Let Love Rule (Lenny Kravitz album), Let Love Rule'' (1989) was characterized by a blend of Rock music, rock ...

, released in August 1993 by

Virgin America Virgin America Inc. was a low-cost airline headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Burlingame, California. It primarily focused on operating low-fare, higher-quality service between cities on the West Coast of the United States a ...

as the third

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from his third studio album, '' Are You Gonna Go My Way'' (1993). The song was written by Gerry DeVeaux and

Terry Britten Terence Ernest Britten (born 17 July 1947) is an English-Australian singer-songwriter and record producer, who has written songs for Tina Turner, Cliff Richard, Olivia Newton-John, Status Quo (band), Status Quo and Michael Jackson amongst many ot ...

, and produced by Kravitz. It made a brief appearance on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, reaching number 92. In the United Kingdom, it became his second top-twenty hit from ''Are You Gonna Go My Way'', peaking at number 20, and in Canada and New Zealand, the song reached the top 30. The accompanying music video was directed by Per Gustafsson, featuring a bare-chested Kravitz performing in between a story of him making out with a girlfriend in an old apartment. "Heaven Help" was later included on Kravitz' compilation album ''

Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...

''.

Critical reception

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the musi ...

from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine wrote, "A quiet moment from Kravitz's rightfully acclaimed '' Are You Gonna Go My Way''. Simple piano/drum ballad places much emphasis on his expressive vocals and the song's gorgeous melody. A sure bet for

album rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM broadcasting, FM radio format created in the United States in the late 1960s that focuses on the full repertoire of Rock music, rock albums and is currently associated ...

play, this deserves to be a massive hit at

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

. It would add a nice touch of class to any playlist." Speed and Martinucci from the ''

Gavin Report The ''Gavin Report'' was a San Francisco-based radio industry trade publication. The publication was founded by radio performer Bill Gavin in 1958. Its Top 40 listings were used for many years by programmers to decide content of programs. The ...

'' noted that accompanied simply by a piano and guitar, "Kravitz comes with a soulful love song that's reminiscent early '70s

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

s recorded with real instruments." ''Gavin Report'' editor Dave Sholin concluded, "This release should help win him even more fans."

Adam Sweeting Adam Sweeting is a British rock critic and writer. Graeme Thomson, writing for ''The Guardian'', deemed him as an "influential journalist" of the 1970s. He currently writes film and television reviews for '' The Arts Desk''. Biography Sweeting ...

from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' felt Kravitz is "squeezing a mellow soulful feel" out of the song. In his weekly UK chart commentary,

James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a British music critic and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worke ...

commented, "Third hit in a row for the superstar finds him this time wearing his

Isley Brothers Isley is an English surname. The name can also be used as an anglicized variant for the German surnames Eisele and Eisler. Notable people with the surname include: *The Isley Brothers, American musical group ** Ernie Isley (born 1952), American ...

influences on his sleeve." Alan Jones from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

'' wrote, "A gentle and intimate delight, sweet and understated, with hints of

Curtis Mayfield Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Dubbed the " Gentle Genius", he is considered one of the most influential musicians of soul and socially conscious Afric ...

. Given plenty of airplay, there's no reason why it shouldn't make the

Top 20 A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, ofte ...

Track listings

* US maxi-CD single # "Heaven Help" – 3:10 # "Spinning Around Over You" – 3:35 # "B Side Blues" – 3:32 # " Are You Gonna Go My Way – 3:30 # "Freedom Time" / " Always on the Run" (live) – 9:42 * US cassette single # "Heaven Help" – 3:10 # "Spinning Around Over You" – 3:34 * UK CD1 # "Heaven Help" # "Eleutheria" # "Sister" (live) # "Heaven Help" (acoustic version) * UK CD2 and 12-inch single, Australasian CD single # "Heaven Help" – 3:09 # "Eleutheria" – 4:48 # "Ascension" – 3:45 # "Brother" – 4:16 * UK 7-inch and cassette single, European CD single # "Heaven Help" – 3:10 # "Eleutheria" – 4:48 * European maxi-CD single # "Heaven Help" # "Ascension" # "Brother" # "Sister" (live) # "Heaven Help" (acoustic version) * Japanese mini-album # "Heaven Help" # "Brother" # "Ascension" # "

I Build This Garden for Us "I Build This Garden for Us" is a song by American rock musician Lenny Kravitz, released in 1990 by Virgin Records as the second single from his debut album, '' Let Love Rule'' (1989). Critical reception In a review on 3 February 1990, Simon Reyn ...

" # " Fields of Joy" # "

Stand by My Woman "Stand by My Woman" is a song recorded by American singer Lenny Kravitz and released on September 2, 1991, as the fourth single from his second studio album '' Mama Said''. The song was later included as a track on his 2000 album ''Greatest Hits'' ...

" # "Sister" (live) # "Heaven Help" (acoustic version)

Charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 1993 songs 1993 singles 1990s ballads Lenny Kravitz songs Song recordings produced by Lenny Kravitz Songs written by Terry Britten Songs written by Gerry DeVeaux Soul ballads Virgin Records singles