Baptism is the seventh studio album by American rock musician Lenny Kravitz, released on May 17, 2004, by Virgin Records. The album produced five singles and reached number 14 on the Billboard 200 and number 74 on the UK Albums Chart.

Production

Lenny Kravitz originally intended this album to be a 1970s style funk album, simply titled The Funk Album. However, he changed his mind when he picked up an acoustic guitar to write the songs for the album. Having stated that songs started pouring out of him, Kravitz decided that his special project could wait. Instead, Kravitz recorded a more straightforward rock album similar to his 1989 album Let Love Rule. The album was recorded at Hotel Edison studios in Miami, Florida, and also features a contribution from rapper Jay-Z on the song "Storm". "Storm" was originally titled "(I Can't Make It) Another Day" and was originally recorded with Michael Jackson. Kravitz had previously played guitar on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint²: The Gift & the Curse. Kravitz had mentioned in an interview that at the time of the album's production, he was in dispute with his record label, who did not agree with his decisions to alter his project, saying that the album featured some darker material representing his stage of depression and other problems he was going through at that time.

Promotion

For the promotion of the album, Kravitz kicked off the Baptism tour in April of that year across North America. In 2005, Kravitz embarked on yet another tour called The Electric Church Tour: One Night Only in select cities. Kravitz also had a prominent role in the Gap campaign of 2004–2005 as he modelled for the brand and his image was used in stores across North America as a major celebrity seal. Kravitz's single "Lady" was used very heavily in the company's "How Do You Wear It?" campaign and also filmed two commercials with Gap spokesmodel Sarah Jessica Parker playing the song to and dancing with Parker.

Reception

Initial critical response to Baptism ranged from average to negative. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 43, based on 10 reviews. Kevin Forest Moreau of ShakingThrough.net wrote "Lenny Kravitz became a star by peddling familiar wares in a flashy package: If there was always an element of "Been there, heard that" in his rock, soul and funk classicism, Kravitz's craftsmanship and charisma were usually enough to carry the day. But those elements are critically missing from Baptism." Caroline Bansal of musicOMH added "The production is in fact what lets this album down. The mix is all wrong, with the drums far too high and the guitars way too low."

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians

  • Lenny Kravitz – vocals, electric guitar (tracks 1–3, 5–13), acoustic guitar (tracks 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13), guitar solo (tracks 3, 6, 7), bass guitar (tracks 1, 2, 4–12), drums (tracks 1, 2, 4–6, 8–12), piano (tracks 1, 2, 4–6, 10, 11), hand claps (tracks 5, 8, 12), Moog synthesizer and Mellotron (track 1), timpani (track 4), Hammond organ and wood block (track 11), synthesizer (track 12), string arrangement (tracks 4, 10, 11)
  • Tawatha Agee – background vocals (track 8)
  • Tyra Alston – handclaps (track 8)
  • David Baron – baritone saxophone (track 3), string arrangement (track 4)
  • Henry Hirsch – bass guitar (track 3), piano (track 7)
  • Jay-Z – rap (track 11)
  • Denine LaBat – handclaps (track 8)
  • Norma Rodgers – handclaps (track 8)
  • Craig Ross – electric guitar (tracks 3, 6, 7, 10, 12), guitar solo (track 9), drums (tracks 3, 7), piano (track 3), tambourine (track 7)
  • David Sanborn – saxophone (tracks 9, 10, 12)
  • The Uncle Clappers (Uncle Bruce, Uncle Hans, Uncle Craig) – handclaps (track 6)
  • David Whyko – handclaps (track 8)

Production

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!scope="row"|Spanish Albums (AFYVE)

|align="center"|5

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Year-end charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+Year-end chart performance for Baptism

! scope="col"| Chart (2004)

! scope="col"| Position

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! scope="row"| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)

| 38

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! scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)

| 88

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! scope="row"| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)

| 56

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! scope="row"| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)

| 60

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! scope="row"| Italian Albums (FIMI)

| 66

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! scope="row"| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)

| 26

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Certifications and sales

References

  • VH1 news story on Baptism