Very few rock acts manage to reach middle age with their credibility intact, somewhere, somehow they become little more than a parody of themselves. The easy targets are of course The Rolling Stones and The Who, both of whom are little more than a tribute act to their 60s and 70s selves.

Impressively some bands even manage the credibility bypass before middle age, Oasis lost the plot somewhere between the release of 'Whatever' and What's The Story? Morning Glory. In fact, have a band promised so much with their debut and yet delivered so little with their subsequent albums? Answers on a postcard, please. One band who have managed to maintain a consistent quality, despite a softening of their approach in their later years, are the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They don't seem to be a joke because maybe they get the joke?

So as he approaches 40, and releasing his seventh album Baptism, has retro rocker Lenny Kravitz kept it or lost it? First off he's selling this as some sort of rebirth although when you're basically a 60s and 70s rock tribute act with original songs, what is there to re-invent? And why bother? Over the past 15 years he's peddled his Stones/Beatles/Hendrix/Sly Stone brand of funk and rock to great success delivering a small handful of contemporary classics - 'Let Love Rule', 'Are You Gonna Go My Way?' and 'It Ain't Over Till It's Over', amongst others. All of which were delightfully soaked in rock's history.

Kicking off with 'Minister Of Rock 'N' Roll' the hard edged statement of intent that whatever happens, Lenny was, is and will always be 'Rock' is an inspired enough start, but then the wheels fall off completely with the atrocious 'I Don't Want To Be A Star'.

Aside from the hollow sounding sentiment and lyrics; musically it sounds like Hendrix's cover of 'All Along The Watchtower' in places. From here onwards it's a mixture of insipid rock anthems 'Calling All Angels' and 'Baptised', substandard Sheryl Crow rock/pop - 'California', the 'Are You Gonna Go My Way?' lite rock of 'Where Are We Runnin?' with a guest appearance by Jay-Z on 'Storm' thrown in for crossover appeal. The two R's, rock and rap can make for exhilarating combinations but here it's little more than an embarrassment to both artists.

The highlights are scant and only 'Sistamamalover' is worthy of a mention as it sounds like a hybrid of Sly Stone and Prince yet with only a third of the talent of either. Yet here it's best thing by a large margin, on an album that can only be described as poor.

Lenny's clearly a man of prodigious talent as he pretty much writes and plays every note on the album but if he's trying to sell this album as some sort of musical rebirth, then I'm afraid the Red Hot Chilli Peppers got the baby and Lenny got the afterbirth.

(1½/5)

Release Date: 17 May 2004