Kravitz launches "Love Revolution" with new CD

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Lenny Kravitz is eyeing a February release for his eighth studio album, "It's Time for a Love Revolution."

Kravitz played nearly all the instruments on his first effort in three years, which was recorded at his studio in the Bahamas as well as Miami, Paris and New York.

"The last record was still very natural, but it had a cleaner sound," Kravitz said by phone from Brazil. "On this one, I was really into using more of the room mics and getting a lot of spill. I wanted to hear the walls and the room."

The result is a more-stripped down feel on rockers like opener "Bring It On," "Luv Luv Luv" and the fast boogie "Will You Marry Me." The riff for the latter cut dates back to sessions for his 1993 breakthrough "Are You Gonna Go My Way," according to Kravitz.

"In actuality, it was a different song with a different melody and lyric," he told Billboard.com. "I pulled the riff back out and then I cut the lyric and the melody. But my guitar tech looked at me like, 'That's depressing, man. I love the riff, but it's depressing.' It was about dropping out of society. So, he challenged me. I went home that night, wrote completely different lyrics and melodies and put it down."

In addition to ballads like "I'll Be Waiting," "I Love the Rain" and "A Long and Sad Goodbye," Kravitz turns political on "Back in Vietnam" and "I Want To Go Home."

The latter is narrated by a soldier, "but that song is more from the point of, I don't care who you are or what side you're on ... no matter what, at some point, you're like, 'I've gotta get out of here,"' he said. "Maybe some guys are gung-ho. But people I know and that I've talked to, it has taken a lot of them by surprise, when you've had ideas in your head about what your life would be."

The full tour picture for "Revolution" is still coming together, but Kravitz said he plans on "going out and doing surprise gigs and playing clubs, where I can get out there and get close to the people and have fun."

He said he wanted to make a double album, but his Virgin Records label had "issues with pricing ... So I crammed as many minutes on it as I could.

"I needed a lot of fresh material, really, for me. I don't want to just be rehashing the hits and stuff. I want to stretch out and do a good amount of new material. Otherwise, you're not inspired. You're just doing business."