For the second half of September, I’m putting my Mental Jukebox into a time machine, featuring the best songs on the best albums from the very best years of music. #70sThrough90sBestAlbum

Mama Said was my introduction to the Lenny Kravitz catalog. It was a fine entry point because it highlighted all the facets of Kravitz’s musicality. Every genre itch. Every tempo shift. He certainly wasn’t the first to combine guitar rock with soul, but he did it as well as anybody. Kravitz’s own personal musical interests were his influences — from James Brown and Curtis Mayfield to Zeppelin and Aerosmith. You can hear all of those influences colliding in “Always on the Run”.

Lenny was prolific and versatile as a musician — and may not necessarily have the greatest reputation as a collaborator. But on “Always on the Run”, he teamed up with his high school classmate Slash. This was almost a Guns ‘n Roses song, but it ended up getting shelved for Mama Said. At the 1:58 mark, Lenny exclaims “Slash”, so there’s no confusion that the kickass guitar solo was his GnR buddy, not himself. About one minute later, dualing saxophones and a trumpet usher us out with bravado.

“And my mama said, ‘Go get all that you're after’. And my mama said that love's all that matters.”