Baptism

If Prince is a one-man Beatles, Lenny Kravitz is more like Aerosmith: not really spoken of in the same breath creatively, but an entertaining act with reliable hits and a solid audience all the same. By Baptism—the final album of a longstanding creative sweet spot stretching back to 1989’s Let Love Rule—he’d seemingly come to peace with the fact that his music wouldn’t ever be weighty enough for Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time lists. But “California,” “Minister of Rock ’n Roll” and the rest here still rock.