I tend to imagine Mr Kravitz as a man torn between wishing he'd been born some twenty years earlier than he actually was, and nightly giving thanks to all things holy that he wasn't. Because for the former, being so enthralled with the guitar based rock and psychedelia of the sixties as he evidently is, he'd have fitted right in with no need for much modification. In fact, I can see him now - all afro and shades, cranking out solo's and preaching love from the stage at Monterey. On the other hand, I secretly think Kravitz has self awareness enough to appreciate that, no matter how 'edgy' or retro leftfield his output seemed in the nineties, when put up against the bigger dogs of Hendrix or Clapton then it's a wannabe chin of adolescent fuzz rather than the full beard. As you can probably guess, I don't have a great deal of time for Kravitz and his one man revival show, but out of his entire oeuvre, 'Fly Away' is a song I have even less time for than most. "I wish that I could fly, into the sky, so very high, just like a dragonfly" - how high do dragonflies fly I wonder? I have no idea. I doubt Kravitz does either - the aspirational clunk and cheapness of the imagery is matched only by the cheapness of the rhymes and one take tune they cling to. Lenny does his best to beef it all up with a crunchy guitar riff and wah wah slap bass like what Jimi might have done, but the contrived mock rock equates to a kitting out of Jack and Jill in kaftans and loon pants and sending them up the hill to meet their dealer. To be fair, Kravitz has acknowledged that the track was a throwaway B side at best, but its simplicity sticks and lures the weak minded like the chocolate at the supermarket checkout, making it ideal for the three advertising campaigns that used and abused it (Nissan, Peugeot and Sky Sports). Is this like what Jimi would have done too? I doubt it Len, I doubt it.
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