Review courtesy of www.blistering.com:

The stark and simplistic ‘Minister Of Rock ‘N Roll’ has plenty of old school Kravitz appeal with some funky keyboards sounds with minimal guitar input (With a nice tribute to The Beatles mid way through), while the classy ‘I Don’t Want To Be A Star’ continues the rock injection of old, without rehashing his best work of his earlier output.

The fuzzy guitar tones in ‘Lady’ brings to mind ‘Mr. Cab Driver’, while ‘California’ and ‘Where Are We Runnin’?’ are certified classic Kravitz’s ‘70’s inspired rock.

The sexy/funky groove of ‘Sistamamalover’ simply oozes Kravitz’s effortless cool before a guest saxophone appearance from David Sanborn (Whose credit includes a who’s who of rock over the years) on ‘Flash’ helps brings to an end the first half of Kravitz’s comeback.The other half is no less worthy, but tends to dip into the latter material of Kravitz’s material. ‘Calling All Angels’ and ‘What Did I Do With My Life?’ (Again featuring Sanborn on sax) are stripped back drum and bass ballads that perhaps overstay their welcome (A little too unspectacular) when compared to the far superior Aerosmith sounding in parts ‘Baptized’ (Helped with an aching chorus that stands out and some soulful backup vocals), while the inclusion of rapper Jay-Z on ‘Storm’ has Kravitz just trying too hard to appeal to the Hip Hop audience for my liking.

The Beatles inspired vocal/melody line performance in ‘The Other Side’ is the tracks only saving grace before ending things with the acoustic drone of ‘Destiny’.

What Baptism really equates to be primarily a two thirds rock comeback for Kravitz. Most of the album rocks along in classic form, but is essentially still dogged by the boring ballad like songs that seem as hollow as his last couple of albums. Rock is what Kravitz is known for. Please Lenny, leave the middle age ballads for the crooners.