Greatest Hits is a greatest hits album by American rock musician Lenny Kravitz, released on October 24, 2000.
Background The album features an unreleased track for promotion called "Again", which became a hit, reaching number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, following a very successful string of hits from the album 5. "Again" propelled the compilation to commercial success greater than any of his studio efforts.
Kravitz reported in an interview for VivaMusic.com that the selection of the songs were led by his record company, Virgin Records, which only chose the songs that were successful on the charts. The tracks were sequenced by Kravitz's engineer, Henry Hirsch.
The album reached number 2 on the Billboard 200 and number 12 on the UK Albums Chart.
This album has been released with the Copy Control protection system in some regions.
Promotion "Again" was released as the promotional single for this compilation, along with a music video. The single reached number four on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Kravitz's highest-charting song since "It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over".
Reception Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic commented "Lenny Kravitz's greatest gift is that he's a master synthesist, pulling together different sounds and styles from eras past to create a sound that isn't necessarily blazingly original, but fresh due to his craft and sheer mastery of the studio. Since he was an unabashed classicist, his records often suffered the brunt of nasty criticism, but they were often very good, particularly early in his career before he indulged in the mannerisms of guitar-blasting stadium rock... After all, it doesn't just have all the main songs, it also illustrates that he indeed is a master synthesist."
Track listing Original edition
Japanese edition The Japan release has the song "Is There Any Love in Your Heart" appended as track 12. The tracks otherwise remained the same.
Greatest Hits: Limited Tour Edition On November 8, 2005, the album was re-released due to Kravitz's 2005 tour, including the songs "Dig In" and "Where Are We Runnin'?", from his then-latest albums, Lenny and Baptism respectively.
DVD # Title Original album Director Time 1. "Always on the Run" Mama Said Jesse Dylan 3:30 2. "Are You Gonna Go My Way" Are You Gonna Go My Way Mark Romanek 3:41 3. "Fly Away" 5 Paul Hunter 3:22 4. "American Woman" Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (Original Soundtrack) / 5 (Re-release) Paul Hunter 3:45 5. "Dig In" Lenny Samuel Bayer 3:55 6. "Where Are We Runnin'?" Baptism 4:33
Personnel Lenny Kravitz – vocals and lead guitar Craig Ross – rhythm guitar Cindy Blackman – drums Tony Breit – bass guitar
Charts
Weekly charts Chart (2000–2018) Peakposition Colombian Albums (ASINCOL) 2Japanese Albums (Oricon)5Spanish Albums (AFYVE)8
Year-end charts +Year-end chart performance for Greatest Hits by Lenny Kravitz Chart (2000) Position Australian Albums (ARIA) 50 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) 20 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 60 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) 84Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)20 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) 33 European Albums (Music & Media) 43French Compilations (SNEP) 7 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) 57 Italian Albums (FIMI) 8 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) 16 UK Albums (OCC) 72
Chart (2001) Position Australian Albums (ARIA) 24 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) 28 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 54 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) 59Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan) 41 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) 27 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) 57 Italian Albums (FIMI) 44 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) 25 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) 46 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) 32 US Billboard 200 18
Chart (2002) PositionCanadian Alternative Albums (Nielsen SoundScan) 71 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) 72 US Billboard 200 194
Decade-end charts Chart (2000–2009)Position US Billboard 200 Digit page 167 on the PDF archive.82
Certifications
References