Lenny Kravitz [ tickets ] seems to believe in a lot of things--like retro-rockin' and wearing sunglasses in the evening, to name two--but one thing he's apparently not into: other musicians on his albums.

On "Baptism," his seventh studio album, Kravitz plays pretty much everything--guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, vocals--save for guest spots by sax man David Sanborn on "What Did I Do With My Life?" and "Flash," and Jay-Z on "Storm."

Musically, the album splits the difference between Kravitz's 1989 breakthrough "Let Love Rule" and lush ballads like 2002's "Again."

"Flash" and "Where Are We Runnin?" are fuzzy, analog AOR; "Minister of Rock N' Roll" sounds like a '70s TV cop-show theme; and Kravitz's voice on "I Don't Want To Be a Star" is a little too close to Hendrix's on "All Along The Watchtower."

On the flip side, "Sistamamalover" gives some funky love to Sly & The Family Stone, and the jangly acoustic ballad "Baptized" professes, "I don't want to know emptiness/take me down to the water/wanna be baptized in your love."

Not exactly sure where the musical "rebirth" is here. This looks/smells/sounds like the same old Lenny, which is fine if you've got the top down and the radio up.