Patti Smith | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Punk rocks poet laureate Patti Smith ranks among the most influential female rock & rollers of all time. Ambitious, unconventional, and challenging, Smiths music was hailed as the most exciting fusion of rock and poetry since Bob Dylans heyday. If that hybrid remained distinctly uncommercial for much of her career, it wasnt a statement against accessibility so much as the simple fact that Smith followed her own muse wherever it took her -- from structured rock songs to free-form experimentalism, or even completely out of music at times. Her most avant-garde outings drew a sense of improvisation and interplay from free jazz, though they remained firmly rooted in noisy, primitive, three-chord rock & roll. She was a powerful concert presence, singing and chanting her lyrics in an untrained but expressive voice, whirling around the stage like an ecstatic shaman delivering incantations. A regular at CBGBs during the early days of New York punk, she was the first artist of the bunch to land a record deal and release an album, even beating the Ramones to the punch. The artiness and the amateurish musicianship of her work both had a major impact on the punk movement, whether in New York or England, whether among her contemporaries (Television, Richard Hell) or followers. Whats more, Smith became an icon to subsequent generations of female rockers. She never relied on sex appeal for her success -- she was unabashedly intellectual and creatively uncompromising, and her appearance was usually lean, hard, and androgynous. She also never made an issue of her gender, calling attention to herself as an artist, not a woman; she simply dressed and performed in the spirit of her aggressive, male rock role models, as if no alternative had ever occurred to her. In the process, she obliterated the expectations of what was possible for women in rock, and stretched the boundaries of how artists of any gender could express themselves. Smith was born in Chicago on December 30, 1946; her parents moved to Philadelphia when she was three, and then to the nearby, less urban town of Woodbury, New Jersey, when she was nine. Something of an outcast in high school, she found salvation in the poetry of Arthur Rimbaud, the writings of the Beats, and the music of soul and rock artists like James Brown, the Rolling Stones, the Doors, and especially Bob Dylan. She attended the Glassboro State Teachers College, but dropped out due to an unplanned pregnancy. She gave the baby up for adoption and took a job on a factory assembly line, thus saving enough money to move to New York City in 1967. She worked in a bookstore and met art student/future photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, who became her lover despite living most of his adult life as a homosexual. In 1969, Smith went to Paris with her sister, busking on the streets as a performance artist. Upon her return, she moved into the Chelsea Hotel with Mapplethorpe for a brief period, then became involved with underground theater, not to mention playwright Sam Shepard; she co-authored and co-starred with him in the somewhat autobiographical play Cowboy Mouth in 1971. During this time, she was also working on her poetry, and met guitarist Lenny Kaye, also a Bleecker Street record store clerk and rock critic. Kaye had written a magazine essay on doo wop that impressed Smith, and the two found that they shared a love of early and obscure rock & roll. When Smith gave a public poetry reading at St. Marks Church in February 1971, she invited Kaye to accompany her on the electric guitar for three pieces. Over the next two years, Smith continued to perform in plays and poetry readings; she also wrote for several rock magazines, published two volumes of her poems, and began contributing lyrics to the literary-minded metal band Blue Öyster Cult. She and Kaye performed again in late 1973, and their partnership grew into a much more regular occurrence. The following year, they added pianist/keyboardist Richard Sohl, and their performances grew into unique blends of Beat-influenced poetry, improvised spoken word with equally spontaneous musical backing, and covers of rock & roll oldies. Regular gigs around New York cemented their growing reputation, and in June 1974, with Mapplethorpe paying for studio time, the band cut a groundbreaking independent single, "Hey Joe" b/w "Piss Factory." The former added a monologue about Patty Hearst, while the latter recounted Smiths stint as an assembly line worker in vivid detail, incorporating lyrical snippets from the rock records in which she took solace. Both songs featured Television guitarist Tom Verlaine, who briefly became Smiths lover, and along with Televisions own "Little Johnny Jewel," the single helped kickstart the independent, D.I.Y. aesthetic that remains punk rocks hallmark even today. In late 1974, Smith and her band played a few gigs on the West Coast. When they returned, they added guitarist/bassist Ivan Kral to flesh out their sound, and joined Television as part of the emerging new-rock scene at CBGBs, a dive bar in the Bowery. Their two-month stand in early 1975 sometimes featured drummer Jay Dee Daugherty, who became a regular member, and attracted the notice of Arista Records president Clive Davis, who offered Smith a record deal. She entered the studio with ex-Velvet Underground member John Cale serving as producer, and in late 1975 released her debut album, Horses, which was essentially the first art-punk album. Rapturously received by most critics, Horses offered unorthodox covers of party rock tunes like "Gloria" and "Land of 1000 Dances" (Smith opened the former with the declaration "Jesus died for someones sins, but not mine"), as well as a mix of original songs and lengthy, improv-driven spoken word pieces. Despite nonexistent airplay, it sold well enough to climb into the Top 50. The 1976 follow-up, Radio Ethiopia, was credited to the Patti Smith Group, and placed some of Smiths most straightforward rock songs ("Ask the Angels," "Pumping [My Heart]") directly alongside some of her most experimental, free-form pieces (the title track). In early 1977, Smith was performing in Tampa, Florida, when she twirled herself right off the stage; she broke two vertebrae in her neck and was forced to take some time off to recuperate. During that period, she wrote a book of poetry titled Babel. She returned to recording in 1978 with Easter, a more accessible nod in the direction of album rock radio, which featured her writing collaboration with Bruce Springsteen, "Because the Night." The ballad climbed to number 13 on the pop charts and sent Easter into the Top 20; plus, 10,000 Maniacs 1993 cover of "Because the Night" became their biggest pop hit and made the song something of a standard for the Lilith Fair generation. Easter also contained Smiths most notorious cut, "Rock n Roll Nigger," which attempted to redefine the term as a badge of honor for anyone who lived outside the establishment. Some critics roasted her for the conceit in the ensuing controversy, but the song achieved a measure of redemption when it was included on the Natural Born Killers soundtrack in 1994. 1979s Wave found Smiths sound becoming increasingly polished, thanks in part to new producer Todd Rundgren; however, many reviewers found it her least developed set of material. Smith had been living with Blue Öyster Cult keyboardist Allen Lanier for some time, but now took up with MC5/Sonics Rendezvous Band guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith; indeed, Waves "Dancing Barefoot" and "Frederick" were both dedicated to him. The couple married in 1980, and Smith retired to a life of domesticity near Detroit, raising two children with her husband. In 1988, Smith re-emerged for a one-off album, Dream of Life, on which Fred co-wrote all the material and also played guitar, with backing by Smith Group members Sohl and Daugherty. However, it wasnt intended to establish a full-fledged comeback, and Smith disappeared from music again following its release. She continued to write, however, completing a poetry collection called Woolgathering (among other projects), and gave occasional readings. Sadly, in the span of a few years, Smith lost some of her closest associates: longtime friend and album-cover photographer Mapplethorpe died in 1989, followed a year later by pianist Richard Sohl. At the end of 1994, both her husband and her brother Todd died of heart failure, within a month of one another. A grief-stricken Smith returned to performing as a means of therapy, and re-formed the Patti Smith Group -- with Kaye, Daugherty, and new bassist Tony Shanahan -- for a few small-scale tours aimed at reconnecting with her audience and re-orienting herself to the concert stage. In 1996, the group entered the studio and recorded Gone Again, which featured a new second guitarist in Oliver Ray and guest spots from Tom Verlaine, John Cale, and Jeff Buckley. Gone Again took a stronger, more optimistic tone than might have been expected, and was well received by many critics. Following closely on its heels, Peace and Noise appeared in 1997 and earned a Grammy nomination for the track "1959"; a much darker affair than its predecessor, it took into account the deaths of two more of Smiths inspirations, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs. Smith returned in 2000 with Gung Ho, the most aggressive-sounding and socially conscious album of her comeback; the song "Glitter in Their Eyes" also earned her a second Grammy nomination. Smith and Arista parted ways in 2002, with the label issuing Land (1975-2002), a double-disc compilation of hits and rarities, as a wrap-up. Smith subsequently signed with Columbia. Her first album for the label, Trampin, appeared in spring 2004. Horses received the deluxe two-CD treatment in 2005 when it was reissued by Arista in a 30th Anniversary Legacy Edition. On March 12, 2007, Smith was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame alongside Van Halen, the Ronettes, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, and R.E.M. She released an album of typically eclectic covers, Twelve, that same year. She was the subject of Stephen Sebrings 2008 acclaimed documentary, Patti Smith: Dream of Life; the film played the festival circuit worldwide as well as art house theaters and was released on DVD. Smith also authored a memoir entitled Just Kids about her life with friend and collaborator, the late photographer Mapplethorpe. It was published in 2010; it won the National Book Award for Non-Fiction for that year. In 2011, Sony Legacy released a single-disc, career-spanning compilation, Outside Society, featuring recordings from her Arista and Columbia catalogs. Just after the recording was released, Smith, along with the Kronos Quartet, won Swedens prestigious Polar Prize for "devoting her life to art in all its forms." Smith also contributed both a 12" x 12" original print and an audio track to the ultra-limited edition, multi-artist Legacy box set 15 Minutes: Homage to Andy Warhol. Smith released Banga, her eleventh studio album, after a hiatus of more than eight years in the early summer of 2012. Along with her regular band, guests included her two children, Jackson and Jessi, Tom Verlaine, and Jack Petruzzelli. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 19 Title: Horses Released: 1975-11 Tracks: 9 Duration: 46:40 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Gloria (05:56) 2 Redondo Beach (03:26) 3 Birdland (09:15) 4 Free Money (03:51) 5 Kimberly (04:27) 6 Break It Up (04:04) 7 Land: Horses / Land of a Thousand Dances / La Mer (De) (09:25) 8 Elegie (02:56) 9 My Generation (03:17) |
| Horses : Allmusic album Review : It isnt hard to make the case for Patti Smith as a punk rock progenitor based on her debut album, which anticipated the new wave by a year or so: the simple, crudely played rock & roll, featuring Lenny Kayes rudimentary guitar work, the anarchic spirit of Smiths vocals, and the emotional and imaginative nature of her lyrics -- all prefigure the coming movement as it evolved on both sides of the Atlantic. Smith is a rock critics dream, a poet as steeped in 60s garage rock as she is in French Symbolism; "Land" carries on from the Doors "The End," marking her as a successor to Jim Morrison, while the borrowed choruses of "Gloria" and "Land of a Thousand Dances" are more in tune with the era of sampling than they were in the 70s. Producer John Cale respected Smiths primitivism in a way that later producers did not, and the loose, improvisatory song structures worked with her free verse to create something like a new spoken word/musical art form: Horses was a hybrid, the sound of a post-Beat poet, as she put it, "dancing around to the simple rock & roll song." | ||
 | Album: 2 of 19 Title: Because the Night Released: 1983 Tracks: 4 Duration: 14:29 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Because the Night (03:00) 2 Redondo Beach (03:24) 3 Dancing Barefoot (04:18) 4 Free Money (03:47) |
 | Album: 3 of 19 Title: Dream of Life Released: 1988-06 Tracks: 8 Duration: 42:21 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 People Have the Power (05:09) 2 Going Under (05:59) 3 Up There Down There (04:51) 4 Paths That Cross (04:20) 5 Dream of Life (04:40) 6 Where Duty Calls (07:49) 7 Looking For You (I Was) (04:07) 8 The Jackson Song (05:24) |
| Dream of Life : Allmusic album Review : The big difference between Patti Smiths four 1970s albums and this return to action after nine years lies in the choice of collaborator. Where Smiths main associate earlier had been Lenny Kaye, a deliberately simple guitarist, here her co-writer and co-producer (with Jimmy Iovine) was her husband, Fred "Sonic" Smith, formerly of the MC5, who played guitar with a conventional rock competence and who lent his talents to each of the tracks, giving them a mainstream flavor. In a sense, however, these polished love songs, lullabies, and political statements are not to be compared to the poetic ramblings of Smiths first decade of music-making -- shes so much...calmer this time out. But you cant help it. Where the Patti Smith of Horses inspired a generation of female rockers, the Patti Smith of Dream of Life sounds like shes been listening to later Pretenders albums and taking tips from Chrissie Hynde, one of her spiritual daughters. Dream of Life is the record of someone who is simply showing the flag, trying to keep her hand in, rather than announcing her comeback. Not surprisingly, having made it, Smith retreated from the public eye again until the 90s. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 19 Title: Gone Again Released: 1996-06-18 Tracks: 11 Duration: 55:56 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Gone Again (03:17) 2 Beneath the Southern Cross (04:35) 3 About a Boy (08:16) 4 My Madrigal (05:09) 5 Summer Cannibals (04:11) 6 Dead to the World (04:17) 7 Wing (04:53) 8 Ravens (03:57) 9 Wicked Messenger (03:47) 10 Fireflies (09:36) 11 Farewell Reel (03:54) |
| Gone Again : Allmusic album Review : After years of silence, Patti Smith returned to music with a series of concerts in late 1995. It had been years since she had performed live -- for most of the 80s and 90s, she concentrated on domestic life. Following the death of her husband, Fred "Sonic" Smith, in early 1995, Smith began playing music in public again and those concerts eventually led to the triumphant comeback Gone Again. Her husband wasnt the only loved one Smith lost between 1988s Dream of Life and 1996s Gone Again -- her brother and her close friend Robert Mapplethorpe both died. Appropriately, grief and loss hang over Gone Again, but the overall effect is not one of indulgent melancholy. Instead, its a sober but strengthing listen -- this is healing optimistic music. Like most of Smiths best work, the songs on Gone Again arent proper songs, theyre song poems, with cascading music and dense, inspired lyrics. Smith sounds more mature than her earlier records -- there are only a handful of out-and-out rockers, and most of the album is subtle and folky -- which gives the album extra weight. Gone Again is more than a comeback, its a revitalization -- Patti Smith simply hasnt sound so engaged and provocative since Easter. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 19 Title: Peace and Noise Released: 1997-09-30 Tracks: 10 Duration: 52:32 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Waiting Underground (05:19) 2 Whirl Away (05:01) 3 1959 (03:58) 4 Spell (03:17) 5 Don’t Say Nothing (05:52) 6 Dead City (04:13) 7 Blue Poles (05:19) 8 Death Singing (03:44) 9 Memento Mori (10:34) 10 Last Call (05:08) |
| Peace and Noise : Allmusic album Review : After a prolonged retirement, Patti Smith returned to action in 1996 with Gone Again. It was recorded after she suffered the loss of both her brother and her husband, Fred "Sonic" Smith, two losses so great that its not surprising she is still exploring that pain on Peace and Noise, which quickly followed Gone Again in 1997. Patti had been working on Peace and Noise with Fred before his death, and its issues are appropriately more domestic than those on Gone Again. Throughout most of the record, she explores aging and raising children, trying to find a place for her family in the modern world while coming to terms with her aging rebelliousness. The music on Peace and Noise trims away the sonic bluster and anthemic rocking of Gone Again, preferring a sparse, piano-based musical foundation. As a result, her words resonate clearly and have a succinct, poetic power that was lacking on the otherwise worthy Gone Again. | ||
 | Album: 6 of 19 Title: Gung Ho Released: 2000-03-20 Tracks: 13 Duration: 1:04:36 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 One Voice (04:04) 2 Lo and Beholden (04:43) 3 Boy Cried Wolf (04:51) 4 Persuasion (04:33) 5 Gone Pie (04:04) 6 China Bird (04:07) 7 Glitter in Their Eyes (03:03) 8 Strange Messengers (08:02) 9 Grateful (04:29) 10 Upright Come (02:58) 11 New Party (04:30) 12 Libbie’s Song (03:26) 13 Gung Ho (11:41) |
| Gung Ho : Allmusic album Review : Patti Smiths late-90s comeback was devoted to reflective, intensely emotional music that explored her life in seclusion and the losses that forced her to reconnect with the larger world. They were acclaimed, ambitious, successful records, but they steered away from Smiths angry, activist muse, plus her penchant for visceral music. She rediscovers both on Gung Ho, her most immediate album in years. "Immediate" doesnt necessarily mean rock & roll, though. At times, she does reconnect with garage punk, notably on the Farifisa-fueled "Persuasion" and "Glitter in Their Eyes," which is graced by the guitar of Tom Verlaine, but her remarkable band -- featuring guitarists Lenny Kaye and Oliver Ray, bassist Tony Shanahan, and drummer Jay Dee Daugherty -- sounds direct and forceful even on the mid-tempo cuts that dominate the album. Smith doesnt shy away from the personal -- after all, the cover shot features her father, Grant, and the title track appears to deal with his war experiences -- but she works on a broader plane throughout the album, concentrating on larger, social messages even in the more intimate moments. The result may not be as haunting as Gone Again, but its superficially nervier, reminiscent of a subdued, mature version of Easter. In other words, its another handsome, shaded, and satisfying work from an artist who has reconnected with her muse. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 19 Title: Land (1975–2002) Released: 2002-03-19 Tracks: 30 Duration: 2:24:01 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Dancing Barefoot (04:16) 2 Babelogue (01:29) 3 Rock n Roll Nigger (03:23) 4 Gloria (05:52) 5 Pissing in a River (04:51) 6 Free Money (03:48) 7 People Have the Power (05:09) 8 Because the Night (03:22) 9 Frederick (03:03) 10 Summer Cannibals (04:11) 11 Ghost Dance (04:41) 12 Ain’t It Strange (06:36) 13 1959 (03:58) 14 Beneath the Southern Cross (04:35) 15 Glitter in Their Eyes (03:03) 16 Paths That Cross (04:20) 17 When Doves Cry (04:59) 1 Piss Factory (05:02) 2 Redondo Beach (demo) (03:44) 3 Distant Fingers (demo) (04:56) 4 25th Floor (live) (05:43) 5 Come Back Little Sheba (studio outtake) (02:36) 6 Wander I Go (04:56) 7 Dead City (live) (04:34) 8 Spell (live) (06:40) 9 Wing (live) (05:05) 10 Boy Cried Wolf (live) (05:48) 11 Birdland (live) (09:42) 12 Higher Learning (live) (07:21) 13 Notes to the Future (live) / Tomorrow (live) (06:05) |
| Land (1975–2002) : Allmusic album Review : Patti Smith completed her contract with Arista Records after 27 years by assembling this compilation, which serves as both a best-of and rarities collection, one disc devoted to each. Disc one is drawn from Smiths eight studio albums (with the exception of a newly recorded cover of Princes "When Doves Cry"). Having scored only one hit single, "Because the Night," Smith was not constrained by chart performance, and she seems to have chosen the songs that still mean something to her (though in an interview she claimed to have taken fan preferences into consideration). Curiously, given the album title, the epic "Land" is missing, as are such straight-ahead rockers as "Ask the Angels" and "Till Victory." But most of Smiths more impressive album tracks are included, with the selection favoring her 1970s records, an imbalance that is redressed on the second disc, which contains 2001 live recordings of songs from later albums Gone Again, Peace and Noise, and Gung Ho. The disc also has a couple of previously released singles-only tracks (her hard to find debut, "Piss Factory," and "Come Back Little Sheba," a 1996 U.K. B-side), demos ("Redondo Beach," "Distant Fingers"), a 1996 studio outtake ("Wander I Go"), live recordings of older songs ("25th Floor," "Birdland"), and one newly recorded song, "Higher Learning," a lengthy studio jam on which Smith plays clarinet. The set concludes with a poem, "Notes to the Future," recited by Smith at the 2002 New Years Day poetry reading at St. Marks Church in New York, that reflects her optimism, which is also expressed in a goofier manner by the hidden track, an impromptu live performance of "Tomorrow" from Annie. Land (1975-2000) is a typically idiosyncratic compilation from a quirky but imaginative artist, and thats what her fans have come to expect, so they wont be disappointed. | ||
 | Album: 8 of 19 Title: Trampin’ Released: 2003 Tracks: 11 Duration: 1:03:41 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Jubilee (04:43) 2 Mother Rose (04:56) 3 Stride of the Mind (03:37) 4 Cartwheels (06:01) 5 Gandhi (09:21) 6 Trespasses (05:00) 7 My Blakean Year (05:16) 8 Cash (04:20) 9 Peaceable Kingdom (05:09) 10 Radio Baghdad (12:17) 11 Trampin’ (02:56) |
| Trampin’ : Allmusic album Review : Nearly 30 years and nine albums in, Patti Smith shows no signs of giving up, or giving in, despite the fact she expected to be quietly doing her work instead of making rock & roll albums and playing in front of audiences. But then 9/11, Afghanistan, war in Iraq. Smith lives the vocation of a poet in an old-world sense of that word. Once, bards were the gadflies of society. Smiths Trampin is a work that directly evolves from that tradition and fits squarely in her oeuvre. Trampin is Smiths first outing for new label Columbia. She and her bandmates -- Lenny Kaye, Jay Dee Daugherty, Tony Shanahan, and Oliver Ray -- walk the tightrope between in-your-face garage rock, poetic ballads, and raucous, improvisational pieces (à la "Radio Ethiopia"). Not surprisingly, Trampin is a largely political album, but it is far from a didactic one. Smiths voice of resistance is a human one, not an ideological one. She and her band cut much of the record live from the floor, and with the exception of the field recorded sounds of children playing in the street in "Radio Baghdad" and immediate and guttural strings added to "My Blakean Year," it comes off as both an immediate and organic record. Smith celebrates what is unique and beautiful in this America while castigating those who would abolish it in favor of homogeneity and submission. Whether it is the razored, riff-driven rock of "Stride of the Mind," the tough, anthemic pounce of "Jubilee," or the haunting midtempo countrified tunes like "Mother Rose," "Trespasses," or "Cash," the sober-eyed critical examination, the exhortation to find the truth and to celebrate life are everywhere. Likewise, in longer pieces like "Ghandi" and "Radio Baghdad," modes and grooves are locked and loaded. Poetry, both sung and spoken, engages the swirling, wavelike roars of apocalyptic power and chaos her band creates and splits the seams with the authority of her language, which claims no authority but that of the victim -- which is all the authority there is. "My Blakean Year" is an acoustic anthem, the confession of a vision that is given full fruit in the largely acoustic "Peaceable Kingdom." The title track is also the closer. A duet between Smiths daughter Jesse Lee Smiths piano and Pattis voice, it is a folk song written in the gospel tradition. One can hear the ghosts of Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, and Mimi Fariña in seams between the keys under Jesses fingers and the wavering, tender grain in Smiths voice. This is timeless music. It knows no age or subgenre classification; it is American music as it has been spoken the world over; it is rock & roll done as well as it can be by anybody. | ||
 | Album: 9 of 19 Title: Twelve Released: 2007-04-13 Tracks: 12 Duration: 56:48 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Are You Experienced? (04:46) 2 Everybody Wants to Rule the World (04:07) 3 Helpless (04:02) 4 Gimme Shelter (05:00) 5 Within You Without You (04:51) 6 White Rabbit (03:54) 1 Changing of the Guards (05:47) 2 The Boy in the Bubble (04:30) 3 Soul Kitchen (03:45) 4 Smells Like Teen Spirit (06:31) 5 Midnight Rider (04:02) 6 Pastime Paradise (05:26) |
| Twelve : Allmusic album Review : According to her brief liner notes, Patti Smith indulged the idea of a covers album, considering songs as far back as 1978 on the back pages of Jean Genets Thiefs Journal when she was still assembling her groundbreaking early catalog; its evident she feels that covers have been part and parcel of her recording experience from the outset. Her debut, Horses, has her own apocalyptic version of Van Morrisons "Gloria" as well as a healthy portion of Chris Kenners "Land of a Thousand Dances" inside "Land." On 1979s Wave she covered the Byrds "So You Want to Be (A Rock and Roll Star)," and scored with the single. Her intuitive reading of Bob Dylans "Wicked Messenger" was a beautiful aspect of Gone Again in 1996, and she paid tribute to Allen Ginsberg by using one of his poems in "Spell," on 1997s Peace and Noise. And who can forget her reading of Pete Townshends "My Generation" issued on the 30th Anniversary edition of Horses? While its a popular notion these days to consider a covers album a stop-gap between albums, the truth is that Smith has never been in a hurry when it comes to recording, though she has been very productive over the last decade. She has always paid tribute in one form or another to her heroes, however disparate. This collection is a wondrous sampling of pop hits, hard rock, ballads, and soul done in Smiths inimitable way of interpreting songs -- by getting inside them and breathing their meaning, and often uncovering new shades of meaning -- from within. She begins with a newer, more spiritual reading of Jimi Hendrixs "Are You Experienced?" letting her fine band -- Jay Dee Daugherty, Lenny Kaye and Tony Shanahan -- pulse the tunes changes and vibe while she comes across as a shaman leading the way down into the underworld. Her taking on Tears for Fears smash hit "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" may come as a surprise, but in her open-throated take, the tune brims with the wisdom of a prophetess proclaiming the folly of humankinds need for power and greed. And while her version of Neil Youngs "Helpless" may come across as a bit too reverent, the seed of memory is what infuses her take on this beautiful ballad. Loss and remembrance become a memento mori, an effigy to those who whove traveled on from this plane of existence. "Gimme Shelter" is a natural, and it carries all the foreboding of an apocalypse out the original nearly 40 years later as if to say that Jagger and Richard were right all along. The tune becomes a plea for shelter, rather than a demand. George Harrisons "Within You Without You" is the complete blending of spiritual longing, with droning acoustic guitars, skittering snares and open chord drones from Kayes electric and fleshly experience. Smiths read of Dylans "Changing of the Guard" is ambitious. Where the original was drenched in mariachi horns and a female backing chorus, she overturns those trappings and accents Dylans last expressionistic lyric. She sings as if everything is at stake in this clash between the forces of light and darkness, where Melville, Dumas, Joan of Arc, the myth of Orpheus and the tales of Ovid are informed by both biblical prophecy and the tarot. The meld of acoustic guitars, brushed drums and muted kickdrum wind around her. The piano and Kayes muted electric guitars fill the space where most of the backing vocals and horns once were -- except where Smiths daughter Jesse Paris Smith harmonizes -- and seduce the emotion out of the nearly surreal narrative of renunciation. Perhaps no tune moves here like Smiths reading of "Smells Like Teen Spirit," with help from Sam Shepherd and John Cohen on banjo, Peter Stampfel on fiddle, and Kaye and Duncan Webster on guitar in a strange dreamscape driven by a standup bass. Smith digs into the lyric and then offers a poem that is as much an early American folk song elegy to the environment Kurt Cobain grew up in as it is to whats happening to America itself, but with current touches. Her poets heart not only complements the original but makes the song timeless and brings Cobains mature spirit to flesh once more. It is the most moving track on the set and the most visionary. Smith closes her set with a true outlaws campfire song in Gregg Allmans "Midnight Rider," and a darker than written, sparsely textured, elegiac cover of Stevie Wonders "Pastime Paradise," with a truly haunting piano by Luis Resto. Her small notes annotating each track are welcome and revealing in and of themselves. If this is truly the covers album Smith has always wanted to record, shes succeeded on a level with the best of her studio recordings and a welcome addition to her catalog. Each song has her imprint without sacrificing the intent or spirit of the original. Full of slow burning passion and emotion, Twelve is magnificent. | ||
 | Album: 10 of 19 Title: Original Album Classics Released: 2008 Tracks: 51 Duration: 3:56:45 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Gloria (05:56) 2 Redondo Beach (03:26) 3 Birdland (09:15) 4 Free Money (03:51) 5 Kimberly (04:27) 6 Break It Up (04:04) 7 Land: Horses / Land of a Thousand Dances / La Mer (De) (09:25) 8 Elegie (02:56) 9 My Generation (03:17) 1 Ask the Angels (03:08) 2 Ain’t It Strange (06:36) 3 Poppies (07:06) 4 Pissing in a River (04:52) 5 Pumping (My Heart) (03:21) 6 Distant Fingers (04:20) 7 Radio Ethiopia (10:03) 8 Abyssinia (02:15) 9 Chiklets (06:23) 1 Till Victory (02:51) 2 Space Monkey (04:05) 3 Because the Night (03:22) 4 Ghost Dance (04:40) 5 Babelogue (01:30) 6 Rock n Roll Nigger (03:25) 7 Privilege (Set Me Free) (03:29) 8 We Three (04:18) 9 25th Floor (04:03) 10 High on Rebellion (02:37) 11 Easter (06:15) 12 Godspeed (06:10) 1 Frederick (03:05) 2 Dancing Barefoot (04:15) 3 So You Want to Be a Rock ’n’ Roll Star (04:20) 4 Hymn (01:11) 5 Revenge (05:07) 6 Citizen Ship (05:12) 7 Seven Ways of Going (05:20) 8 Broken Flag (04:58) 9 Wave (04:55) 10 Fire of Unknown Origin (02:09) 11 54321/Wave (02:43) 1 People Have the Power (05:09) 2 Up There Down There (04:50) 3 Paths That Cross (04:20) 4 Dream of Life (04:39) 5 Where Duty Calls (07:48) 6 Going Under (05:59) 7 Looking For You (I Was) (04:07) 8 The Jackson Song (05:40) 9 As the Night Goes By (05:04) 10 Wild Leaves (04:04) |
| Original Album Classics : Allmusic album Review : Sony repackaged and re-released three Patti Smith LPs on Arista -- Gone Again, Peace and Noise, and Gung Ho -- as a slipcased box set. Its not a bad way to acquire the albums if you dont already own them, but isnt recommended for the casual fan. | ||
 | Album: 11 of 19 Title: iTunes Originals Released: 2008-01-08 Tracks: 27 Duration: 1:31:13 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 iTunes originals (00:06) 2 I Cant Remember Ever Recording It Acoustically (01:23) 3 Pissing in a River (iTunes originals version) (04:41) 4 It Was Our Most Popular Song (02:55) 5 Because the Night (03:22) 6 It Was Written in Memory of the Hopi Indians (01:29) 7 Ghost Dance (iTunes originals version) (04:29) 8 I Was Walking by the Sea Thinking of Him (01:11) 9 Frederick (03:03) 10 In the Face of Loss We Have to Be Strong (02:09) 11 About a Boy (08:16) 12 A Poem for Oliver Ray (01:43) 13 Beneath the Southern Cross (04:34) 14 I Wanted to Sing It the Way I Ride a Horse (01:31) 15 Midnight Rider (iTunes originals version) (03:55) 16 My Inspiration Was Mother Teresa (01:34) 17 One Voice (04:04) 18 I Always Look to William Blake When Im Having a Difficult Year (01:49) 19 My Blakean Year (05:16) 20 This Song Came to Mind (02:17) 21 Tara / Peaceable Kingdom (iTunes originals version) (06:33) 22 We Became Instant Friends (02:15) 23 Gloria: In Excelsis Deo (live) (06:50) 24 Its a Very Alive Song (01:11) 25 Soul Kitchen (iTunes originals version) (04:03) 26 The Most Emotional Song on the Record (03:38) 27 Smells Like Teen Spirit (iTunes originals version) (06:54) |
 | Album: 12 of 19 Title: Outside Society Released: 2011-09-12 Tracks: 18 Duration: 1:19:43 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Gloria (05:52) 2 Free Money (03:50) 3 Ain’t It Strange (06:35) 4 Pissing in a River (04:50) 5 Because the Night (03:22) 6 Rock ’n’ Roll Nigger (04:52) 7 Dancing Barefoot (04:16) 8 Frederick (03:02) 9 So You Want to Be a Rock ’n’ Roll Star (04:18) 10 People Have the Power (05:06) 11 Up There Down There (04:48) 12 Beneath the Southern Cross (04:34) 13 Summer Cannibals (04:09) 14 1959 (03:58) 15 Glitter in Their Eyes (03:03) 16 Lo and Beholden (radio edit) (04:19) 17 Smells Like Teen Spirit (radio edit) (05:49) 18 Trampin’ (album version) (02:52) |
| Outside Society : Allmusic album Review : Patti Smith won the National Book Award in the nonfiction category for Just Kids, her best-selling memoir about her years in the New York of the 1960s and 70s, and her long intimate and collaborative relationship with her best friend, the late photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. The book was released in paperback earlier in 2011, and is currently being developed for a feature film with Smith working on the screenplay. Sony Legacy, in its turn, is focusing anew on her musical career: Outside Society is the first single-disc collection of her work to span both her Arista and Columbia years from 1975 through 2007. While Smith fans no doubt have everything contained here -- of the 18 tracks collected , each album is represented -- this disc serves as an excellent introduction to Smiths ever evolving, non-compromising art which combines high-stakes poetry with rock & roll. While her two most familiar songs -- "Because the Night" (written in collaboration with Bruce Springsteen) and her version of the Byrds So You Wanna Be a Rock n Roll Star," are here; so are other singles: "People Have the Power," "Up There Down There," "Dancing Barefoot," and "Frederick." In addition, her own signature version of Van Morrisons "Gloria" is included, as are more unlikely selections like "Aint It Strange" and "Pissing in a River" from the highly controversial and enduringly visionary Radio Ethiopia album. Smith, however, is not an artist who can merely be relegated to the dustbin of rocks gloried past, as more recent additions, such as "1959," "Summer Cannibals," the radio edit of "Lo and Beholden," and the title track from Trampin attest. A nice addition to the set is the radio edit of her version of Nirvanas "Smells Like Teen Spirit," recorded as a tribute to Kurt Cobain, which appeared on the album Twelve. The liner notes offer Smiths own reflection on her songs. | ||
 | Album: 13 of 19 Title: Easter Rising (Live) Released: 2011-10-10 Tracks: 16 Duration: 1:19:50 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 The Salvation of Rock (live) (08:09) 2 Babelogue - Rock n Roll Nigger (live) (04:43) 3 Kimberly (live) (06:00) 4 Till Victory (live) (04:15) 5 Redondo Beach (live) (04:39) 6 The Kids Are Alright (live) (02:35) 7 Space Monkey (live) (04:39) 8 25th Floor (live) (07:04) 9 Its So Hard (live) (03:24) 10 We Three (live) (05:33) 11 You Light Up My Life (live) (02:46) 12 Be My Baby (live) (03:14) 13 Because the Night (live) (04:52) 14 Easter (live) (05:34) 15 Gloria (live) (05:56) 16 My Generation (live) (06:14) |
 | Album: 14 of 19 Title: Banga Released: 2012-06-04 Tracks: 12 Duration: 58:41 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Amerigo (04:36) 2 April Fool (03:46) 3 Fuji‐san (04:12) 4 This Is the Girl (03:49) 5 Banga (02:51) 6 Maria (05:05) 7 Mosaic (04:12) 8 Tarkovsky (The Second Stop Is Jupiter) (04:50) 9 Nine (05:02) 10 Seneca (05:39) 11 Constantine’s Dream (10:19) 12 After the Gold Rush (04:13) |
| Banga : Allmusic album Review : In the eight years since Patti Smiths last studio effort of new, original material, Trampin, shes toured, assembled art installations, had her photographs collected for global exhibition, and written Just Kids, a National Book Award-winning memoir. On Banga, Smith marries together her various forms of literary expression with rock and pop in an iconic assemblage. Her collaborators are (mostly) familiar: guitarist Lenny Kaye, drummer Jay Dee Daugherty, bassist Tony Shanahan, guitarist Tom Verlaine, her children Jackson and Jessi, and guitarist Jack Petruzzelli. Italian band Casa del Vento and Johnny Depp also appear. The album is saturated with poetry, sung or spoken -- sometimes both. Its themes range from a non-didactic reflection on environmental crisis, the dominion of art as mans greatest gift to the divine -- as well as its own species -- homages, elegies, and love songs, all offered with authority and tenderness. Musically, the album is absent the dynamic, free-form chaos that marks her earlier recordings, but is better for it. This is true even when the band stretches to improvise forcefully on a theme by Sun Ra in the glorious "Tarkovsky (The Second Stop Is Jupiter)." This is not to say that Banga doesnt rock; it does, all over the place: in the aforementioned cut, in the dramatic "Fuji-San," and in the blistering title track (named for a dog in Mikhail Bulgakovs Master and Margarita). But there are the pop songs, too: the hooky "Aprils Fool" (a song about nomadic lovers that echoes the themes in Just Kids), the sweet ballad "This Is the Girl," for Amy Winehouse, and the elegant waltz "Maria" (for Maria Schneider). "Mosaic," driven by Daughertys mandocello riff, is a lush, sensual rocker that spiritually counters the rebellion and betrayal in the albums title cut. "Amerigo," with a lilting backdrop of strings, explores Amerigo Vespuccis vision after discovering the New World. Smith imagines that after encountering its indigenous people, his colonial ideology was turned inside-out. At over ten minutes, "Contantines Dream," offers a feverish juxtaposition of painter Piero Della Francescas death, his painting (the title of the cut), a dream she had of Saint Francis weeping at the current state of the environment in the 21st century, and the ecstatic vision of Columbus as he saw the New World for the first time-- on the same day De Francisca died. Smiths poetic skill -- she improvised the lyrics on the spot -- is astonishing. She pulls it all together with visionary social and spiritual context. The set closes with a lilting cover of Neil Youngs "After the Gold Rush," underscoring the previous tunes apocalyptic meaning albeit more gently with a childrens chorus on the refrain. Banga is an event; its not only provocative and expansive lyrically, but abundantly enjoyable musically. As an artist, Smith embodies the highest calling of her vocation: she completely absorbs everything she encounters, then gives it back to the culture in a manner that holistically edifies it. | ||
 | Album: 15 of 19 Title: Twelve / Banga Released: 2013-08-30 Tracks: 24 Duration: 1:55:29 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Are You Experienced? (04:46) 2 Everybody Wants to Rule the World (04:07) 3 Helpless (04:02) 4 Gimme Shelter (05:00) 5 Within You Without You (04:51) 6 White Rabbit (03:54) 7 Changing of the Guards (05:47) 8 The Boy in the Bubble (04:30) 9 Soul Kitchen (03:45) 10 Smells Like Teen Spirit (06:31) 11 Midnight Rider (04:02) 12 Pastime Paradise (05:26) 1 Amerigo (04:36) 2 April Fool (03:46) 3 Fuji‐san (04:12) 4 This Is the Girl (03:49) 5 Banga (02:51) 6 Maria (05:05) 7 Mosaic (04:12) 8 Tarkovsky (The Second Stop Is Jupiter) (04:50) 9 Nine (05:02) 10 Seneca (05:39) 11 Constantine’s Dream (10:19) 12 After the Gold Rush (04:13) |
 | Album: 16 of 19 Title: Depravity (New York May 28th 1975) Released: 2014-05-19 Tracks: 13 Duration: 1:05:15 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 We’re Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together (03:57) 2 Hunter Captured by the Game (03:39) 3 Birdland (07:06) 4 Redondo Beach (04:05) 5 Space Monkey (04:46) 6 Snowball (04:30) 7 Distant Fingers (05:51) 8 Break It Up (03:35) 9 Gloria (07:25) 10 Scheherazade (04:30) 11 Down the Isle of Love (03:57) 12 Piss Factory (Central Park 1975) (03:47) 13 Horses (Central Park 1975) (08:07) |
 | Album: 17 of 19 Title: Killer Road Released: 2016-06-02 Tracks: 9 Duration: 50:02 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Killer Road (04:29) 2 My Heart Is Empty (06:51) 3 Evening of Light (05:02) 4 Saeta (04:45) 5 Secret Side (04:00) 6 Fearfully in Danger (live) (06:42) 7 I Will Be Seven (live) (06:18) 8 The Sphinx (live) (07:07) 9 My Only Child (04:48) |
 | Album: 18 of 19 Title: Kimberly Released: 2016-11-08 Tracks: 9 Duration: 46:06 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 The Salvation of Rock (live) (08:10) 2 Kimberly (live) (06:01) 3 Redondo Beach (live) (04:40) 4 Space Monkey (live) (04:40) 5 It’s So Hard (live) (03:25) 6 We Three (live) (05:33) 7 You Light Up My Life (live) (02:47) 8 Because the Night (live) (04:53) 9 Gloria (live) (05:57) |
 | Album: 19 of 19 Title: The Peyote Dance Released: 2019-05-31 Tracks: 8 Duration: 54:50 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Una nota sobre el peyote (04:26) 2 Indian Culture (09:39) 3 Tutuguri: The Rite of the Black Sun (05:00) 4 Tutuguri: The Rite of Black Night (09:57) 5 The New Revelations of Being (03:37) 6 Alienation and Black Magic (10:43) 7 Ivry (06:47) 8 Basalówala Aminá Ralámuli Paísila (04:39) |