CD Odyssey Disc 1803: Patti Smith

Due to inclement weather, I rode the bus to work most of this week. Asa a result, I got in lots of extra music listening time, including this uneven but occasionally brilliant gem of yesteryear.

Disc 1803 is…Radio Ethiopia

Artist: Patti Smith Group

Year of Release: 1976

What’s up with the Cover? Patti sits on the floor, looking amped up and apprehensive.

Are you feeling amped up and apprehensive? Listening to his album may give voice to that feeling. That could be good, or you could opt for a spot of hot tea to calm your nerves. Not everyone is up for the fully immersed ‘life-as-art’ experience that Patti Smith inhabits.

How I Came To Know It: Sheila bought me a couple of Patti Smith albums as a gift many years ago (“Easter” and “Horses”). This got me hooked and a while later I found a five-album set that included both of those, plus three others. One of the three others was “Radio Ethiopia”.

How It Stacks Up: I have five Patt Smith albums. They’re all good, but one of them had to be last and it is going to be “Radio Ethiopia”. This is the last review of my Patti Smith collection, so as tradition dictates, here’s a recap:

1. Easter: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 1368)
2. Horses: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 915)
3. Wave: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1144)
4. Dream of Life: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1037)
5. Radio Ethiopia: 3 stars (reviewed right here)

Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4

“Radio Ethiopia” is a wildly inconsistent record, where both the good and the bad are equally fuelled by Patti Smith’s uncompromising and wholly immersive approach to art and music. Or to put it colloquially, she does what she feels like doing. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

Of all my Patti Smith albums it is easily the least accessible. If you are looking for a radio single, you will be looking in vain. This is a “I do whatever I want any old time” kind of record, fuelled by an artistic vision so deeply lodged in the now that it had me doubting that even Smith knows where things are going to go on any given track.

The opening track, “Ask the Angels” is about as straight as it is gonna get, with a bit of metallic punk guitar and a vocal performance that – like everything Smith has ever done – is all-in. That deep throaty voice, caterwauling across the song’s melody is what makes Smith so amazing. She fully immerses herself in the music in a way that few artists can match.

This is a vibe that Yoko Ono consistently attempted to land with all her irritating yips and growls, without success (sorry, not sorry, Yoko apologists). Smith shows how awe-inspiring it can be when you shed all pretention and just do it. To do that and make it work takes a whole lot of talent, of course.

OK, first straight up rock song out of they way, is it? Let’s descend a bit further into the weird. “Ain’t It Strange” starts out with a very cool bit of guitar that sets an eerie, otherworldly tone that is made flesh by the various other instruments that come in behind it (including Smith’s vocals, of course). This is not a dance song, except maybe around a bonfire with a bunch of folks painted in Dayglo. I imagine the dancers were prepping for an orgy they forget to have, instead running off into the woods amid growls and guttural screams. Not what you expected? That’s how strange works. Next time, stay on the trail.

From here “Radio Ethiopia” wanders pretty fucking far from the trail. The record doubles down on moody, weird, otherworldly sounds. Cthulhu himself would be proud. The result is some great songs and some others that should have been left in the studio as late-night outtakes: fun to record, but not for sharing outside of those in on the joke.

For the most part I like this acid rock sounding stuff, so I was inclined to forgive the record its lesser efforts. And I would’ve, too, if it weren’t for a couple behemoths. “Poppies” (seven minutes) and “Radio Ethiopia – Live” (ten minutes) are just too damn long to be that unstructured. It was like a great trip at the beginning, followed by a strung-out feeling accompanied by a tension headache as things dragged on.

I’ll end on a high note with a reference to “Distant Fingers,” which is co-written by Blue Oyster Cult keyboardist Allen Lanier. Lanier dated Smith and they made some cool music together for both their respective bands. “Distant Fingers” isn’t their finest collaboration (that would be “Fire of Unknown Origin”) but it has a gentle and mysterious sway that lands dead centre between the two artists’ styles. It blends old school rock crooning with the proto-punk sounds of Smith. The mix is not for everyone, but I like it.

This record has 4-star potential, but at critical moments it can’t reign itself in, falling just a hair short of excellence.

Best tracks: Ask the Angels, Ain’t It Strange, Pissing in a River, Distant Fingers

CD Odyssey Disc 1368: Patti Smith

I’ve been crowing all week about how, for the first time ever, I purchased music by downloading it (legally, of course – support artists!). It took an album I really wanted badly that wasn’t available on CD to finally make this happen. That album was the Jens Lekman/Annika Norlin collaboration, “Correspondence.”

Lest you think I have now abandoned physical media, you should know that my first act after downloading the album was to burn it to CD, create a jewel case for it, and put it on my CD shelf where it belongs.

Disc 1368 is…. Easter

Artist: Patti Smith

Year of Release: 1978

What’s up with the Cover? Patti deep in thought, or maybe deep in dance. Whichever it is, you can be sure she’s doing it the way she feels like doing it.

How I Came To Know It: Sheila bought me two Patti Smith albums for my birthday a few years ago (the other one was “Horses” reviewed back at Disc 915).

How It Stacks Up: I now have five Patti Smith albums. “Easter” is #1.

Ratings: 5 stars

Who among us lives a fully authentic life? No filter, no artifice, just living your truth 24/7? It isn’t as easy as it sounds. It takes inner conviction, bravery, and unflinching vision. On “Easter” Patti Smith demonstrated all these things, and in the process gave us one of rock and roll’s all-time greatest records.

“Easter” is raw and passionate. A record swirling with yearning, angst, anger, and rebellion. Smith feels things in a way that would double most of us over and leave us lying fetal. However, she has an uncanny ability to focus and forge those feelings into art. The melodies are beautiful and elegant, even as they strain against their own structure. These songs are captive animals, where you’re never quite sure if someone left the lock off the cage.

Smith is a gifted poet who is equally adept at employing structure and free form. “Babelogue” is just ninety seconds of Smith spouting a florid stream of consciousness, as rabid fans cheer and clap. I know the rule for spoken word is that you’re supposed to snap your fingers rather than clap, but that would not be sufficiently rock and roll in this moment. Besides, Smith just gains energy from the din, as she masterfully spits her flow over it.

When she sings, Smith has a low, rich tone that seems to come from a primal place deep within her gut or the back of her throat. Her vocals are like a punch, sometimes hitting you in the stomach, and sometimes herself.  

“Easter” is rock and roll in its purest form, unadulterated and unapologetic. Forty years after it was released it still feels ahead of its time. It is unafraid to say anything or go anywhere. Be warned: it may make you feel uncomfortable and it may even deeply offend. How it goes for you is between you and Patti, but consider this your trigger warning.

It is also a record that inspires. “’Til Victory” and “Ghost Dance” feel like mystical anthems that lift and transcend the human condition. The album’s biggest hit (co-written with Bruce Springsteen), “Because the Night,” is young romance, flush with longing and wild abandon.

The record has the rebellious spirit of punk rock, combined with the churning energy of hard rock. Some of the songs are dirges, some are anthems and others are fist-pumping anthems. Whatever their form, each is all held together with Smith’s unflinching artistic vision. This is the rock album version of modern dance, free to move in any direction, but where each movement is deliberate and in service to the vision.

Often when music gets this experimental it loses the plot, and becomes more about its own cleverness, and less about the music. This never happens on “Easter” where the songs are not only inventive, but also a joy to listen to.

Walking home today I began vigorously air guitaring at least three times. The music just moved through me, and I had to let it out. I wanted to lean my head back and pinwheel about as I looked up at the sky (somehow, I resisted). The music just felt too big for just a regular walk through the neighbourhood. It felt majestic and wild, and invigorating like the edge of a high cliff, or a fast-flowing river; savage and beautiful.

So, yes, I recommend this record, but approach with caution. Be prepared to be swept up, and to get a bloody nose, because “Easter” has aged well, but it hasn’t aged gracefully. It is as dangerous and wild as it was back in 1978.

Best tracks: All tracks

CD Odyssey Disc 1144: Patti Smith Group

After almost nine years of reviews dead zones are starting to show up in my music collection where I’ve already reviewed everything in sight. I had to go through almost 60 CDs before I found one that I hadn’t already reviewed.

Does this mean the end is in sight? Hardly – it just means there will always be statistical anomalies, even when you dedicate yourself to the random will of the dice.

Disc 1144 is… Wave

Artist: Patti Smith Group

Year of Release: 1979

What’s up with the Cover? Patti Smith as a crazy bird lady. Part of me wants to invite her over for drinks and an equal part of me wants to cross to the other side of the street. This photo is by famous photographer (and lifelong Patti Smith friend) Robert Mapplethorpe, in case you are wondering why it is so awesome.

How I Came To Know It: After Sheila got me initially interested in Smith, I dug deeper and this was one of the albums I discovered. I liked it, making the purchase of a boxed set of her first five CDs (including “Wave”) a very easy decision to make.

How It Stacks Up:  I have five Patti Smith albums and I like them all. “Wave” holds off “Dream of Life” by the narrowest of margins to take third place.

Ratings: 4 stars

On “Wave” Patti Smith adopts a more pop-friendly approach than her previous three records, but it remains Patti Smith at its core, with plenty of intensity and experimentation sprinkled throughout.

One constant with Patti Smith are her distinctive vocals. On “Wave” they are classic Smith: low but powerful, with a swell of energy that makes you feel like she’s a priestess chanting before a dark and ancient god.

The opening track (and the only one to remotely chart) is “Frederick” is a good example of all of these elements. The song has a radio friendly production, with organ filling in Smith’s ordinarily stark approach. Like a lot of the songs on “Wave”, “Frederick” has a yearning quality, with Smith surrendering herself to a love that is both primal and cosmic.

The theme develops further on the next song, “Dancing Barefoot” which takes the esoteric notions of connectivity in “Frederick” and makes them flesh and blood. The mystery remains but light-hearted organ gives way to eerie guitar with a Middle Eastern-inspired sway in their rhythm. Smith slowly winds her voice around the song’s melody with the insistent refrain:

“Here I go and I don't know why
I flow so ceaselessly
Could it be he's taking over me”

There is a surrender here that is partly a choice and partly an irresistible need that demands resolution.

Smith often examines the concept of celebrity and stardom, and she channels this ably into a cover of the Byrd’s “So You Want To Be (A Rock ‘N’ Roll Star)”. Smith converts the sixties protest quality of the original with a visceral and raw warning of the dangers of the rock and roll lifestyle. Horn sections are removed and replaced with the thump of drum and sweet harmonies are swapped for the screech and distortion of electric guitar. It is advantage Smith and after a couple of times swapping back and forth between them the Byrds’ version started sounding thin and hollow.

Smith’s artsy and experimental side comes out more noticeably on Side Two (or the second half of the disc, if that’s how you roll). Songs like the politically charged “Citizen Ship” and “Broken Flag” interlace with the downright weirdness of “Seven Ways of Going” and the title track, “Wave.”

“Broken Flag” is the star of Side Two, a song of revolution filled with the glory of change and the sacrifices needed to make it real. The song has a military beat and swelling piano, as Smith converts her priestess chant to warrior-poet.

The title track is Smith back to her spoken word persona, as she rambles on sounding slightly crazy and obsessed, like a stalker who sees the world in different angles and colours than the rest of us. However, it is more than that, as she also forces you to pay closer attention to the desperate and awkward need for connection inside all of us to one degree or another.

My copy of the album is on CD and has a couple of bonus tracks (take that, vinyl people!). One is a New Wave jumper called “54321/Wave” which is plenty of fun, and the other is a cover of the Blue Oyster Cult song “Fire of Unknown Origin” that she cowrote with BOCer Allan Lanier.

Smith’s version here is so twisted and distorted it feels like the titular Fire of Unknown Origin has stolen Patti Smith to some alternate universe and you’re hearing her warped and warbled voice from some land where the laws of physics don’t apply. It isn’t exactly a dance number, but it is fun to see what can be done with a song when you push it to its artistic limits.

Like most Patti Smith albums “Wave” grew on me with each listen. There are always layers to her work, both within songs and the way she orders them to make a record. “Wave” feels a bit like Smith can’t decide if she wants a hit or just to keep hitting back at the conventional. Ultimately it is a bit of both, and while that might annoy purists, I thought it worked well.

Best tracks: Frederick, Dancing Barefoot, So You Want to be (A Rock ‘N’ Roll Star), Broken Flag

CD Odyssey Disc 1037: Patti Smith

At 30 degrees it was a hot walk home, and while I enjoyed the heat more than I usually do it wore me out a bit. I had to take a nap before I could give this next album the energy and attention it deserved.

Disc 1037 is…Dream of Life

Artist: Patti Smith

Year of Release: 1988

What’s up with the Cover? Patti Smith in what appears to be a jungle, or maybe just a backyard. Hard to tell. She looks very earnest and soulful, with hands artfully placed. Fun fact: this picture was taken by famed photographer Robert Maplethorpe.

How I Came To Know It: Sheila bought me a couple of earlier Patti Smith albums for Christmas a few years back. I loved them both, so when I saw a boxed set of her first five records (including “Dream of Life”) I snapped it up.

How It Stacks Up:  I have five Patti Smith albums and they are all amazing. This makes competition tough, and the best “Dream of Life” could manage was fourth.

Ratings: 4 stars

By the time Patti Smith released “Waves” in 1979 Patti Smith had become famous as a punk, poet and musical prophet. After an almost ten year gap with no new albums, this legacy would have been a lot to live up to. Despite all this pressure, “Dream of Life” is a return to form, reminding anyone who might have forgotten what an artistic force Smith is.

It would have been easy to overreach on this record, or to have it feel dated and stale, but Smith avoids both fates. The punk edge has been rounded out, but the album is still infused with vigor and restless energy. This is an album that shows ten years of maturity, but retains Smith’s revolutionary spirit at its core.

Smith’s vocals remain low and controlled, occasionally switching to introspective spoken word but for the most part full and deep in the throat with a more lyrical and smooth singing style than her earlier work. Her vocals give the songs an anthemic quality, like you are in some dark temple, having the hidden truths of the universe revealed to you.

Much of the album feels upbeat and hopeful, evidenced most obviously on the opening track “People Have the Power.” With its insistent beat and Smith climbing up the majestic melody of the chorus, you feel like there isn’t any social or political problem too big if we all just stand together.

On “Where Duty Calls” she even manages to tackle conflict in the Middle East in a way that makes all the players in that cycle of violence human first, and any other division a distant second. As Smith sees it:

“Forgive them Father
They know not what they do
From the vast portals
of their consciousness
they're calling to you”

“Paths That Cross” further demonstrates the strength of community that weaves its way through the record, and the faith Smith puts in connectivity. When Smith sings:

“Speak to me heart, all things renew
hearts will mend, round the bend
Paths that cross will cross again
Paths that cross will cross again”

She comforts you that things will get better, even as she calls on her own inner strength to convince herself of the same. She’s vulnerable, but certain that things will get better.

This record made me feel hopeful  and joyous, without denying the doubts that are a necessary part of true and honest contemplation. The resolute conviction of her youth remains, even though her anger has been replaced with a core of optimism that somehow we’re all gonna get through this.

My copy of the album has two bonus tracks not on the original album, but both fit well thematically, and with them the album remains a tastefully restrained 10 tracks and 51 minutes long. The songs are in a different order from the original vinyl as well, but again, it didn’t detract from my enjoyment.

In 1988 so much music felt artificial and empty, but Smith bucks the trend with a record that feels raw and real. "Dream of Life" reminds us that it is never too late for a comeback, and never too late to believe in a better world.

Best tracks: People Have the Power, Up There Down There, Paths That Cross, Going Under, The Jackson Song

CD Odyssey Disc 915: Patti Smith

This next disc is another new one (to me). I’ve been really into this artist since Sheila introduced me to her a few months ago.

Disc 915 is….Horses

Artist: Patti Smith

Year of Release: 1975

What’s up with the Cover? Patti Smith looks sexy and dangerous, even when all she’s wearing is a man’s suit.

How I Came To Know It: Sheila introduced me to Pattis Smith when she bought me this album and her 1978 album “Easter” for my birthday this year.

How It Stacks Up:  I have five Patti Smith albums now (obviously, I liked what I heard). Of those five “Horses” is second or third, depending on how I feel about “Waves”. They are so different it is hard to decide, so I’ll leave them in a dead heat until I review that record.

Ratings: 4 stars but almost 5

I try to avoid over contextualizing albums, since I feel the music should speak for itself. However, listening to Patti Smith’s debut record “Horses” it is hard not to feel the weight of musical history bearing down on you. Listening to it I could hear the echoes of Smith’s brilliance echoing through Concrete Blonde, Sleater Kinney, The Clash, Nick Cave and countless more. If you love exploring the roots of modern rock and roll, this is a must-listen.

This record is visceral, powerful and musically brave. We’re lucky it came out in 1975, because I’m not sure record labels would take a chance on it now. Patti Smith is punk before punk was even fully formed as a concept, but to call this music simply punk would be to grossly oversimplify it. She brings in elements of new wave, spoken word poetry, pop and blues rock to name just a few.

Listening to “Horses” I felt like I was standing at the headwater of all music, before it had a chance to divide itself into separate sounds; before it had to pick sides. Patti Smith just does whatever the hell she wants, and borrows from whatever music she wants to borrow from. Is that a smoky bar crooner persona on “Birdland”? Maybe at first, but it is also performance art piece floating in a soup of progressive rock sounds.

“Birdland,” which is only one of two meandering nine minute monsters on the record, isn’t even one of my favourite songs on this record. For that I’ll take its Side B sister track, the abominably named “Land: Horses/Land of a Thousand Dances/La Mer(De)”. Seriously, that’s the song’s name. Did I mention that Patti Smith does whatever the hell she wants?

“Horses…” is a powerful track, drawing in fifties and sixties dances like the twist, the watusi and the mashed potato. It makes you either want to dance or incite a revolution, and from moment to moment you’re not sure which one you want more. In short, it’s rock and roll, baby!

Both “Birdland” and “Land…” are such complex and layered songs I could probably write a whole review on just them but the album has a lot to offer.

The record opens with Van Morrison’s 1964 song “Gloria,” but in Smith’s hands the anthemic party pleaser of Van Morrison becomes something larger and darker. Apart from the chorus, the song is largely reinvented, starting the record off with the slouching, sneer of an opening lyric:

“Jesus died for somebody’s sins, but not mine.”

The record ranges all over from here. In addition to long meandering tracks, there are powerful songs about fraying dreams like “Free Money” and groovy new wave backbeats on the lyrically drenched “Kimberly” (which is co-written by Blue Oyster Cult keyboardist Allen Lanier). “Kimberley” is expressing love for someone, but truthfully it is going to take years to even begin plumbing the depths of this album. For now I’ll just share a bit of the song’s lyrics for your consideration:

“So I ran through the fields as the bats with their baby vein faces

Burst from the barn and flames in a violent violet sky,

And I fell on my knees and pressed you against me.

Your soul was like a network of spittle,

Like glass balls movin' in like cold streams of logic,

And I prayed as the lightning attacked

That something will make it go crack, something will make it go crack.”

The original recording ends with the soft piano track “Elegie” which sounds like what a depressed walk in the rain feels like. My version is a re-issue that ends with another cover, this time of the Who’s “My Generation.” Unlike the experimental treatment given to “Gloria” on “My Generation” Smith opts to play it straight, albeit with three times the ferocity present in the original. Listening to it, I’m not sure how I’ll feel about the original, now that I’ve heard the cover done in all its punk glory.

Most of what Smith does here has no business working, and yet it does. “Horses” is a fearless record that inspired generations of musicians to follow. Yes, you should buy it.

Best tracks: Gloria: In Excelsis, Redondo Beach, Land: Horses/Land of a Thousand Dances/La Mer(De), Free Money, Kimberly