Patti Smith’s output is very patchy and often embarrassing / irritating, but at its best the perfection and purity with which she expressed desire and will in their rawest forms is unmatchable.
Can’t bring myself to say much about these, such is the extent to which I love them.
1. Gloria. Destroyed me at age 13, so much so that I wouldn’t listen to the rest of the album for a long time in case it wasn’t as good, and obviously nothing could be.2. Land. I was wrong.3. Hey Joe. “Sixty days ago she was such a lovely child. Now here she is with a gun in her hand.”4. Pissing In A River5. Piss Factory6. Pumping (My Heart)7. Beneath the Southern Cross8. Ravens9. Spell. Magnificent performance of Ginsberg’s postscript to Howl.10. Rock’n’Roll Nigger
And ten more:
11. Dancing Barefoot12. Dream of Life13. Privilege (Set Me Free)14. Godspeed15. Summer Cannibals16. Don’t Say Nothing17. We Three18. Space Monkey19. Frederick20. Seven Ways of Going
Content of these two lists basically = the sum total of her work that I find listenable at this point, which is actually a fair amount, come to think of it; but she sure put out a lot of dreck too, over nine albums and 30 years. (Destroy Only One: People Have the Power. EURGH.)
― xero (xero), Thursday, 27 October 2005 03:05 (twenty years ago)
― sleeve (sleeve), Thursday, 27 October 2005 03:44 (twenty years ago)
live "Radio Ethiopia/Rock & Roll Nigger" B-side to "Hey Joe" 12" 1977 reissue
OMG. I will have to hunt this down and own it.
I omitted anything bootlegged from my list, but that's a whole other realm of awesome.
― xero (xero), Thursday, 27 October 2005 04:01 (twenty years ago)
― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 27 October 2005 04:10 (twenty years ago)
dancing barefoot
― gem (trisk), Thursday, 27 October 2005 04:16 (twenty years ago)
prelude (inexplicably, the track is split into two distinct sections complete with fadeout): http://s28.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3Q2BF3WB8D2PR20SC02EJ8H3D9
Radio Ethiopia/Rock N Roll Nigger:
http://s28.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3LZ0MRJIK9XH62GI5FSHPIRAD4
You should still search this out at all costs but its kinda hard to find - only released in France on Arista. Hence the YSI.
I second xero regarding the endless bounty that is Patti Smith live bootlegs. Totally amazing.
― sleeve (sleeve), Thursday, 27 October 2005 04:23 (twenty years ago)
― xero (xero), Thursday, 27 October 2005 04:26 (twenty years ago)
― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 27 October 2005 04:35 (twenty years ago)
― xero (xero), Thursday, 27 October 2005 04:40 (twenty years ago)
― vacuum cleaner (electricsound), Thursday, 27 October 2005 04:47 (twenty years ago)
Because the Night (No one else loves this? Probably my OPO.)'Til VictoryEaster (Or this?)Pissing In a RiverGloriaRadio EthiopiaWe ThreeGhost DanceDeath SingingMy Madrigal
xposts Hmmm, I need to pull out Gone Again. "About a Boy" and "Dead to the World" were good IIRC.
― Sundar (sundar), Thursday, 27 October 2005 04:48 (twenty years ago)
― Sundar (sundar), Thursday, 27 October 2005 04:49 (twenty years ago)
― xero (xero), Thursday, 27 October 2005 04:53 (twenty years ago)
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 27 October 2005 12:26 (twenty years ago)
http://s53.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2OHVGGWNCZJGO2UU3XTRKCGPMO
Patti Smith vs. Gang of Four, by Booji Boy Jnr: "Natural's Not In It (punki funki breaki mix)". Not very well executed but still entertaining. "Love and sex ... sex and drugs ... sound of the final analysis..." / "THE problem! OF leisure! WHAT to do! FOR pleasure!" If anyone knows the source of the Patti vocal, please advise.
http://s53.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=05J9NZLMBSSUG0FF7DHE3PIBXL
― xero (xero), Thursday, 27 October 2005 23:49 (twenty years ago)
― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Friday, 28 October 2005 00:06 (twenty years ago)
― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Friday, 28 October 2005 00:20 (twenty years ago)
― Sundar (sundar), Friday, 28 October 2005 00:46 (twenty years ago)
Not my cup of tea. And didn't Springsteen write that?
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 28 October 2005 01:09 (twenty years ago)
― knife (nordicskilla), Friday, 28 October 2005 01:57 (twenty years ago)
(Also: I smell spurned advances)
― disco violence (disco violence), Friday, 28 October 2005 02:22 (twenty years ago)
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 28 October 2005 02:24 (twenty years ago)
― disco violence (disco violence), Friday, 28 October 2005 02:50 (twenty years ago)
And don't call me dude.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 28 October 2005 03:13 (twenty years ago)
― The Ghost of Poppy Hidalgo (diamond), Friday, 28 October 2005 03:17 (twenty years ago)
I used to like that, too. Why did people hate on that so much? Haven't heard it since then.
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 28 October 2005 03:20 (twenty years ago)
Bono likes it. Sang it from the stage to Patti (who was in attendance) at the `Garden a couple of weeks back.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 28 October 2005 03:25 (twenty years ago)
― j blount (papa la bas), Friday, 28 October 2005 03:27 (twenty years ago)
Christ. Proof positive that it sucks. I hope she told him to fuck off, like she did before -- "Fuck you, Bono, I'm not your mother or your sister or your lover or your muse."
I suppose "Because the Night"'s a good song and all that, but I burned out on it long ago so that grating Springsteenness is all I can hear in it now.
Mr. in NYC’s restraint, civility, and refusal to rise to yummy, yummy bait here have been admirable.
― xero (xero), Friday, 28 October 2005 03:31 (twenty years ago)
Funnily enough, that's exactly what I was thinking about while he was doing it. That she showed up to a U2 show after that (it was the Q Magazine awards, right?) was sort've disappointing (while I don't like her or her music, I thought it was damn refreshing to hear someone take Bono to task for once for being such a fuckin' blowhard.)
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 28 October 2005 03:34 (twenty years ago)
Y'know, I don't actually recall which award presentation it was. I just remember that her response to his fatuous remarks was incredibly scathing.
it was damn refreshing to hear someone take Bono to task for once for being such a fuckin' blowhard
A-fuckin'-men.
― xero (xero), Friday, 28 October 2005 03:42 (twenty years ago)
this site is key:
http://www.oceanstar.com/patti/info/bootlegs.htm
― The Ghost of Poppy Hidalgo (diamond), Friday, 28 October 2005 03:51 (twenty years ago)
― kingfish neopolitan sundae (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 28 October 2005 04:10 (twenty years ago)
http://img469.imageshack.us/img469/3052/meandpatti1yl.jpg
Big Lovecraft fan, too
― kingfish neopolitan sundae (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 28 October 2005 04:13 (twenty years ago)
1. Gloria3. Horses4. Rock'N'Roll Nigger6. Land
― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Friday, 28 October 2005 04:21 (twenty years ago)
"Babelogue" was a big part of the reason for "Rock & Roll Nigger"'s position on my list -- without that I'm not sure it would've placed in the top 10.
Also by "Land" I meant the whole piece on side 2 of Horses, from "the boy was in the hallway..." to the end, even though the label on the record has it in three parts: "horses," "Land (of a thousand dances)," and "la mer(de)."
(Just googled & found that it was indeed Bono's presentation of the 1997 Q Magazine Inspiration Award that prompted her epic smackdown.)
― xero (xero), Friday, 28 October 2005 04:36 (twenty years ago)
― Stormy Davis (diamond), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 06:29 (twenty years ago)
She just put out a 2-disc set called Horses Horses, comprising the 1975 album plus the London concert last June where she performed the whole thing. I'm curious about the live disc. Also, anybody see her at BAM last week?
― xero (xero), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:18 (twenty years ago)
― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 17:30 (twenty years ago)
25th Floor Ask the Angels Birdland Dancing BarefootFrederick Free Money GloriaPiss FactoryRedondo BeachRock N Roll Nigger
― dan. (dan.), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 20:26 (twenty years ago)
This seems like the most Patti-positive of the existing ILM threads, so I'll revive to say that her new book, Just Kids, is a good read, especially the first 2/3 or so. She seems to have benefited a lot from the example of Dylan's Chronicles, but her book has the advantage of a straighter narrative line, following the evolution of her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe.
I like the first few albums, haven't paid much attention since, but I'm glad I yielded to the impulse to pick this up. The writing is far more direct and controlled than I expected, the story is deeply felt, and even when she lapses into excessive namechecking, she gives a vivid picture of the 70s NYC scene.
― Brad C., Friday, 22 January 2010 17:37 (sixteen years ago)
love patti, but "excessive namechecking" is par for the course by now, isn't it? anyway, would like to read this soon! i think more memoirs should take Chronicles as a model, really. A lot more interesting than the standard autobio format.
― tylerw, Friday, 22 January 2010 17:41 (sixteen years ago)
Patti Smith Wins National Book Award
― Brad C., Thursday, 18 November 2010 16:11 (fifteen years ago)
nice! it's definitely a good read.
― tylerw, Thursday, 18 November 2010 16:38 (fifteen years ago)
Florence - Patricia is dedicated to her
― Garden variety uncouth (Ross), Sunday, 1 July 2018 09:04 (seven years ago)
reread Just Kids, such a great story, sometimes funny and down to earth, sometimes awe-inspiring
I guess Jonathan Richman was her first drummer?!
M Train is less "serious", but more fun
oh yeah, she did a song for the pope:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=3pztT_m3Bck
― niels, Monday, 19 November 2018 11:46 (seven years ago)