This two-record set distills Patti Smith's rock & roll life
into seventeen classic tracks, fourteen studio and live
rarities and two basic truths: There is no revolution without
toil, and no euphoria without communion.
"Piss Factory," which opens Disc Two and is actually from
1974, was her first great ode to joy, a flat-out declaration
of escape gunned by Richard Sohl's hydraulic saloon piano and
Smith's own vengeful incantation. She was never so selfish in
song again. The hopscotch on the first disc - -"Frederick"
(1979) to "Summer Cannibals" (1996) to "Ghost Dance" (1978) --
belies the straight line Smith draws through each song to
shared wisdom and ecstasy. The humanist anthem "People Have
the Power," the liberation dance "Rock N Roll Nigger" and the
folk-blues om of "Beneath the Southern Cross" buck and hum
with a poetry of purpose, the sweat and idealism of Smith's
Glimmer Twins, Keith Richards and William Blake.
There is a clear arc of passage in Smith's voice, from her
girlish fight of "Gloria" to the haunted maternity of her 2001
cover of Prince's "When Doves Cry." This is also true on Disc
Two, in the leap from the rattling chastity of the '75 demo of
"Redondo Beach" to Smith's blackened singsong in "Boy Cried
Wolf" and "Birdland," both live from 2001. The concert tracks,
in turn, honor the military force and fealty of her band,
especially lifetime members guitarist Lenny Kaye and drummer
Jay Dee Daugherty. A 1978 "25th Floor" nails the group in full
MC5 mode; Kaye and Oliver Ray's guitars and Tony Shanahan's
bass snarl like hungry wolves in a 2001 "Dead City."
At the end, though, Smith stands alone at the mike, in a 2002
reading, "Notes to the Future" and a hidden track of her old a
cappella showpiece "Tomorrow" from the musical Annie -- a
pitch-perfect reflection of the child's faith inside Smith's
prayers of fire. It feels like goodbye, too. "I leave you with
these fleeting thoughts . . . Farewell, friends," she writes
in a liner note. If this is her last release, it is a
bittersweet gift. It is also an ideal soundtrack for our work
ahead.
DAVID FRICKE
TRACK LISTING
DISC 1:
1. Dancing Barefoot
2. Babelogue
3. Rock 'N' Roll Nigger
4. Gloria
5. Pissing In A River
6. Free Money
7. People Have The Power
8. Because The Night
9. Ghost Dance
10. Ain't It Strange
11. Glitter In Their Eyes
12. 1959
13. Beneath The Southern Cross
14. Summer Cannibals
15. Ask The Angels
16. Frederick
17. When Doves Cry - (previously unreleased)
DISC 2:
1. Piss Factory - (previously unreleased)
2. Redondo Beach - (previously unreleased, demo)
3. Distance Fingers - (previously unreleased, demo)
4. 25th Floor - (previously unreleased, live)
5. Wander I Go - (previously unreleased)
6. Come Back Little Sheba - (previously unreleased)
7. Dead City - (previously unreleased, live)
8. Spell - (previously unreleased, live)
9. Wing - (previously unreleased, live)
10. Boy Cried Wolf - (previously unreleased, live)
11. Birdland - (previously unreleased, live)
12. Higher Learning - Contemplation (previously unreleased)
13. Notes To The Future - (previously unreleased, live)
--
gender is just an excuse, relationship shouldn't just be an excuse,
love is often an excuse, although sometimes these excuses are all
we have to hold onto,
death is the reason and living is the celebration
- Beth Orton
--
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