The words are just rules and regulations to me (Patti Smith) (LP 228 - 231)

Patti Smith Horses (Vinyl - Arista, 1975) *****
Patti Smith Group Radio Ethiopia (Vinyl - Arista, 1976) *****
Patti Smith Live at Bottom Line (Vinyl, 1975) *** 
Patti Smith Teenage Perversity and Ships In The Night (Vinyl - Free Flight, 1976) *****

Genre: Alternative rock  (she's not pop, she's not rock, she's, um, something else)

Places I remember: Marbecks Records x2 

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Pumpin' (my heart); Gloria 






Gear costume:  Land, Pissing In A River, Ain't It Strange 

Active compensatory factors: These two landmark studio albums are linked here in that they represent Patti Smith's great creative gush of 1975/1976. 

For me, Radio Ethiopia shades Horses in the canon - just for personal reasons. I realise everyone is amazed by Horses because it was so fresh and revolutionary in 1976, but Radio Ethiopia felt even more on the ledge to me in 1976. 

And I believe the songs on these albums stand up better in 2018. It shouldn't be possible but the depth and heft of these songs just increases over time. Extraordinary.

When I started at varsity in 1977, I'd bought all of Patti's poetry books I could find from the Auckland University bookstore. I especially loved Babel and her way with words. It was a constant companion during those wonderfully self indulgent years. Now it sits on my shelf alongside Woolgathering, Just Kids, M train, Seventh Heaven, Ha!Ha! Houdini!, The Night, WITT, and The Coral Sea.

Pleasures and charms abound: Lenny Kaye's guitar; voices voices mesmerize; words twist and shout; the spirit of rock'n'roll (Gloria - holy moley!); the pop of an intellect and connections beyond earthy understanding; experimentation; Richard Sohl's perfect piano; love and energy; hard driving rythum by Jay Dee's drums/Ivan Kral on bass; and always, always - the one off visionary poet/priestess sole/soul screamer - Patricia Lee Smith!! 

She moves in another dimension.

The two bootlegs which present Patti Smith in live settings  [The Roxy (January 1976)/Bottom Line (December 1975)] provide different visceral punk pleasures entirely. 

The sound quality is pretty good for bootlegs (better on Teenage Perversity...) and the performances are brilliant (especially on Teenage Perversity...).

Highlights of Live at Bottom Line: three stars because the sound is a tad murky and because of the edits between songs; the album kicks off with a spirited version of the Velvet Underground's Real Good Time Together; a perfectly formed Privilege (Set Me Free) and Space Monkey (called Spunky on the cover) - they wouldn't turn up on record for another three years; Free Money is turbo charged; then there's the one two three punch to end the album - Land/Gloria, Time is On My Side, and an amazing version of My Generation with John Cale on John Entwistle style bass.

Highlights of Teenage Perversity and Ships in the Night: An extra couple of stars for this one because the sound is much better and it retains the links between songs, plus the electric energy hisses and pops in a live scenario; A month later and opener Real Good Time Together sounds even tighter; Privilege (Set Me Free) is great (bizarrely called Watching The Breeze on the cover); Ain't It Strange (called Strained On Strange on the cover) is such a great song - transcend, transcend; a starkly beautiful Pale Blue Eyes; a brief but hard driving prototype of Pumpin' (My Heart) here prosaically named The Smooth Stone Beyond on the cover; Gloria (everytime, a highlight); and, again, the perfect encore - My Generation.

Where do they all belong? Easter and the rest of the Smith discography to come.