Horses

Electric, profound, sublime, Patti Smith is a legend

Liked it a lot. Her confident voice fits into the music nicely. Can't say much more. Some calm songs I enjoyed and some more energetic that I also liked. Clearly rock of the time while still being original.

Невероятно потрясающие текста ,удивившие меня своей поэтичностью текста,и перечеркивающие своей унылостью и безликостью инструменталы

Think I’d really really like it after a few listens.

rock n roll maaan

I appreciate it as a piece of art... that doesn't particularly resonate with me. Free Money was my favorite track. There's a lot going on below the surface here. Would be interesting to do a deep dive into Patti's life and the context in which she was writing? and performing these songs.

nice

Honestly, I wanted to not like this but it was so good!

Patti Smith is my hero

Poetic verses, great lyrics.

algunes cançons bn altres meh i a ratos era com si soltés super barras pero bueno not my super rollo diria- a vegades em semblava com el meme de la pava d x factor q t la veu e shakira i canta chandelier hahahaah. buenu aixo crec q 2 està bé pq el d police em va agradar més q aquwt. ns si a llavors no tenien increibles discus com ara o q pero em sembla fort q aquest estigui al 1000 mejores ns

Ehh, it's fine but not really for me. I bet Alanis Morissette listened to a lot of Patti Smith.

Some track much better than others. At times, I found her voice very whiny and annoying. An OK album.

Nice voice, found the songs a bit dresry

Interesting, but meh

Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine

Uummmm

Two things to say about this: 1. Patti Smith is such a badass. 2. This is the only way I want to listen to Van Morrison.

Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine

She's famous for this?

This album is fantastic. Not sure what you would call, psychedelic, experimental perhaps. No matter what you call, there was very little of this music happening at this time, especially by woman artists. Abstract lyrics and loud squealing guitars gave me a Herion by The Velvet Underground. Free Money is fairly straight forward and it rips showing she is not just a weirdo making loud music. I was doubtful this album would live up to the hype, but it actually exceeded it.

Never saw the attraction that 'everyone' else did.

I really appreciate the story’s her songs tell.

I’ve never really given this record a thorough listen. I fall pretty squarely on the Ramones side of the first wave punk sonic divide. So let’s go. Gloria - My first touch point for PS’s music. A classic build. I never realized how much she sounds like Gordon from Violent Femmes. Strike that; reverse it. Redondo Beach - White reggae elegy for a dead friend. Birdland - Big props to punk poetry like this. Evocative saga of funereal New England domestic madness. Probably worthy of serious study. Free Money - Galloping excoriation/exaltation of the “fables of opulence”. Punk af. Just seeing how she art-birthed Nick Cave. Kimberly- Radio bop with dancey kick drum and chiming keys that escorts a shaggy dog story about burning barns (and another dead child?) The hand claps… Break it Up - Another New England horror story, this one of ripping through your skin to achieve transcendence? Verlaine on display, his guitar co-narrating in a desperate squeal. Another exquisite build. Land - More October imagery suggesting Romeo & Juliet that gets swallowed by the beat and becomes a jagged cover of Land of 1,000 Dances that in turn gets python-squeezed by high art spoken word surreality into a thrilling acceleration of Patti’s word paintings and Tom’s highest of high end Fugazi-esque fret scratches. The culmination of all the ideas on the album in one chugging sparking engine of punky rock. “A simple rock song”. Elegie - Broadway lives in every NYer, I reckon. Pink Floydy wails of guitar echoing behind the curtain. Torchy and sweet to wrap it up. It’s no surprise people write whole books about her. She’s been vital to Punk in every way. Viva Patti.

Badass! Her er der noget som klart kan vokse ved mig. Fik lidt Iggy fornemmelser et par gange, kun fordi musikken ikke er lige så "grim" som vokalen at jeg ender på 4 idag.

Et album jeg kun kendte af omdømme, og som jeg troede var noget helt andet end det viste sig det var. Vokalen er rå og fængende. Sonic Youth har lyttet det her album da de lavede Washing Machine.

Linda voz, linda actitud, no muy largo el disco. Dudo escuchar de nuevo pero aprueba por lejos. Nota: 3.7

13/05/2025 I haven't heard of her before and it wasn't too bad. Not sure id listen again though.

Fav: Free Money

No

Pretty slow, not really my kind of music.

Proto Punk. Es un gran album

I know a lot of people don’t think this is a punk album however regardless of where in the genre are you think it is it’s an excellent album. I definitely have a newfound app appreciation for Patti Smith.

Some iconic tracks and some that left me cold. Might change my opinion, but the opening track set a high bar that wasnt met by the following tracks

HORSES HORSES HORSES HORSES

9/10 honse

Started great! Got a bit same-same. Not bad, not amazing.

Overrated imo

I liked the start, it got lower as it went along

Patti's so punk.

Not bad, nut not exciting

Like if Leonard Cohen was a woman. And punk.

Patti, my beloved. I just finished Just Kids not two weeks ago and I’m so happy to continue to listen to Horses. Patti is probably the coolest rock n roll musician I know, and that is reflected in her music 🩵 Stand out songs: Gloria Redondo Beach Free Money Kimberly Elegie

Decent melodies poor singing

great album...never listened to Patti Smith before but what a collection of interesting songs

I fear this is one that I like but I don’t necessarily get ALL the hype for.

A hellbent rush of storytelling steeped in attitude and atmosphere. Brilliant.

Thus album is such a mixed bag, some of the songs i enjoyed, like redondo beach but the vast majority I struggled to either finish. It is interesting at the very least, and might take a lot of listen to like but so far I am not a fan at all

shit

Before it's time, pretty good. Not my favorite listen but I respect it

No es un estilo de música que me guste mucho. Pero sí cabe destacar la expresividad musical, vocal y poética del álbum. Por momentos me recordó un poco a Kate Bush, pero en una versión menos experimental. Considero que es un buen álbum, a pesar de que no haya generado una gran impresión en mí.

She so cool

Some pretty weird spoken word parts

Fantastic album

Is it just me, or was "Tin Soldier Man" the inspiration for the Spongebob Squarepants theme song?

I liked this. I want to like it even more because there is definitely great material on here to like. I'm just unsure on a few tracks here and there that didn't grab me. I liked the uptempo songs for sure though and I think Patti Smith has one of those voices that really transmit the feeling and emotion that she is putting into a song.

Come on now.

This is one of the best debuts. Patti comes out fully formed. A pre-punk/pre-post punk classic.

Good

fucked with it, i love her honestly and her voice is so satisfying to listen to

I’ve listened to this now a few times. It doesn’t land with me. I find her caterwauling a bit self absorbed. It’s like she wants to front an art-rock band. I can see how it would be exciting and transgressive when it came out, but today it’s just meh for me.

Not my jam

Ersatz

全然合わない。 1

Wild uncompromising music, incredible lyrics

Perfect. Masterpiece

Art-Punk: this is what do you get if you cross Poetry, Leonard Cohen, Art-Rock, and embryonic Punk-Rock. Eenergetic but depressing. I wasn't a fan when this album came out and people were raving about it, and I still don't really like it.

not a fan

Have not really listened to too much of Patti Smith. Some of the cuts I liked. Seemed like at lot of raw emotion, but not as much of what I would label as punk. Would listen to a few more times as sometimes albums grow on you. Listened to it twice and liked it better the 2nd time around.

I spent a good chunk of my listening time with this album deciding if I liked or not. I was a bit mixed on Patti’s voice and couldn’t tell if it was annoying or not. It did eventually grow on me, as I thought it sounded like a punk-fused Fleetwood Mac. Lyrically, the songs were hit-or-miss. While I enjoyed something like Kimberly, Birdland was a little esoteric. Honestly, most of the album was esoteric. But most of the songs were enjoyable, despite not fully understanding the songs. It’s also easy to see the influence this album had on other artists. This list gave me two PJ Harvey albums that I very much enjoyed and I can tell this album was a heavy influence on her. I think I’d rate this on the influence more than the content. Either way, I ended up enjoying this album. I’m not sure I’d consider itself an all-timer, but it’s still good. Favorite track: Redondo Beach Other hits: Gloria: In Excelsis Deo, Free Money, Kimberly, Elegie

I bought this album years ago as it was so frequently cited as an influence by artists I loved as a teenager. It was an acknowledged classic when I came to it and more often than not, such records don’t have the impact on me I thought they would. Not this one though! It’s so unlike anything else and I can really appreciate how extraordinary it must have sounded when it first came out. I’ve never really enjoyed much else by Patti Smith, probably because I haven’t tried hard enough - maybe I’ll try harder having just listened to this again. What a great record.

Off the cuff remark: I think I want to like this more than I do, perhaps it's jus taht the first song is, well, glorious, and everything else struggles to be quite as good afterwards. Although that doesn't mean it's not great! Standout track: Gloria: In Excelsis Deo Revisit?: Yep. In the collection and gets an occasional listen.

This was a pretty good album. As usual, it took me a few listens through to really appreciate what it's going for, but when it clicked, I grew to appreciate the weirdness. This is proto-punk, and is very unique for what it is. Patti has a very good voice, and while the only song that I think stood out to a notable extent was the opener, "Gloria: In Excelsis Deo", this was a very unique listening experience as a whole, one that I'm glad I partook in. It might have been a cover, but I have to say, I really liked that song, especially when she finally gets to the part where she's singing the titular name. The more weird albums I roll, the more I grow to appreciate music in general. So thank you, Patti, for opening up my mind to this strange but great album. This is another artist and genre I've grown to appreciate a lot thanks to this site, so thank you to the site owner as well, for putting this cool site together.

Raw and wired from the jump. Feels like proto-punk crossed with beat poetry and a mad saxophone ghost. Her voice is part battle cry, part sermon, part "I don’t give a shit." Totally cool, totally chaotic. Spins: 3 Playlist Additions: - Gloria: In Excelsis Deo - Redondo Beach - Free Money - Land: Horses/Land of a Thousand Dances/La Mer(de)

Favorites: Horses, Elegie Weird. I loved it.

finally an artists i've seen live. i know of Patti through her tentative connection to the early punk scene, but i have never cared for her music. i can't remember if this was around the time she was kicking it with Springsteen, but her career is an interesting one. very New York and with context it was very ground breaking stuff for that time, but its not my favorite. Lou Reed set up a standard that had carried over to a burgeoning scene. if you are a fan of Richard Hell or the Heartbreakers or at the very least New York Dolls, this is fairly polished and disenchanting, but still punk. the opener is a weird cover of Gloria, so Van the champ. it def shows a growth and direction of an unheard of style of rock that hadn't even really been named yet. experimental and fun for sure. i saw them at a festival and they were headlining and played great, (tho so many years from 1975). i will say being alive at this time during the punk growth with only a small group that many didn't make it out of, (and Patti has that distinction) is amazing. it has playful up and downs with that signature New York artsy delivery. lots of piano but energy to follow. it feels more composed and professional than the more raw bands of the time. very quick album, and stands out as pushing creativity to the forefront. Dylan and Bowie much? the song horses is another amalgam of a cover which is very punk rock. this gets a 2/5 cuz its been in my wheel house, i absolutely believe Patti is very important to music i love, but i don't REALLY like it that much. last song slowly serenades out. i honestly loved this time in music, i recommend Please Kill Me as a great read, but i can't lie that she has never been a fixture that i was ever that interested in. I love John Cale, The Underground, and all the people that went into making the scene what it was, this includes her.

Wow, this album really did spawn many of the artists I adore, from The Smiths to PJ Harvey and beyond. The poetry and phrasing are utterly captivating.

good

I’m not a fan of her singing style. The songs on this also tend to be way too long and downbeat for me.

A total Marmite album, I can see why some people would hate it and there's no denying it's pretentious but it feels real and a genuine reflection of Patti Smith as an artist and a person. I first heard it as a teenager and I was ripe for exactly this at a time in life when everything is heightened and loaded with importance. I

Beat poetry meets the fusion of punk and rock. Just a bit too odd stylistically and lyrically for me to go back to this.

I read Patti Smith's memoir 'Just Kids' in university, so it was interesting to tie this album into that context. That being said, I don't particularly enjoy her voice or her music.

Alright so, This is pretty raw, definitely a bit too raw and unpolished for my standards. You can hear potential and amateurism in this project. I can’t seem to get behind the vocal inflections on this, however her voice is pretty good. Listening to this however, made me listen to “Wave”, which is a much more polished work that I have really liked so far.

I was already aware of this album but maybe had not heard it before. I can see the appeal of this album and why it is (rightly) highly regarded. She has a pretty unique voice and the songs are good. The tracks blending Gloria and Land of a Thousand Dances with her original lyrics are pretty special. Definitely the two highlights of the album for me. That said, her voice starts to cause some ear fatigue by the end of the album. Her voice reminds me of Stevie Nicks in that regard, but at least in her band, she shares vocal duties with other singers. I would listen again, but maybe not right away.

Wow! Still sounds fresh. What a revelation. It’s never too late to discover great music you’ve slept on.

A little monotone

I know I’m supposed to like this…I just don’t. 3 stars.

I wish I totally loved it. I'll keep listening. I know people rave. I just think its really good.

Excellent songwriting and vibe. Can really feel the Velvet Underground influence, so it makes sense that John Cale produced this

Un disco con mucha energía y creatividad al momento de expresar sus ideas. Música que nace del corazón en donde Patti hace uso de variados recursos para que las canciones nos tomen por sorpresa y hagan de este disco una experiencia memorable. Me encanta

A very unique album, but not my vibe, even though I understand it's influential. I liked: Gloria and Land Might need to look further at its lyrics and influence.

Horses absolutely rages. Punk meets Dylan. The anxiety, the franticness is palpable. Gloria, Free Money, Break It Up are absolute bangers. I’m Sleater-Kinney was obsessed with this album. 8.8/10

Decent, as I've got older I've learnt to appreciate Patti more. Patti Smith on the other hand... 🤣

01) Gloria: In Excelsis Deo - 8,0 02) Redondo Beach - 7,5 03) Birdland - 6,5 04) Free Money - 7,0 05) Kimberly - 7,5 06) Break It Up - 7,5 07) Land: Horses/Land Of A Thousand Dances - 7,0 08) Elegie - 6,0 TOTAL: 7,13 (71/100)

interesting. there's a lot going on here halfway in. i did not like birdland

3.5 Stars

I've always wanted to really listen to this album but never took the opportunity, and that's why this project is so great. Patti Smith is a legend and this album is part of why.

very much just ok

Ok ok

not for me

Patti Smith, to me, is a female Lou Reed. Both are revered for evoking a time, a place, an attitude, and for the lyrics of their songs. Their music- not so much. To me, the music is what matters. Patti Smith's most played song is a Bruce Springsteen cover. Enough said.

Not quite my taste but def see the vision

Absolutely

patti the poet is a genius, patti live is electric, patti's albums...just don’t quite do it for me

had some good song but wasn’t that special.

Re Discovery a great album, never forget the roots

Boh, non male ma neanche bene

Som poet är hon världsklass. Musiken är inte lika spännande. Lite som Dylan om man får svära i kyrkan... Fyra

Not a bad listen, but one I haven’t chosen to listen to for about 20 years.

3’5

Highlight Song/s: Gloria, Redondo Beach This album is a nice mix of punk and poetry. The singing by Patti leaves me completely awestruck. That yelp-styled singing definitely helps make the music more unhinged.

2.0 - Weak

The music is good but her style of singing couldn't be more annoying.

a little out there at times, but really hits some excellent songs and really fun to listen to

her voice is so annoying

The Good: Horses!!! The Bad: We didn’t get to ride them… The Ugly: Having to shovel up behind those imaginary horses… I don’t recall that I’ve listened to Patti Smith before, at least, not consciously. I get it that she’s a great poet, and a key figure in NYC punk scene during the CBGB thingy-ma-hoogie… hurrah. Me, I’d rather listen to some Ramones, or even Blondie, if I am going to invoke that era in my mind. Shoot me for not understanding the genius that she seems to be. 3 1/2* downgraded… wish we could score on 10 though, I would give that 7...

Great

This is just an objectively cool record. It’s far more punk in attitude than it is in sound, but I don’t know if that’s a bad thing. There’s a slew of different genres going on here, from dark bluesy guitars to beautiful piano ballads, it’s got a bit of everything, but it’s almost a minimalist record, with very simple chords, drum patterns, and root note-tied basslines. The one thing that ties it together is the vocals of Patti Smith, which are incredible. Her spoken word sections are deep and powerful, her singing voice is a wonderful combination of grit and softness, it just works so well on so many levels. This album feels very far ahead of its time and it’s clearly been quite influential. I had a lot of fun listening to this one, and I’d probably listen to it again pretty happily. 4*

Listening to this record, it was a bit surprising to me that it ever got made, at least at the time that it did, in 1975. At a time when having a record deal and support from a record label was so important, at the height of disco and Queen, I was surprised that a record would throw their weight behind this album. This is an album starkly different from most anything I’ve heard before and especially for pre, say, 1995-2000. It toes a line between rock and spoken word poetry that feels as much like performance art and music. While it’s not something that immediately struck me as delicious upon first listen, it’s definitely substantive and interesting and definitely an album worth hearing. I’d put this somewhere between 3 and 4 ⭐️, but I feel the need listen to again and look forward to thinking more about it so I have to round up on that basis.

Thought I had this album but then checked on Discogs and saw it was Wave. Similar covers in my defence. Reason I wasn’t mistaken is that I don’t think I’ve played anything by Patti Smith since the 70’s. Can’t remember why I bought an album of hers at all as I don’t like her style at all. This album has one saving grace and that is her rendition of Gloria which is excellent. The rest pretty meh. 2/5 17/6/25

Like the vibe, didn't love the repetition and by the end I was pretty dang tired of the sound.

Three amazing songs in the album. But the rest of it was mediocre to me, especially because there's something I just couldn't connect with: her voice

First and foremost a collection of poetry that wears it's musical influences (Mick Jagger's white bluesman vocals, Jim Morrison and Bob Dylan's mystical rock poet persona, the Velvet Underground's dark psychadelic chaos, Television's spidery guitars) brazenly. An interesting pivot between the hippie late 60s and the punk mid 70s, lots of this is like New York Dolls and Richard Hell's version of bluesy old fashioned rock sped up, glammed up, made thematically darker, more personal and raunchier (though she definitely didn't take on their taste for short sharp songs). Other parts have a more polished kind of new-wave sound with herky jerky rhythms and guitars that sound almost like synths. Some of it is more stripped back and nearly folksy, but piano based, and leaning towards an arena friendly Fleetwood Mac sound. Ecclectic, but coheres around a) her voice, which definitely takes the punk approach of not needing to be very good technically to be charismatic and to deliver the lyrics, which are definitely her real emphasis, and b) her persona, the ultimate scenster, an act of self-crafting and projection which is the album's main accomplishment. I've tried with this album a few times over the years and never really cared about it either way, but like it a lot more this time around. Maybe it's from randomly being in the middle of reading Please Kill Me, where she plays a staring role (but comes of pretty badly - just an ludicrous hipster making insufferable pronouncements about the future of poetry being the tired Rolling Stones) and having more context for it.

At this point, I think I'd prefer all my singer-songwriters to have an extensive history in poetry rather than trained singing.

I found half really good, and half uninteresting. The history of the album is excellent and I enjoyed the story of the place in the album within history. Is it an album id listen to again? Unsure. Really unsure. Maybe? So, a star for th find, a star for the history, a star for musicality and interest, a bonus star for the good tracks, and a negative star for the meh tracks. That takes me to 3 stars, which seems about right.

I very recently finished "Just Kids" which was one of the best books I've ever read. Certainly makes the music more personal. The album is good, that's maybe the most I can say

Surprisingly really enjoyed this album, opening track Gloria instantly set the tone and is probably best song on the album added to my playlist, will definitely revisit and possibly check out more Patti smith. Can see why my dad's such a big fan

6/10 Me gustan los cambios de beat pero no creo que lo escuche in a daily basis

not my cup of tea, but fantastic instrumentation

Instant 5 star.

Great to be introduced to new artists like this. Gloria is a wonderful listen. Birdland is a beautiful piece about coming to terms with loss.

Never understood the critical acclaim for P Smith, maybe my distance in time and space from it’s occurrence lessens its cultural and innovative weight if it's there. It’s art house punk and don’t prescribe to the idea that calling anything poetry somehow escalates it above what is there, it's very much performance art, it that it anxts/punks up what James Browne and W picket were going in RnB, but she has such a limited pallete to perform, she isn't a remotely talented singer with a very one note delivery style that looses any substance that may be present for me, other than a little agitation in the delivery, that it becomes style over (potential) substence, today there are maybe glimpses of something but it just seems a little dull. Maybe if it was 1975? 2 Star

There’s a lot of discourse about whether Patti Smith is punk or not and I’m here to give my vote to the fact that Patti Smith is certifiably punk. The attitude is there, the lyrical content is there and I don’t care that it lacks the noise. The stripped back production of Horses enhances it and allows her poetry to take front stage. The frantic energy on this is awesome and I am a big fan of this. 5 stars

Absolutely stunning album. Many different styles of music with punk and ska being at the forefront. We really makes the album, though, is her song writing. Beautiful stories and excellent poetry. This has been one of my bigger surprises on this list.

The first three-or-so songs are a major letdown, but the album finds its groove in its second half. I'm still not a fan of Patti Smith, but this one is quite OK. 3/5

I feel like I’m supposed to like this album or at least that’s what they led me to believe but this was a rough listen. I don’t understand the pioneer of punk rock label that’s associated with her name or this album. Her voice is not for me.

A little too avant-garde for me. There are moments that I really like though.

I would not recommend this album because the song goes crazy and i didnt like the tipe of music.

I can respect Horses for its influence, but it just doesn’t connect with me. I don’t dislike any of it, but nothing really sticks either. It may be an important album, just not one I'll ever listen to again.

I didn't get this at all. Though now that I see that it was produced by a member of the Velvet Underground, it makes total sense. And just like my review for them, I deem this to be over-hyped tripe enjoyed by the same people who gush over paint splatters on a canvas and call it "art". MAYBE if I had heard this for the first time in 1975, I'd have praised it, too, for daring to do something different. But, as I am not a product of that time, and I have the benefit of having heard a wealth of better things that came in the 50 years hence, I'm grading this for what it is and not for what it may have been. Some things simply DO NOT age well - regardless of what they may or may not have inspired.

I really enjoyed this. I thought the chord arrangements were simple enough which could come off boring. I didn’t find this to be the case though as the I really didn’t want something that would overshadow the lyrics.

Perhaps great, but too tied up in Song to Song for me to really know

I put off listening to this album for years because I had a sneaking suspicion that it was going to be bad, despite its vaunted reputation. My suspicions were unfortunately correct, as confirmed by this second (and last, hopefully) listen. It sounds like she was having trouble filling out all 43 minutes and was just milking it as much as possible.

Really not my thing, more spoken word with background music. Like a female version of Leonard Cohen meets Tom Verlaine.

Insanely beautiful voice, the album is just as good. This lady has done EVERYTHING she is an artist in so many ways, her story is very interesting.

I felt like I was listening to Phoebe on Friends singing in a dark, smoky basement bar. This may have been my least favorite so far.

Liked the first song but that was about it.

Hated this. Couldn’t finish lol

One of the original punk rockers. When reading the book "Please Kill Me", I got to learn a lot about Patti Smith. Seems like a total junkie, and I don't really get the hype. The first song or two were decent, and then it drops off into that weird 60's velvet underground sound for me. It's just not for me, but it did help move punk rock into a golden age not much longer after this so I can appreciate it in that regard.

joah ging schon klar, aber kein Album was ich mir kaufen würde

Lahmes Gedudel, nicht mein Fall

1. Gloria - 7.8/10 2. Redondo Beach - 7.5/10 3. Birdland - 8.2/10 4. Free Money - 8/10 5. Kimberly - 8.2/10 6. Break It Up - 8/10 7. Land of a Thousand Dances - 7.5/10 8. Elegie - 7.2/10 7.6/10

This sucks. 0/5 if I could. "Best" songs: Free Money, and Break It Up.

Enjoyed it. Found it good to work to.

Liked a few, no idea what the lyrics are about half the time.

Has some good songs and others are just an assault on the ears, like bird song.

"Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine" hell yeah, what an opener! i think treating it like an experimental poem reading than a normal album does it justice. an icon!!

Inoffensive but dull. 1.5

Fine.

As a lover of riot grrrl/ female-forward punk, it’s a treat to revisit Patti and be reminded of her influence. I went back and listened to some Bikini Kill and SleaterKinney afterwards and kept thinking “yup, they got that from Patti”. Since we’ve been listening to a lot of 60s-70s classic rock lately, I was able to pick up on a little bit of the Doors and Bob Dylan in Patti’s music as well. It’s all connected, folks!

With these daily albums, I've been excited to experience the great artists I've been hearing about my whole life, but have never actually listened to. Patti Smith is a perfect example: I know she's huge in the culture, I know she wrote a great book called Just Kids, but that's all I know. This album is punk incarnate (and it might be the very first punk album??). It's not just the music; it's Patti herself. She's like Dylan in her poetry and rough-around-the-edges singing voice, but her style is all her own. On Birdland, she asks "am I all alone in this generation?" and begs for someone to "please take me up, don't leave me here". That lyric touched me in its raw sincerity. This is not an album I'm going to spin regularly. But it is an album I'm going to rate highly for its courage and clarity.

At first listen I didn’t realize it was poetry. Reframing my brain to that I thought it was beautiful. Punky, punchy, what rock should be

Great writing and vocals, enjoyed a lot of the album though didn’t love when it veered too spoken word and less lyrical. She’s of course an icon.

I can appreciate the influence this album had and the influences it drew from (Joan Baez, Janice Joplin), BUT it was okay for me. I appreciated the songs that were more autobiographical to her life. Couldn’t handle Birdland about William Reich. No, thank you. It was no All Too Well the 10 minute version.

Basically invented both punk rock and new wave. Inspiration to many. Hadn't listened to this before, but will be coming back to this more.

There's a particular riff that she really likes hitting but it gets old after a while. I did like it, and the version i listened to had a live recording of her doing The Who's "My Generation" which was SO FUN

Found it too self indulgent, some amazing songs in Free Money and Gloria but overall to inconsistent

Strange, and off putting half the time, good the other half.

Starts off strong but dwindles near the end

nooo sorry could not finish this

I used to like this better in my 20s.

3/5

Mycket bra i början. Sämre och sämre efter det. Lite blandat.

Mein fünftes Album von der Liste, das ich vorher schon kannte, und das erste, das keine vier Sterne bekommt. Es kann mich nicht wirklich von sich überzeugen, so leid es mir tut. Ein paar der Songs gehen aber klar, 2 1/2, aber ich runde auf.

This one took a few listens for me to warm up to it. Originally I thought her voice was jarring and I really didn't like the song Birdsong, but after a few listens her voice was unique and I appreciated every song (except birdsong). 3.5/5 - > 4/5

I don't really know how this is considered punk. Really boring, I find her voice quite annoying. No thanks.

My most recent vinyl purchase and it's an amazing album. There really isn't anything like Patti Smith and this sound. I paid more attention to side 2 on this listen and it's just mesmerizing.

Y'know, I gotta agree with a fellow group member of mine. I would not exactly call this a punk album — at least not by how I would typically define one. Oh, sure, the energy is largely there, and I'm not saying punk music **has** to be "three chords and the truth" like The Clash or the Ramones... But if there's anything I'd feel like I'd define this album as, it's a 70's singer-songwriter album that certainly rocks way harder than most other albums in that lane. And as a 70's singer-songwriter album, it comes with my usual issue: I'm a big dummy who can't understand the lyrics. Whatever Patti Smith's saying here, I can't even begin to parse it out, nor do I really have the interest to sit down and comb through and analyze the lyrics one-by-one. Obviously, this is just a "me" problem and doesn't necessarily reflect back on how well the album is written. I'm just saying, in terms of discussing it from a lyrical standpoint, I'm among the last people you'd wanna ask. I think I'm only slightly above people who just can't read, period. So, I'm left to take this pretty much entirely from a musical perspective, and this is where I'll give it some points above most 70's singer-songwriter albums. Unlike a lot of albums of that ilk, there's actually stuff going on. It's not some acoustic guitar folk plonk-along whatever-the-shit, and it doesn't just go in circles like even the best of Dylan's electric stuff can end up. There's parts, and they move. Once more and again, there's an energy to them. But all the same... I'unno, I just found it a little hard to really gel with these. Maybe it's 'coz I woke up wrong, or 'coz I just spent most of my mental energy writing a different album review before tackling this one... But for most of the album, I just wasn't with it. For "Gloria"? Sure, I'll rock that at least half the day. But something like "Land"? Oh, especially when you have no idea what's supposed to be going on in the lyrics, it just never ends. Like, are we **sure** that was only nine minutes and not **twenty**? Maybe if this was full-on punk instead of this artsier, garage rock thing I'd be more engaged with it... And, tff, I'unno. This is one of those big, heavily influential albums where I feel like I should be more into it, and I'm slightly disappointed that I'm not, but... Eh, wha'cha gonna do? Just wasn't my vibe. I'll give it the benefit that if I **was** more interested in understanding the lyrics I'd probably like it better, but as it stands... Yeah. It's not bad, but these ain't horses I'd wanna run with too often.

One of the early progenitors of punk has some damn good stuff. 4.5 bumped down to 4.

I’m at a 5. I feel like calling this a punk rock album is a little bit of a misnomer, because past the intensity of the opening track (which might be an all-timer, by the way), from a musical standpoint, this leans far more into the sort of style that Kate Bush would later refine & redefine in her own way. This is an album centered around liberation, in a lot of different ways: sexual liberation, feminine liberation, liberation via death, liberation via financial freedom, et cetera. It’s the underlying line that connects all the tracks, and some form of liberation & freedom is there, whether it’s a type of freedom you agree with or not. In many ways, it mirrors the sort of liberation that Patti Smith likely felt as a woman being herself in a space generally dominated by men at the time. Sure, you had your Joni Mitchells or your Janis Joplins, but in terms of fully letting loose & throwing it all out there without a real care in the world, this just feels different, in a way that’s hard to explain, but easy to feel, if you’re listening to the music. It’s not a perfect album; I think there could be a little more clarity on some of the lyrics, though they’re brilliantly written for the most part. I think this album does have a few flatter instrumentals, mainly on “Redondo Beach” & the ending portion of “Kimberly”, but those aren’t a big deal, given that the overall intensity & lyricism of those tracks are still undeniably cool. Really, I’m nitpicking – when this album is rolling, it feels like it has unstoppable momentum, and that momentum has carried through to influence a ridiculous amount of artists. Everybody from Michael Stipe to Morrissey (boo) to Courtney Love to Siouxsie & beyond have cited this album as a sort of inspiration point, and I can hear it in a lot of different ways. It’s only 44 minutes, but it might be some of the most defining music of its time. No words I can type can really capture the feeling of listening to each track, so if you somehow haven’t heard it, go listen to it, right now. Once again, though, is it punk rock? By the musical standards that would later be set, I don’t think so. The heavier guitars aren’t here, nor are the crazy percussive moments, at least not in the spades they would be by the mid-80s. However, in terms of unabashedly being yourself… that’s the most punk shit you can do. It’s not “punk rock”, it’s rock music made for the people who can identify as the punks of the world, and that’s a wider net than the term “punk rock” could capture by itself. It’s a kickass album that carries its own gravity field, pulling so many people into its sphere of influence that it probably affected music as we know it. It is absolutely an album one must listen to before they die. It’s a very easy 5. Arguably a 10. Good on you, Patti.

Horses was a rollercoaster. Will listen to it again but in general I liked it. I really liked the storytelling part of the album. I can see why “Horses” is an important album for rock music history. This album definitely impressed me, I didn’t get distracted while listening to it and each song had something particular for me to notice, I didn’t find it “stale” in any part.

Good quite liked it.

Rising above the squalor of mid-70s New York, this album is a gleaming and brilliant piece of pure expression. Noisy, clever, uncompromising, insightful and a unique artistic voice. At its best when moving the furthest possible distance away from convention and descending into a flow of noise off-the-cuff! Favourite tracks: Gloria, Birdland, Free Money, Land

Love her voice, love the energy.

Redondo beach is a great song, and Patti’s songwriting is definitely good, her lyrics are very poignant. But, most songs were a miss for me and it’s probably a 1/5 for me since I really only enjoyed one song.

I liked it. Not as punk as people make out, I get more post punk vibes. It's a three.

Inmaculado

Raw and personal. Her voice is just hypnotic. Lyrically it's super strong too.

3.25

Un debut genial. Este disco me acompañó muchos años.

not for me

Bluhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Maybe autotune has ruined my ears, but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t singing.

I can see her influence of punk rock and poetry style lyricism. A very interesting listen. I'd never heard of her before now, but I recognized a few of the songs off this album.

5 star. Didn't think her voice would grow on me but it did

patti smith is one of the coolest. her music not so much. 3/5

Patti smith is a legend and this is an example of her words being put to music in a powerful way .

Good, but not something I would listen too. 3/5

Patty Smith(aka, Patti Sm-eye-th) always seemed like the female version of Lou Reed, though maybe not as much heroin and narcissism. Her swashbuckling voice never really appealed to me, though I do respect her music. You can hear a resurgence of his influence in ‘90s bands like Hole and Alanis Morrisette. Key places where you hear the Reed comparison are songs like Birdland, where you could interchange the two singers without changing the feel of the song. Speaking of both, one of my first exposures to Patti and Lou was in Billy Idol’s song Heroin where he lyrically blended Reed’s VU song Heroin and Smith’s Gloria: In Excelsis Dio, which she took from Van Morrison’s Them album. Speaking of which, Free Money lyrically reminded me of Janis Joplin’s Mercedes Benz. Jim Carey once quipped, “imitation is the purest form of plagiarism!” Hmmm…. Overall, this album is highly influential and listenable, but I probably won’t to be honest.

Random Thoughts: * Listened to this one several times and was enjoyable enough to keep it on repeat but it didn't reveal anything deep or meaningful to me. * I definitely enjoyed Patti's take on "Gloria". That was a fun listen. * It's only been about a week and a half since I listened to this and I realize nothing else jumped out at me. Can't recall a single track besides "Gloria". * She is soulful, a little raw, and kinda punk. I can see why people would have got into Patti Smith.

Ihan slay!

Singular stuff even all of these years later when we have bands with stream of consciousness spoken word vocalists like Life Without Buildings and Dry Cleaning coming out of our ears. She was brave AF, but I find this to be a lot less snarling and visceral than everyone always tells me it is, backed with soft sounding instruments where it needs to be noisy chaos. But if you turn the volume up, close the door and stand outside you could sort of imagine you’re arriving at CBGBs or Max’s Kansas City in the mid-70s.

Kind of reminds me of like a female, Nick Cave. Really solid album all around.

Original, groundbreaking stuff. I'd hope that if I were fifteen years older, I would have recognized it as such when it came out. I'm sorry I've come to this album later in life.

Pleasantly surprised by this album but some songs were a bit long.

Aldri hatt foten og det ble bekrefta

Litt ujevn, men vemdig bra når det er bra

Patti!

Ok but not totaly my type

Superclassic in some people's book. Not in mine. I acknowledge it's status and of course have a copy, but it does not move me.

Had heard a lot about Patti Smith, never listened before. Feels like there is a gem in there somewhere but it'll take more listens to find it. Note to self, I suppose.

shes incredible

I did write a much longer review but forgot to save it so... 3.5/5 pretty good.

Please wake me up when someone makes the combination of poetry and music even just a little bearable.

This obviously requires multiple listens, but it's honestly not like anything else I've listened to.

A little too 70s New York to me. I can see the influence and the reverence she has earned but I probably won’t seek it out again

Fijn, lekker beetje wilde vrouwenmuziek.

Couldn’t listen to this as it’s too emotionally linked to my life. Great moment. Great album. Great artist.

Typ lagom lyssningsbart, nån låt som stack ut positivt och kul att testa lyssna på nytt som jag vet är klassiskt, men i övrigt inget minnesvärt.

Meh.

Not for me. 1.5. Wouldn’t listen to again. Some songs are okay but I couldn’t get into it. Had to turn birdland off halfway through that was more than enough for me.

This is a super rad record. I can hear that it influenced a lot of music. I don't think Patti Smith influenced Violent Femmes but I think maybe she inspired and was inspired by Velvet Underground and I think Violent Femmes were inspired by Velvet Underground. I love the vibe of this album. It feels raw and experimental-ish and definitely has a folk-punk vibe to it.

This is a super cool record. I love this take on punk music. Its very similar to The VU, but more raw and punk in nature. The avant garde elements are so cool and interesting. This feels like what would eventually become post-punk in the 80s but was right in the rise of punk in the early 70s. Patti just rocks so hard this whole record. I love the storytelling with her voice and lyrics. I love how she just kind of throws her voice and almost yodels. I really love how there are 9 minute songs that don't really fatigue the listener, which barring Green Day's American Idiot, don't really happen in punk. This is fantastic record and one that I listened to back to back 3 times today.

Prophetic punk priestess pens profound poetry. The music and lyrics pair perfectly in this loose feeling passion poem. Lyrics like “Jesus died for somebody’s sins, but not mine” and “horses, horses, horses, horses” are both delivered with the intensity and tone to give them a heavy weight. It’s a rebellious album in a non-traditional non-formalized way. The only thing it is is exactly what it wants to be.

Not a fan.

Pretty middling in my opinion. Im sure if I cared about lyrics this would make sense but I don't. She sings well but not well enough to keep my attention. She did do this cool thing where as she sings she pounds on her chest giving it this kinda sinchopated thing going on. Its creative and I like it alot. But at the end of the days it's just soo subtle for my tastes. Maybe if I get a few more years under my belt it would hit harder but right now it's right in the middle

What Patti needed was a strong producer to say "Enough!" "Stop" "It's done" "Move on". Too many tracks outstay their welcome. But looking at the sleeve notes this album was produced by someone from the Velvet Underground so there's your reason. 2½

Great to be returning to this Album after 18 years

Did nit finish listening. Quit after 4 songs.

I get it, but it's not for me.

Even today sounds like a fresh voice. I would listen to this again.

Ok so I went into this album with admittedly the wrong attitude. I knew this was a big “artsy fartsy” punk album so I felt an immediate disconnect with the album but I listened to it and a couple of the songs I really liked, and I LOVED the live cover of My Generation live at The Agora. And that cover made me want to listen to the album a second and third time before I left a review and I gotta say it’s already starting to grow on me. I like the tone and the instrumentals. There’s a few slower songs that I couldn’t connect to, but the songs that work are some of the all time greatest punk songs. If you are an open minded punk music fan, this should be required material.

I can sort of see the appeal but some tracks were a little to out there for me.

Solid album.

Big fan of this album, Patti's voice was really good, and the songs were catchy and enjoyable to listen to. The music was varied and well-crafted, and each song stood alone. The songs also didn't feel particularly dated for a 70s album. Land: Horses etc was a really good song. 4/5 stars.

Interesting, but very lyric focussed, so not good as work music

Loved Just Kids and Because the Night. This however makes me doubt my commitment to SparkleMotion. Maybe you had to be there.

like some of parts of some of the songs... so multiple quarters of songs in the album?

Love the punk sensibility of the music, less enthusiastic about the poetic songwriting.

Dziwne to było doświadczenie. Nie powtórzę go nigdy.

Meh. Bit floaty

An album that teaches us to look at that young lady on the cover, who looks more like a lost daughter of Mick Jagger and Joey Ramone, and teaches us not to judge the music based on that. 4 stars is fair hahahaha

Jesus died for somebody sins but not mine. Tem como começar um álbum de uma maneira mais punk? Eu já tinha escutado esse umas 2 vezes mas não tinha apreciado ele pelo que realmente é: eletricidade em forma de poesia. São poucas as "canções" aqui, são peças de literatura, da mais repetitiva até algo como Birdland. As palavras da Patti Smith são acompanhadas por relâmpagos de piano e guitarra de uma maneira às vezes épica. Tudo que eu já li dela é extremamente forte, ela tem um jeito muito único com as palavras, algo meio Lou Reed só que com um senso maior sobre o que é "bom mesmo", algo meio Dylan só que mais punk não sei explicar. Vai ver não dá pra comparar um escritor homem com a rebeldia e poder dela. Preciso escutar algumas outras vezes lendo as letras, só assim vou apreciar ele por inteiro. Mas já é um álbum 5 estrelas pra mim só pelo que ouvi agora.

This has a lot of elements that I like and is clearly influential to so many artists I love but I can’t get over how grating Patti’s voice sounds to me and how much I hate her vocal rhythm and inflection choices

Fun to hear more of a rock n roll version of punk, but often closer to spoken-word poetry than music, so more likely to end up on my attention-required slow-burn playlist than regular rotation. I was familiar with Gloria and Land (although not aware that the former is a cover, or that Van Morrison was in a band), so the funkier Redondo Beach was my favorite discovery, which would fit in really well on a Clash album.

I see the influence this had on artists I do like, but this hasn’t aged well

Brilliant masterpiece!

Couldnt get through it

not a fan, sounds rough and unpolished, interesting lyrics though

Det här blev omedelbart intressant. Har nu lyssnat massor och landar i en fyra. Det är bitvis för bra för att sätta en trea. Det är en bitvis kaotisk skiva, men det klickar för mig. Mer än tvärtom (full förståelse för att man inte riktigt diggar detta). Hon har en grym röst (om än lite "gnällig" ibland". Det är en skön intensitet i musiken. Gillar även de lite längre låtarna, särskilt Land: horses.... Kommer utan problem kunna lyssna mer på Patti Smith. Kul!

Jävlar vad det här var överraskande bra, det var på tiden att en sån skiva kom. Dras med från första sekund och även om det inte kryllar av konventionella hits så har hon en energi och ett unikt uttryck som verkligen resonerar med mig. Inte en dålig eller tråkig sekund på hela skivan. Förstår inte hur det här kan vara en sån vattendelare när man läser betygen, det är ju svinbra!

Huh. Not at all what I expected from the cover, or from an album from 1975. Some real solid punk here, especially given the release date. Nothing complicated or mind-blowing, but really good for what it is. 4.2

This is punk? Maybe I just didn't get it, 2*

The first two songs are pretty decent, I don’t really like the third one though it’s really long and boring and is kinda whiny. I really liked the entire rest of it though.

I hear the greatness, but it does nothing for me.

There are very few albums outside of what I classify as "canon" that I would deem "important." This is one of those. Patti Smith is widely known to be a punk icon and deserves her place on that stage as such. OK. But this album, to me is extremely important because it shows that Patti Smith is the girl version or alternate side to Iggy Pop, another massive punk cultural icon. They are both WAY beyond musicians and were always saying something through their music. I don't even know what to call the genre of this album but it has such a deep meaning; it shows us what punk IS at it's heart.

Well this is certainly a different take on punk than the Ramones. Land: Horses / Land of a Thousand Dances / La Mer(de)

awful

It was fine - I expected more, to be totally honest, judging by the amount of artists I love who have covered Patti. I feel like I'm missing something here, but mostly it just kinda felt like a Lou Reed record or something.

Was not super familiar with Patti… Kinda dug it

I wanted so badly to like this. It honestly was like nails on a chalkboard for more than half the album. It's a no for me dog. One extra star bc the album cover kicks ass.

pretty solid punk album even though i didnt really get what she was on about.

Vuče na velvet underground što je izgleda najgora stvar koju mogu reći za muziku uopšte. Mada je za nijansicu podnošljivije.

This album was pretty enjoyable for the most part, but also had some rather mediocre moments that didn't really stick out, especially "Birdland" like damn that song is boring, I think the more punky moments on the record definitely work the best, when it's relying on these simple 70s riffs & such, amplified by Patti's very dominant voice, the more experimental elements just feel kind of whatever & boring, they don't really leave a lasting impression or feel very memorable, there's some good moments, but it's a little hit or miss.

The Violent Femmales. 7/10

good jams, not necessarily a live album person, but

Not much good to say.

Never been a fan, but this is OK

Pfff... I think the singing on this album is rather unbearable. Problem: it's all about the singing. It's way up front in the mix. Musically - as far as anyone can tell - it's not really exciting. One exception: Break it up, thanks to a guest appearance by Television's Tom Verlaine. Nah. Not for me. Not extremely bad either. Just meh.

Didn’t float my boat

Nfm

This is nearly perfect for me, from the album art to Patti Smith's unique voice and poetry throughout. I adore the intro "Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine" and how Patti Smith puts care and emotion into every syllable she sings. "Free Money" is devastating. I can see how she inspired atmospheric and more lyrically complex punk/indie/alt rock musicians that followed her. 4.5 rounded down but really can go either way.

This album is weird, sometimes in a good way and sometimes in a bad way. One of the songs was a 4.5/5, a few were 3/5 and one or two were 2/5. So I will average it to a 3/5. That feels marginally optimistic, and if I did another listen it could be a 2.

Lexi’s takes: generally positive. Wasn’t paying much attention at breakfast. There was one song that made me think of the movie shark tale specifically the whale wash because don’t you worry about a thing plays in that scene and the background instrumentation was reminiscent of that song. Premise of Shark Tale: main character fish’s dad owns whale wash. They’ve borrowed money from the shark mafia (they are fishes). Puffer fish is the enforcer. Main character fish has a crush on receptionist. He is pretty discontent but likes this girl fish. He finds out about mafia debts and is filled with defiant pride about standing up to the sharks. Meanwhile the son of the leader of the shark mafia feels bad about the family business. But his dads makes him do this job, threatening with cutting him off financially. Then the two sons decide to work together, both getting blackmailed by the sharks all the while. “There’s like this sexy fish” (a lady) voiced by some celebrity who has no business being in this movie. She works for the mafia and she’s sent in to try to get the son pulled into the mafia (weirdly seductive). There’s some big fight (no details remembered) and the head of the mafia gets stuck in the whale wash. And then he’s like “oh my gosh I’m squeaky clean”. Everything turns out fine except the puffer fish has something happen and he inflates and drifts away. And then at the end of the movie the son gets together with the receptionist fish (whose heart had been broken earlier because she saw the son with the sexy fish), and the shark son happily works for the the whale wash. Anyway that one song made me think of don’t you worry about a thing, which played at the start at the whale wash. My takes: good album. Patti Smith has a really nice grit to her voice. In the 70s women vocalists are often put into a pretty singing box and not able to do more interesting stuff and Patti smith really goes for weirder and better vocals than most. Gloria is such an excellent start to the album. Lexi wants to add: “I think the main character fish’s name is Oscar”

This album is a pretty convincing argument that not all punk needs to rock to be punk. It can be quieter and more acoustic and still be great. Fur and a half stars rounded down to four. (I also feel like I better understand the sonic lineage of Regina Spektor, one of my mid-00s faves, having listened to this)

i have a playlist that is called "when people yell and pretending it's singing" and I'd put this in that playlist except for the fact that I hated it. lyrics can't make up for the execution of the yelling

Well this one opens strong! Probably my favourite cover of Gloria I've ever heard; she really made it her own! I hear a lot of Velvet Underground influence, which makes sense considering John Cale produced the album. Not really what I was expecting from a "punk" album, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless! Favourite track: Gloria, Birdland, Kimberly, Land

True class. Is this something of a barometer record? Must admit, I used to struggle more to get into the material. Hearing it back now made a lot more sense to me.

groovy? und in ordnung, coole stimme

Gloria +1, Horses +1, proto punk fun

"Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine" is one of the greatest opening lines on any album ever. Patti Smith is a real trail blazer for all women rockers out there, but for some reason i've never quite fully understood her magic. Poetry and punk however is a solid combination worth of 3 or 4 stars. This time i randomly chose...

I found it a bland recording of weird bland pop music. I'm sure the lyrics are epic poems of timeless beauty, I just couldn't care less one way or another when it comes to music. I got nothing from this.

somehow haven’t listened to this until now. how haven’t i gotten to this sooner

Well, this is fine. You can see the punk elements in it, and it does have a bit of the Dylanesque about it, but neither of them are strong enough to carry the album. Not bad, but not the amazing album people hold it up to be.

An upbeat blend of post-punk pop. Artsy and entertaining.

An excellent debut that often gets lumped in with (proto-)punk, but sounds closer to the producer's background in the Velvet Underground.

Not my style. 2/5

While I've heard of Patti Smith a bunch of time, I've never sat down to listen to her music. I don't mind the vocals or lyrics, but I don't like most of the music itself. Tho I'd listen to another album before I could say if I like Patti Smith for sure or not. Maybe it's just the Legacy Edition I found on YouTube Music, but I don't like having all the live versions of songs. Welp I LOVE My Generation...first song on the album that I actually know.

Just didn’t love this one much

Pleasant enough, but it didn't especially thrill me. I don't think I'd switch away from most of the songs (maybe 1 or 2 I would?), but I've no desire to relisten.

Loved it

Amazing opening

Ear friendly Yoko Ono in a nice way. Glooroooooooooorrriia

Decent.

Great energy. Loved free money and Redondo Beach. I wish there were more tracks

Genuinely good album that in some places felt a decade or more before its time. Favorite track: Free Money

I really enjoyed the opening tune "Gloria." Patti's voice is so expressive and really fits in with the raw sound of this album. However, I'm not a huge fan of the mixed spoken word/singing, like on "Birdland," "Kimberly," and "Land." I understand why Patti, as a poet, included it, but I just couldn't enjoy those parts as much. Highlight of the album was the fantastic energy in the instrumental part on "Free Money," that made it my favorite track on Horses.

It’s fine. Next.

Old Days Patti will always be my early favourite bands’ favourite artist - huge for Michael Stipe and Bono and some guy from Manchester. Plus the influences on Siouxsie, PJ, Nick Cave, Kim Gordon and perhaps most audibly to me this go-around: Tom Verlaine (and I wonder how much of a back and forth that was for those crazy kids). Today There’s a kind of coddling that occurs with these formerly challenging upstarts. Take the wiki, no one would say the easy cure or bon savants “gave frequent live performances”. It situates Patti as a special artist, not just another populist rock n roller, which she professed to be over and over. Reading over the history with Cale some, Patti runs into a paradox of sorts about rock music, an originalism trap if you will. There’s this notion that the original thing - so, whatever you heard when you were a teenager - is somehow raw, unsullied by artifice, pure, unadorned, non-articulated, that that’s the real thing. And so she shows up at the recording studio and Cale asks the band to tune their instruments or do some arranging and she’s like THAT’S NOT REAL MAN but the original thing was, in this case, let’s say Van Morrison’s Them, rehearsed and rehearsed and honed their talents long before the adolescent Patti came across, uh, them. Moreover, Van Morrison’s whole schtick was an impersonation of Howlin’ Wolf, not remotely sui generis. But, there’s always something appealing about breaking things down to their perceived essence, be it of the 3 chords and the truth variety, something barely above a campus drum circle in AnCo, Nirvana and Pavement’s “punk” in the face of 80s cultural touchstones/hair metal, Run-DMC and NWA, Jack White’s whole aesthetic framework, etc. Keepers: Break it Up, Gloria

It's not for me Clive. Very, very, very beige. I don't get how this is called punk by some people. It's more like if a couple of private school kids tried to create punk. Very sterile and anodyne. She even managed to butcher a version of Land Of 100 Dances.