The Boy Looked at Johnny.....

Patti Smith's "Horses" starts out with some soft, mournful piano chords, courtesy of Richard Sohl. We then hear a most extraordinary, New York sounding voice, which declares "Jesus died for somebody's sins/but not mine!" And from this moment on, the listener is brought into a kind of wild, subterranean world, a world of poetry and mythos, a world which is an extension of the very soul of the greatest poet to ever become a rock star. As the opening song, "Gloria" continues, picking up speed via Lenny Kaye's crunching guitar riffs and Jay Dee Daugherty's steady drumming, poetry merges with mid-60s garage punk, and a whole new world of possibility opens up. This is followed by the gentle, reggae derived "Redondo Beach," which, it turns out, is one of Patti's great vocal moments; there is a rhythm to her voice which serves this, and other songs, very well, as here, she sings a sad tale which contrasts with the upbeat sound of the song. "Birdland," one of the lengthier songs here, returns to the mournful sound of the beginnings of "Gloria" and is quite sublime. A few songs later is "Kimberly," Patti's tribute to her sister, with some great lyrics and a nice steady, rocking beat. It's one of my favorite all time Patti Smith songs. The record climaxes with "Land," a song sequence, in which Patti creates a near cinematic narrative, set in a high school filled with misfits. She brilliantly alludes to the popular culture of an earlier era.

So, with this record, which sounded like absolutely nothing else that came out in 1975, Patti Smith begat a revolution. She is a historic link between the Dylan/Morrison/Lennon/Hendrix 60s and the CBGBs/Max's Kansas City punks of a few years later. Its hard to imagine folks like Courtney Love, Kurt Cobain, and all of today's female rockers like L7, Sleater-Kinney, and others, even existing, without her getting the ball rolling. While she is still a vibrant artist, this is the place to begin to explore the world of Patti Smith.

I should add that I came very close to meeting Patti Smith a few years ago. I had an activist friend who appeared on stage at an antiwar rally the day before, and was set to introduce me to her the next day. However, she wound up resting up for a show at CBGB's (right before it closed down) and was home resting. Instead, my friend intriduced me to Patti's daughter Jessie (her kid with Fred Smith), who seemed a bit shy, but nice, and pretty cool.