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Wednesday, January 1, 2014

The Best Patti Smith Group post, ever....

Kicking off 2014 with a bang, a slew of albums and a few rarities from the legend that is Patti Smith....I have a disc of here performing on stage  (Cleveland) with Television, but I have not only already posted it (Best Television post ever), it is unfortunately near unlistenable. But, the remainder of the catalog, for my money, is pretty great......her melding of bizarre poetry and punk/new wave rock was a natural for fans of more "intellectual" rock of the Velvet Underground, Talking Heads, et al, and ALSO for the Ramones/Blondie crowd at CBGB's......unique and trail blazing, Deborah Harry did for Smith what Alice Cooper did for Iggy Pop....swipe a good concept/idea and then beat it to death.

In 1974 Smith formed the Patti Smith Band, with Lenny Kaye on guitar, Ivan Kral on bass, Jay Dee Daugherty on drums, and pianist Richard Sohl. Their first single was a cover of "Hey Joe", backed with "Piss Factory".....as much as I have made fun of various bands for "covering" "Hey Joe", a Patti Smith cover not only remakes the song, it turns it inside out and stands it on it's head.....the version of "Hey Joe" included a spoken section regarding then-topical Patricia Hearst ("Patty Hearst, you're standing there in front of the Symbionese Liberation Army flag with your legs spread, I was wondering were you gettin' it every night from a black revolutionary man and his women..."). Which, is not exactly the traditional version, one must admit.

In 1975, the group released the amazing debut album "Horses", a classic by any measure which includes a cover (really) of "Gloria" as well (I've made fun of bands covering THAT one a bunch as well, but this one chills to the bone: "Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine......", as well as "Land", a frantic, psychotic rewrite of "Land of 1000 Dances" which is maybe only one of my five or so favorite album tracks ever (I would to describe it or cite portions, but there is no way in hell I could do it justice)....a must hear "classic", I'm going to include the CD version rather than the vinyl rip that I prefer, the CD containing Smith's take on "My Generation"

Next came "Radio Ethiopia", not quite as good as "Horses" but for my cash at least a four-star disc: "Ask the Angels", "Pissing In a River", and "Pumping (My Heart)" are all great tracks that stand the test of time, easily.....it pails, however, in comparison to the stunning "Easter", her best work and one of my ten favorite albums of all.....containing her best known song, the Bruce Springsteen-written "Because the Night", a great song but about a tenth of the genius here.....ALL "must hear" tracks, "Till Victory", the psychotic "Rock N Roll Nigger", the stunning "Privlege (Set Me Free)" and perhaps the highlight (although they are many) the incredible "25th Floor/High on Rebellion".....if you have never heard this album I won't speak to you until you do so.

The original Patti Smith Group would record only one more album, 1979's "Wave", not great but by no means awful, "Frederick", "Dancing Barefoot" and (another stunning cover) "So You Want to be a Rock N Roll Star" could be placed on one of the earlier discs without stickin out too badly.

At this point Smith went into semi-retirement, marrying Sonic Smith of the MC5.....she resumed recording again in the late 1980's, there are several albums available for completists/fanatics in a complete Pirate Bay torrent.
( ..http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/9190664/Patti_Smith_-_Discography_-_(1975-2012)_-_320_kbps)

..I am not crazy about them, for the most part, they are decent, but nowhere near as spectacular as the 1970's stuff, thus I am not posting it here. With one exception, in 2007 Smith released "Twelve" which is a covers album.....her brilliance as a cover artist guaranteed at least an interesting effort, tunes like "Gimme Shelter", "Smells Like Teen Spirit", and "White Rabbit" seem to have been written for her alone to cover......unfortunately, this SOUNDS a lot better than it actually IS, and, trust me, I WANTED it to be great.......it's here though I think it needs to be to complete the picture, while the other discs are nowhere near essential (1988's "Dream of Life", 1996's "Gone Again", 1997's "Peace and Noise", 2000's "Gung Ho", 2004's "Trampin'", and 2012's "Banga".....as I said before all are easily attainable from Pirate bay should you wish to hear/have them.

Now, a few of the rarities that I had mentioned, I found somewhere online the first "Hey Joe"/"Piss Factory" single, certainly you must hear this.........."Live Horses" is undated (at least my copy), but it is just what it sounds like, a live performance of the entire "Horses" album....we round his out with a pair of double disc live boots, both from 1979. The first comes from CBGB's, contains a lot of the stuff I'd want (leans a bit heavily on the then-current "Wave") including covers of "All Along the Watchtower"and "Twist and Shout".....the second set if from Essen Germany, a somewhat similar set list but time the covers include a smoking "Gloria" as well as "Jailhouse Rock".....There were actually some WAY cool looking boots on Pirate Bay that I wanted to grab and post here, but they aren't being seeded.....reminds me that if you use Pirate Bay or another Torrent Site, PLEASE seed what you download, it is important to the overall cause of sharing and completing the music collections of all of our online friends! If any of you perchance have any of those Smith Group boots that are sitting there on Pirate bay unseeded, PLEASE share them, either here (in the comments section where everyone can evaluate them) or email them to me and I'll upload them......lotta cool stuff over there that I wish could have been included in this post.

Wasn't sure how I wanted to do this....I don't have those 1988-2012 albums, have heard them and as I said they don't much get it done for me.....I guess I could have downloaded them and presented a "complete" picture, but I think the stuff I have put up here is truly "classic" material of the era, and of the scene....these discs are still in fairly heavy rotation around here, please comment and enjoy the hell out of these as much as I do!


I know of at least two songs of which Smith is the subject, "In Thee" by Blue Oyster Cult, and "Crow" by the Jim Carroll band......there are probably others. A true artist, and a great one.

Happy New Year and may the odds be ever in your favor!

1974 SINGLE-01 Hey Joe/02 Piss Factory

HORSES-01 Gloria/02 Redondo Beach/03 Birdland/04 Free Money/05 Kimberly/06 Break It Up/07 Land: a) Horses b) Land of  a Thousand Dances c) La Mer (De)/08 Elegie/09 My Generation (live bonus track)

RADIO ETHIOPIA-01 Ask the Angels/02 Ain't It Strange/03 Poppies/04 Pissing In a River/05 Pumping (My Heart)/06 Distant Fingers/07 Radio Ethiopia/08 Abyssinia/09 Chiklets

EASTER-01 Till Victory/02 Space Monkey/03 Because the Night/04 Ghost Dance/05 Babelouge/06 Rock N Roll Nigger/07 Privilege (Set Me Free)/08 We Three/09 25th Floor/10 High on Rebellion/11 Easter/12 Godspeed

WAVE-01 Frederick/02 Dancing Barefoot/03 So You Want To Be a Rock n Roll Star/04 Hymn/05 Revenge/06 Citizen Ship/07 Seven Ways of Going/08 Broken Flag/09 Wave/10 Fire of Unknown Origin/11 54321/Wave

LIVE HORSES-01 Gloria/02 Redondo Beach/03 Birdland/04 Free Money/05 Break It Up/06 Land/07 Elegie/08 My Generation

CBGB 3/11/79 DISC 1-01 Land: Horses/Land of 1000 Dances/02 Redondo Beach/03 Fire of Unknown Origin/04 Kimberly/05 Dancing Barefoot/06 Space Monkey/07 Privilege (Set Me Free)/08 25th Floor/09 Cold Turkey/10 For Your Love

CBGB 3/11/79 DISC 2-01 Revenge/02 Frederick/03 Seven Ways of Going/04 Poppies/05 All Along the Watchtower/06 Spider and Fly 1985/07 So You Want to Be a Rock N Roll Star/08 54321/Wave/09 Twist and Shout/10 My Generation

ESSEN GERMANY 4/21/79 DISC 1-01 Intro/02 Rock N Roll Star/03 Hymn/04 Rock N Roll Nigger/05 Privilege (Set Me Free)/06 Dancing barefoot/07 Redondo Beach/08 25th Floor/09 Revenge

ESSEN GERMANY 4/21/79 DISC 2-01 54321/Wave/02 Pumping (My Heart)/03 Seven Ways of Going/04 Because the Night/05 Frederick/06 Jailhouse Rock/07 Gloria/08 My Generation

TWELVE-01 Are You Experienced?/02 Everybody Wants To Rule the World/03 Helpless/04 Gimme Shelter/05 Within You Without You/06 White Rabbit/07 Changing of the Guard/08 The Boy in the Bubble/09 Soul Kitchen/10 Smells Like Teen Spirit/11 Midnight Rider/12 Pastime Paradise

21 comments:

  1. CBGB D1
    http://www63.zippyshare.com/v/93654609/file.html

    CBGB D2
    http://www63.zippyshare.com/v/58326289/file.html

    EASTER
    http://www63.zippyshare.com/v/12962868/file.html

    ESSEN D1
    http://www63.zippyshare.com/v/96138765/file.html

    ESSEN D2
    http://www63.zippyshare.com/v/69988140/file.html

    HEY JOE SINGLE
    http://www63.zippyshare.com/v/67453465/file.html

    HORSES
    http://www63.zippyshare.com/v/17416805/file.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Scott, When I was in high school, Patti wasn't my favorite artist, but _Horses_ was my favorite album. It's so exciting and has some GREAT guitar by Lenny Kaye. Before that, Kaye had been known as a rock critic who compiled and annotated the first two record (vinyl, of course) _Nuggets_ collection. (It had 28 songs and is the first disc of the 4 CD Nuggets colection that stunned the world of rock in the late 90s.) BTW, the track "Break It UP" on _Horses_ features the great Tom Verlaine of Televison on guitar and playing the solos. The live Horses you have is probably the same show that was part of the two disc deluxe edition That came out years ago. When it comes to some random later songs, "Ask The Angels" is terrifically exciting, while "Frederick and "Dancing Barefoot" are also among my favorite songs of hers. Among the missing with her later albums is the song "People Have The Power", which should have been a huge hit. It's a shame she retired after getting involved with Fred "Sonic" Smith. Can you imagine what a Sonic Smith/Lenny Kare guitar team would have sounded like?
    It just so happens that I have a ton of Patti boots dating from the early 1970s to this decade. However, I just took them off my hard drive and archived them on an external a few weeks ago. If I get the chance, I'll try to dig 'em up and provide ZippyShare links for you. Given my coming schedule, I'd say they won't DEFINITELY be up before Sunday, but I'll try to get to them sooner.

    ReplyDelete
  3. LIVE HORSES
    http://www63.zippyshare.com/v/21431083/file.html

    RADIO
    http://www63.zippyshare.com/v/52268722/file.html

    12
    http://www63.zippyshare.com/v/98008229/file.html

    WAVE
    http://www63.zippyshare.com/v/22603034/file.html

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  4. Scott,
    Give "Banga" another couple of listens. I agree with your opinion of Patti's Second act, but Banga gave me a similar brain massage that the earlier LPs did.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi folks, here's the start of the Patti boots I promised. This one is known "Hippie Living" and comes from a concert in Eugene, Oregon on 5-4-1978. It's two discs of 11 tracks each:

    http://www57.zippyshare.com/v/11966297/file.html

    I'm not sure of the bitrate and there's no cover art.

    I'd hoped to put up at least one more, but ZS just crashed and isn't letting me upload. If folks DL the first concert in enough numbers over the next few days, then I have up to 6 or 7 more boots I can add, which I'll do on the Patti post.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Actually, the Eugene, OR above is from 4028-1978. The 5-4-1978 date is a concert from Chicago known as "Wild in Chicago" It runs 15 tracks and again I'm not sure of the bitrate (this is coming off an external HD) and no cover art

    http://www62.zippyshare.com/v/12237712/file.html

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thankyou very much both BigScott62 and Wow!Party Down OLd School! I will keep an eye on these comments for any more material. Unable to d/l for a week or so, but I'm sure these links will remain for a while...hope so! Thanks to my friend Dave Sez for pointing me in the direction of this blog today. Cheers, pinkie.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Here's another Patti that made the rounds a few years ago. It's from her NYE show in NYC on the last day of 2010. I had to break it into two discs, as the whole concert runs 284 meg for 19 songs (this must be in 320). Patti always does interesting covers in concert. In this case, she does "Strawberry Fields Forever" and The Monkees "I'm a Believer". There's also a track entitled something like "Unknwon New Song"; I'm not sure if it ended up on _Banga_, which came out a year and a half later.

    Here's disc 1: http://www12.zippyshare.com/v/72896971/file.html

    and disc 2: http://www23.zippyshare.com/v/22721314/file.html

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for Patti's first single, BigScott62! For your info, Tom Verlaine of Television played guitar on it. See my comments to your Television post for the full FLAC version of the 1975 Patti Smith and Television gig you mention there. I'll check out what you and Wow! have offered here and see if I can't add anything. Cheers, Dave Sez.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Meanwhile, the 2005 Horses gig you have posted was on 25th June 2005, released as a bonus CD with the 30th anniversary reissue of Horses.

    1. "Gloria" (Live at Royal Festival Hall, London) – 7:01
    2. "Redondo Beach" (Live at Royal Festival Hall, London) – 4:29
    3. "Birdland" (Live at Royal Festival Hall, London) – 9:52
    4. "Free Money" (Live at Royal Festival Hall, London) – 5:29
    5. "Kimberly" (Live at Royal Festival Hall, London) – 5:28
    6. "Break It Up" (Live at Royal Festival Hall, London) – 5:24
    7. "Land" (Live at Royal Festival Hall, London) – 17:35
    8. "Elegie" (Live at Royal Festival Hall, London) – 5:08
    9. "My Generation" (Live at Royal Festival Hall, London) - 6:59

    Band members

    * Patti Smith – guitar, vocals
    * Lenny Kaye – guitar
    * Tom Shanahan
    * Michael "Flea" Balzary - bass
    * Jay Dee Daugherty – drums
    * Tom Verlaine – guitar

    Cheers, Dave Sez.

    ReplyDelete
  11. An upgrade: the cover for the first 1974 Patti Smith single is from a later Sire re-release; the original was on Mer Records, and is kindly offered as an extremely high quality vinyl rip (in FLAC or mp3 @ 320) by the great angelo here:

    http://powerpopcriminals.blogspot.com/2012/02/patti-smith-hey-joe-version-1974-very.html.

    Enjoy! Cheers, Dave Sez.

    ReplyDelete
  12. And whilst we're at it, and although this is nowt to do with Patti Smith, angelo has also offered us what is for me THE Holy Grail of all punk recordings - the original 4-track, Dave Goodman produced vinyl Sex Pistols bootleg as an extremely high quality vinyl rip in FLAC or mp3@320. Outstanding!

    http://powerpopcriminals.blogspot.com/2013/06/spunk-original-vinyl-edition-1977-re.html

    Cheers, Dave Sez.

    ReplyDelete
  13. FOr those that are interested here are the three bonus tracks for the "Twelve" CD.
    http://www58.zippyshare.com/v/98664573/file.html

    ReplyDelete
  14. You don't have "The Coral Sea", Patti's collaboration with My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields, by any chance do you?

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  15. Hi Scott. Please could you reupload CBGB D1
    http://www63.zippyshare.com/v/93654609/file.html
    The link is dead
    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi, could you please, when there is time, upload the majority of links to a site that doesnt expire as most have done so now :(

    ReplyDelete
  17. The hey joe single has gone dark

    ReplyDelete
  18. The hey joe single has gone dark

    ReplyDelete