Patti Smith: HORSES vs. the rest.

In the early '90s HORSES started me on a short Patti kick. The only disc I didn't get was DREAM OF LIFE. None of them impressed me like HORSES. I didn't bother with the post-GONE AGAIN stuff. I eventually got rid of EASTER. I love a few tracks from RADIO ETHIOPIA. WAVE is light and harmless enough that I keep it around. GONE AGAIN seems serious enough that I feel obligated to listen to it once every other year or so.

But all in all my Patti Smith experience was sadly anti-climactic.

And that recent covers album just looks TERRIBLE on paper. About a year before I read an interview in MOJO where she claimed it was gonna be 'obscure' covers (eg. Tim Buckley.)

The covers record basically sux the wax tadpole because she didn't have anything significant to add to any of the songs she chose. She should have stayed away from her heroes. But "Trampin'" is one of her modern records that's really good all the way through, and worth picking up if you see it cheap.

It's really quite a BLARING record. And @ times the band does flail away like there's no tomorrow.
The fantastic single w/ Bruce Springsteen is Patti's finest moment ever.
Horses overall sounds forced. We, the listeners suffer. A Horse is a Horse by any other name.

GREAT R&R Hall of Fame performance is what I remember most.

I Love Patti Smith too!

I'd have to say that Patti really needed to be experienced live to be fully appreciated for what she had to say as an artist. Was never really knocked out by her recorded stuff but saw her and she got things going with a killer version of Rock n Roll Nigger draped in the American flag. Show was awesome. I'm sure the chemicals didn't hurt either...