Track Listing

1. Gloria: In Excelsis Deo/Gloria [Van Morrison Version]
2. Redondo Beach
3. Birdland
4. Free Money
5. Kimberly
6. Break It Up
7. Land: Horses/Land of a Thousand Dances/La Mer (De)
8. Elegie
9. My Generation [Live][*]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5968 in Music
• Brand: Arista
• Released on: 1996-06-18
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Album Description
Japanese only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) pressing includes one bonus track. BMG. 2008.

Amazon.com
On her 1975 debut, Smith was full of piss and vinegar, seriously interested in bringing together high art and low three-chord rock & roll. As a result, her free-form poetry meshes with covers of "Gloria" and "Land of a Thousand Dances," and the album centers on two long, highfalutin' pieces, including the three-part suite (warning! warning! art!) "Land." (The CD version appends a messy live take on The Who's "My Generation.") Led by Richard Sohl's piano, the arrangements don't exactly rock, and some of Smith's songwriting gets buried in its stylistic affectations (there's a great song under "Redondo Beach"'s fake reggae). But the point of Horses was Smith's persona of volume, cunning and exile, and it comes through distinctly. --Douglas Wolk

Customer Reviews

I Dropped Out of College for this Album
I saw Patti read poetry alone. I saw Patti & Lenny at St. Marks Church. I saw Patti, Lenny & Richard at Max's. I was there at her last gig at the Academy of Music before a long hiatus. I rejoiced at her comeback performance at the Ritz after Fred "Sonic" Smith's passing. I saw Patti so often she once told me at a CCNY poetry reading, "You've seen me more than my manager!" All that I love about rock & roll is embodied in "Horses." When I listen I hear the Shangrilas in her girl-group vocals. Early Stones with Brian Jones in her swagger. Hardly ever do poetry and 3-chord rock marry so seamlessly. When she intones, "Suddenly, Johnny, gets the feeling, he's surrounded by horses, horses, horses...do you know how to pony?" it still makes my heart beat faster. Patti Smith is the original Riot Grrrl. The first woman, after Grace Slick, to not be a "my man done left me" victim. She hit a home run out of the ballpark with this record, uneclipsed even 30 years later. I still listen to everything she records, and see her & the band as often as they play live. She set the bar high. It hasn't dated in all these years.

The One
I am 43. When I first heard this I was 20. It totally shocked me from the very first notes in a friend's bedroom, stayed with me over the years and is still - remarkably - my favourite album for its force, drive, beautiful melancholy sounds, strange poetry, like a door opening on something I never believed could exist until I heard and saw it, and full of a warm compassion for the listener that is absent on all of Patti's influences. I heard someone said that though she was openly influenced by the Stones, the Velvets and the Doors (and Dylan) she also managed to outdo them all... the album is all but perfect... did they resolve the mains hum buzz all through the original vinyl disc? And 'My Generation' (by coincidence my favourite single, from The Who) is scrappy but OK, but why oh why is 'Piss Factory' - one of her best songs from this era - not included? That's the only slight minus in this lovely re-issue. If you have never heard Patti Smith, just get this record and enjoy. A pure gift.

New York, New York!
Sheer intensity! One may hear hints of her in a few musicians, but there's only one Patti Smith. She set the standard, yet remains an original.

This is a concept CD, but the concept is musical, rather than lyrical. Beginning with the dissonant chords and long tonal lines of "GLORIA," Patti Smith goes on to punk-ture the rock landscape in about 43 minutes of tone poetry, screaming vocals and snarling guitar. It's the musical equivalent of "Howl."

A few songs, or fragments of songs, are somewhat melodic and playful, almost teasing. While these are "easier" and sound great, the CD is most notable for its shredding power, and the sound of the most original female voice in rock. Great support on guitar and drums. Intense and poetic, yet somehow unaffected and sincere, she makes the spoken/sung lyric not only compelling, but credible.

In many songs it sounds like the rhythm might slip out from under the vocals and go on in an entirely different direction. There's something going on here! Beautifully recorded and mixed, the voicings are distinct, both melodic and dissonant. Someone may observe these days, "that's been done before." It probably has--by Patti Smith. Highly recommended.