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Patti Smith
trampin'
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Released: April 27 2004
Origination Year: 2004
Time: 63:41
Tracks: 11
Produced by: The Patti Smith Group
Style: Studio
Format: CD
Enhancement: None
Website:
www.pattismith.net
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With the release of Arista's Patti Smith compilation, Land, it was somewhat stated in the liner notes that Patti may have recorded her last. Well, it was a partially true statement. Patti Smith ended her long standing affiliation with Arista, largely because the label was dramatically different in scope than it was during her early days. It also didn't help that Clive Davis was no longer in control of that label, her home of many years.
Fortunately, Patti Smith resurfaced a few years later with Columbia Records releasing her next set of originals, trampin'. With nary a skip in style and depth, it can also be reported that Patti Smith has crafted a collection of high impact tunes that begin her Columbia years with a bang.
Patti Smith has a long history of spectacular album releases beginning with her essential Horses. Horses was an album that gave direction to an emerging scene of smart lyrical music that included the likes of Television and The Talking Heads with many more unnamed that is just as deserving of mention.
Smith eventually left the hectic schedule of Rockdom to raise children during her marraige to MC5 alum, Fred Smith. After a time, she re-entered with a warm-up album, the less than stellar Dream of Life. She laid off for a few more years before returning after the devastating death her husband with the stunning Gone Again. Her continued output has been extraordinary creating a body of work that will live on.
trampin' is the next stage in this journey of poetically philosophical observations. With the original band largely intact, trampin' begins with the Horses reminiscent "Jubilee". With mixed spoken and sung lyrics, "Jubilee" rocks with the potency that we have come to expect of the Patti Smith Group and closes with a combined powerful flow of music and entrancing Smith vocals.
With "Mother Rose", you can hear a beautiful side of Patti Smith that is free of anger and filled with compassion and understanding resulting in a clarifying mix.
As we move through trampin' it becomes quickly evident that Patti Smith has evolved into a newness. Her changeover to Columbia is metaphorical in that her latest approach reveals a much more mature individual; one who is more in touch with herself. With the only people that understand her acting as a neural lubricant to her highly evolved sense of life, Lenny Kaye, Jay Dee Daugherty, and newer members Oliver Ray and Tony Shanahan provide Smith with the connector to a much larger highway of involvement.
The reality is that trampin' is a work of art that will fully satisfy the Patti Smith fan in ways that only Horses and Radio Ethiopia could have. The works on this album crosses more borders of genius than many artists can do in a lifetime of achievement. But we have come to expect that from Patti Smith. To rival Horses is a super spiritual feat and that is close to what has been accomplished here. A listen to "Gandhi" will leave you with the chills that Horses evoked. The spare, stark depth of "trepasses" itself becomes a hymn that stays like a lost child in your memory. "Peaceable Kingdom?" You can't be more stunned by this point in the album with this song of self-redemption and there is still a powerful and passionate "Radio Baghdad" to come.
With this album's ability to aptly sit next to her best work you can buy this with assurance. Me? I'm still recovering from awe.
