OF all the CBGBs set (Ramones, Talking Heads, Blondie, Television et al) that she is still primarily remembered for, Patti Smith promised the most but delivered the least.
Influenced more by Arthur Rimbaud and William Burroughs than the New York Dolls and The Stooges, Patti was a punked up literary figure who sang, in a beautifully volatile way, about freedom, sex, rapture, rebellion and God. Lasting legacy? Take a little listen to Courtney Love, P.J. Harvey or Alanis Morrissette.
After the limited success of her first poetry collections, she suddenly found herself with an access all areas pass into the rock'n'roll hall of fame thanks to her debut album, Horses. "Horses was three chord rock merged with the power of the word," she says. "But I never really wanted to be a rock musician. I really considered that our group's worth would be opening doors and reminding people of the rawer roots of rock'n'roll. I felt like I was a person who was sticking their finger in the dike until somebody else came along". Nobody ever did. Produced by John Cale, Horses' many highlights include the wicked reworkings of Gloria and Land Of A Thousand Dances with more traditional art rock fare in the shape of Redondo Beach and Free Money.
Sadly the follow up, Radio Ethiopia, was a bit of a stiff; but on Easter she reached a much wider audience, thanks in no small part to a song she co wrote with Bruce Springsteen, Because The Night. Then she gave it all up, married MC5 guitarist Sonic Smith and retired to suburbia. She's back with more than a bit of a bang on Gone Again, a thumpingly effective paean to life, love, death and all of that sort of stuff. Written against a backdrop of the early death of her husband and her close friend and some time collaborator, the artist Robert Mapplethorpe, Gone Again is, in the best sense of the term, a form of musical paint stripper.
"Moving to suburbia with my husband and children was kind of like a Little House On The Prairie existence," says Patti. "We went through the same kind of things other people did, including financial difficulties, and it got me thinking that an artist may have burdens the ordinary citizen doesn't know - but the ordinary citizen has burdens that many artists never even touch upon."
"Coming out of suburbia," she says, "and coming out of the death of my husband, my best friend and my brother on this new album is a tremendously important experience for me and I really thought that after all these years I would have mellowed down in the live shows. Back in the CBGB days, I used to jump all over the tables and kick drinks into the laps of record company executives. I really thought I'd be more dignified this time out and a little more quiet. I thought that I had grown up a little, not totally, because artists never grow up. But I am surprised to find out that I can still be trouble".
HURRAH: Robert Forster (from the Go-Betweens) is back amongst us with a new single, Crying Love and a new album, Warm Nights. Asked recently why The Go Betweens were never as big as REM (they are in fact better) someone I know replied: "the melodies were too precious, the chord changes too lethally sad and the lyrics too penetrating" ... Got my filthy, thieving hands on an advance tape copy of The Frank and Walter's new album and if the next single, the remarkably catchy Colours doesn't do the business for tem, there is something seriously wrong in the state of indie popdom ... Gigs! Red Snapper celebrate Club Loaded's (no, it's nothing to do with the magazine - for the millionth time) first birthday party at the Olympia this very night (late) while The Brilliant Trees will be bringing a brass and a string section on to the stage with them in the Mean Fiddler tomorrow night at around or about 9 p.m. Next week: Foster and Allen go Jungle.
