|
"Gung Ho"
Patti Smith's fourth album since her
1988 comeback vehicle Dream of Life finds the plugged-in poetess
looking outward after the extended period of introspection that
followed the death of her husband, Fred "Sonic" Smith.
The scathing eight-minute-plus "Strange Messengers"
illustrates Patti Smith renewed interest in the world around
her, as the streetwise New Yorker turned Midwestern suburbanite
rails at crackheads. Working with producer Gil Norton and fronting
a quartet built around longtime lieutenants Lenny Kaye and Jay
Dee Daugherty, Smith's music harkens back to the commercial apex
of New Wave; indeed, "Gone Pie" sounds like the singer
sitting in with Blondie.--Steven Stolder |
Customer review from Amazon
Reviewer: A music fan from Knoxville, TN
I love Patti.Her four pre-marriage and retirement albums are
mainstays of my listening. I liked parts of all of the "return"
albums, but each liked the anthemic qualities of the songs on
the early ones. No problem with that on Gung Ho, however. The
guitar work is equal to those 70s albums and Patti's singing
has never been better, expressive and powerful. Some of the songs
are weak, and the two lengthy rants can get on your nerves. This
time, however, the music carries the songs that drag and the
first seven cuts don't have a weak moment. Rolling Stone thought
it was one of the best albums of 2000, and, along with Shelby
Lynne, the Mekons, and Yo La Tengo's new releases it seems that
Gung Ho predicts a good music year in 2000. |
|
|
