The Giant Panther

One of my all time favorite artists is Patti Smith. A woman with balls. I never got to see her at CBGB's (too young), but I did catch her at Avalon in Boston a few years back. It was everything I had hoped it would be. I was shopping at the famous Chester, NJ flea market (who knows if the thing still goes on...I haven't been to Chester in decades...but that won't stop me from giving a shout out to Larrison's Turkey Farm!) back in the summer '78 or '79 (my last summer in New Jersey, he said with a touch of nostaglia) when I came across a used copy of Patti Smith's Easter. I can't recall if my long haired hippy dippy salesman turned me onto her like he did Ian Hunter and Blue Oyster Cult, but this guy used to suggest something to me every time I went there. For the most part, if the art work was good, I would pay the $1.99 or whatever he wanted for a used album in those days. Patti set off a little bit of a controversy by intentionally exposing her unshaven armpit on the cover of the record, but I was more concerned with her version of Because The Night. I don't know the details of the Bruce Springsteen collaboration, but her version kicked butt. I'm sure he's glad he let her record it. She probably made more money for him with her recording than he could if the situation were reversed and he had released it. Wikipedia tells us that the UK's New Music Express (NME) ranked it number 116 of the Top 150 singles of all time. Heady stuff from an icon of the music business...

Patti Smith, the iconic poet cum rock star, already had a nice following by the time Easter, her third record, was released in March of 1978. Her version of Van Morrison's Gloria on her first record, Horses, was a pretty big hit locally (NYC) if not nationally just yet. Radio Ethiopia, her second LP, was and is a better record than folks give it credit for. It was poorly reviewed at the time, but I contend people just didn't know what to make of her. When Because The Night broke her nationally for good it was with good reason. That is a whopper of a single with a killer hook and she belts it out for all it's worth. It still sounds great to this day as far as I'm concerned. The reason I wanted to blog about Patti today, aside from the obvious synergy with today's holiday, is because she is great and Easter is a helluva record. I couldn't wait to get it home and play it way back when.

I put on side one on the turntable and Till Victory, Space Monkey, Because The Night, Ghost Dance and Rock N Roll Nigger came bounding out of my speakers like nothing else I had ever heard. She swore, she wailed, she growled and she sang her balls off as the saying goes. What a great album side! I used to sing along with it at full volume. Side two was no slouch; Privilege (Set Me Free), We Three and the totally underrated 25th Floor. I'm going to have a hard time deciding which song to leave you with. Hint; it's almost NEVER the most obvious one. I want to either remind you or turn you onto the legendary Patti Smith. She took fifteen years out of the spotlight to raise a family with Fred "Sonic" Smith of MC5 fame, but came back strong with Dream of Life in 1988. I bought every single CD all the way down the line. A nice starter three pack would be Horses, Easter and Wave, but you can't go wrong in my opinion. I'm a huge fan if you couldn't tell. OK, I've decided to leave you with the Privilege (Set Me Free). Two other great choices; Babelogue into Rock N Roll Nigger and 25th Floor into High On Rebellion combinations didn't transfer very well into the digital world. The MP3 format might as well be an eight track as it applies to handling songs that seriously blend. You can't go wrong, but as I was proof listening to 25th Floor it got cut off so badly that I couldn't stand behind it in good conscience. I have iPod nation to deal with! Enjoy...