“Twelve”
Patti Smith
Columbia Records
(Out Of 5)
Over three decades after first performing at what became New York’s punk mecca, Patti Smith has outlasted most of her CBGB contemporaries. Yet time hasn’t dulled her passion.
“Twelve,” her latest album, showcases Smith’s unparalleled ability to fuse poetry with rock ‘n’ roll. There are no frenzied renditions like her version of the Who’s “My Generation” in the ’70s. Instead, the songs Smith covers are stripped bare, authentic and personal. They come from diverse sources but are unified by Smith’s honesty and openness.
The album opens with the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s “Are You Experienced?” with Smith’s meandering voice impressively replacing Hendrix’s psychedelic guitar and capturing the song’s spacey atmosphere.
However, Smith’s directness lends conviction to the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter.” Powered by steady rock riffs on guitar and piano, the fiery anthem is easily the album’s most rousing and compelling track.
Smith’s lyrical gifts also surface as she infuses impressionistic poetry into both Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” and Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
On the former, though lacking the smoothness of Grace Slick, Smith’s raw vocals waver and trill above the military drums as the song’s crescendo builds and then trails off into spoken poetry, emphasizing the darker side of this drug-induced Wonderland.
Of all the tracks on the album, a gritty and acoustic “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is most distinct from its original version. The rambling of a banjo contrasts with the intensity of Smith’s vocals, with the song becoming more personal and captivating without the heavy guitar riffs of grunge angst.
As with her cover of Van Morrison’s “Gloria” on her debut album, Smith revels in the powerful and confident sexuality of a woman singing innuendo-filled lyrics written from a male perspective on “Soul Kitchen,” originally by the Doors. On this track, Smith’s voice slides and moans with the same mesmerizing charisma as Jim Morrison himself.
The album ends with Smith’s voice weaving through strains of piano on “Pastime Paradise,” with its political message just as resonant with Smith ““ ironically, as she covers songs from the past ““ echoing Stevie Wonder’s plea for society to “Start living for the future.”
““ Kim Sanders
E-mail Sanders at ksanders@media.ucla.edu.