Patti Smith “Horses”

sfilzen — Tue, 13 Dec 2016 19:58:33 +0000

Patti Smith “Horses” released on this date, December 13th, 1975. Raw, brutal, smart and subversive art energy, Horses is often hailed as the first major label punk release. Though it received little airplay and had no single releases, the album cracked the Billboard album charts (peaking at #47) and consistently rates as one of the best records of the 1970′s, inspiring a generation of “alternative” artists, including Morrissey, Siouxsie Sioux and Michael Stipe. Even the oft-stuffy Library of Congress took note, preserving it into the National Recording Registry in 2009 for its “cultural, historical [and] aesthetic significance.”

My favorite song on Horses is the loose cover of Van Morrison’s “Gloria.” Smith retains the original’s music and chorus, but completely revamps the lyrics. Allmusic reviewer Stewart Mason writes about the track, “Bearing probably the most famous opening line of the entire American punk scene – ‘Jesus died for somebody’s sins, but not mine’ being every bit as corrosive a start as ‘I am an Antichrist/I am an anarchist’ – Patti Smith’s complete re-imagining of the ‘60s garage classic ‘Gloria’ both sums up her entire persona and sets a standard that was so hard for the next generation of punks to live up to that most of them didn’t even try. More poetic than Jim Morrison, and far less prone to idiotic drunken rambling as well, Smith was the first mainstream rock and roll poet to deserve both sides of the appellation: the song’s first section, Smith’s own ‘In Excelsis Deo,’ features some haunting imagery, but it’s also so rhythmically interesting that the shifts into and out of Van Morrison’s cocksure strut ‘Gloria’ are utterly seamless. Further, Smith performs the oldie with more intensity, humor and openly sexual hunger than anyone since Morrison himself back in the days of Them, helped immensely by her stellar band, almost certainly the best group of musicians (Television was their only real competition) to unite under the rubric of punk.”

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The Doors “Morrison Hotel”

sfilzen — Thu, 08 Dec 2016 19:59:53 +0000

The Doors “Morrison Hotel” 1970. Today, December 8th, is Jim Morrison’s birthday (b. 1943, d. 1971…December is, apparently, the birthday month of rock poets: Patti Smith, Tom Waits, Morrison, etc.). Iconic frontman, considered one of the greatest rock singers of all time, Morrison gave the world its rock star stereotype: enigmatic, sexy beyond measure, scandalous (I had a copy of his Dade County “WANTED” poster on my wall for a time), leather pants. Even the animal kingdom is not immune to his influence: In June 2013 a new fossil analysis revealed a lizard, one of the largest ever known that lived on Myanmar, was named Barbaturex morrisoni in honor of Morrison. “This is a king lizard, and he was the Lizard King, so it just fit,” said paleontologist Jason Head.

Morrison Hotel hit #4 on the US charts and #12 in the UK, with only one single released from the album, “You Make Me Real,” a rollickin’ riff on traditional blues. The LP has some of my favorite Doors’ songs: “Waiting for the Sun,” “Roadhouse Blues” and, the best of the best, the ass-shaking “Peace Frog” which will forever remind me of shooting pool at the student union in Madison with my friend Sue. I think we spent hundreds of hours and dollars there on balls, cues and the jukebox. Morrison Hotel also has, sadly, my least favorite Doors’ track. I loathe “Land Ho!” with an absolute vengeance.

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rock poet Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Patti Smith “Horses”

The Doors “Morrison Hotel”