Album Review: Patti Smith – ‘Twelve’

By Jeff Swindoll Apr 15, 2007, 15:18 GMT

Beginning with her first single, "Hey Joe," in 1974 and her extrapolations of Van Morrison\'s "Gloria" and Chris Kenner\'s "Land of 1,000 Dances" on her seminal Horses album in 1975 through her live performances of songs ranging from "You Light Up My Life" to "My Generation" to her new album, Twelve, Patti Smith continues to reshape popular music\'s classic source materials and make them her own. ...more

Patti Smith was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March of 2007.  She’s not really known for her successes on the charts but has been more of a figure of inspiration and an influence on other artists.

Perhaps her induction has put her in a retrospective mood, but she now creates an album of some of the songs that inspired her.  The twelve track album, hence the title, are cover songs done by Smith. 

‘Twelve’ is Patti Smith's first album of new studio recordings since ‘Trampin'’ (her Columbia Records debut) was released in 2004, and is the artist's first-ever full-length collection of songs originally created by other performers.

Her inspirations include Jimi Hendrix (“Are you Experienced?”), Tears for Fears (“Everybody wants to rule the World”), Neil Young (“Helpless”), the Rolling Stones (“Gimme Shelter”), the Beatles (“Within You Without You”), Jefferson Airplane (“White Rabbit”), Bob Dylan (“Changing of the Guard”), Paul Simon (“Boy in the Bubble”), The Doors (“Soul Kitchen”), Nirvana (“Smells like Teen Spirit”), the Allman Brothers (“Midnight Rider”), and Stevie Wonder (“Pastime Paradise”). 

An assortment of guest artists appear with Patti on ‘Twelve’ including Italian cellist Giovanni Sollima; playwright Sam Shepard (with whom Patti collaborated on "Cowboy Mouth" in 1971) on banjo; early 60s Greenwich Village folk artists John Cohen (banjo) and Peter Stampfel (fiddle); Red Hot Chili Peppers' bassist Flea; Television guitarist Tom Verlaine; the Black Crowes' Rich Robinson on slide guitar and dulcimer; hip-hop producer Luis Resto (Eminem) on keyboards. Patti's son, Jackson, and daughter, Jesse, are on-hand to contribute guitar and vocal respectively.

Smith really doesn’t try to emulate the style of the particular artist but instead makes the song her own.  For example, “Smells like Teen Spirit” feels absolutely folksy with banjos (or guitars).  She’s known as a punk rocker or rocker but this album seems like an acoustic one, don’t expect too many wailing rock guitars. 

You may also be surprised at hearing some of those songs the way that she performs them (like the folksy Nirvana).  However, I found the album pleasing to my untrained ear.  I think her fans will find this a pleasant listen until her next album of her original tunes comes out.

‘Twelve’ is now available at Amazon. Visit the music database for more information and a complete track listing.