mail: daniel_fjall@hotmail.com
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horses
Horses My God, this is pretentious! In fact, so pretentious that I at first doubted that I ever would be able to appreciate the work of Patti Smith. Whilst the music obviously is simple and the playing is raw, Smith’s supposed-to-shock beatnik poetry shouted into the microphone creates a sense of any sort of self-distance is missing and that she, and the band, are taking things way too seriously. The lyrics contrasted against the raw music doesn’t seem any less artistically overblown or pretentious (there’s that word again!) than the ego of any art critic or too complacent classical musician. It becomes obvious that there are equally much pretentiousness in celebrating the simple and small-scale as in the grand and bombastic. Think about it for a second. The Velvet Underground would probably also fit that statement. I can’t really explain, but after months and months with Patti’s albums, she finally breaks through. She gets to me. Not so much the poet in her, but the vocalist and the front man. The energy in the re-worked version of the Them-classic “Gloria” is suddenly irresistible. Not that it is the same song in the hands of Patti Smith as it was in the big Irishman’s original version. Basically only the chorus remains true to the original. Another cover is offered as a bonus track on the CD-version, a live version of The Who’s youth-anthem “My Generation”. A successful reading that wins because of its sheer raw, wild and sweaty punk-attitude. Things are arguably even better when the tempo is slowed down. The ballad “Elegies” and the first part of “Free Money” (which eventually turns into a rocker) sounds emotional. I probably haven’t spent half the time I should have trying to sort out the lyrics to fully understand them, but as I said, they sometimes are over the top and I prefer to just soak in the atmosphere of the songs. My favorite here probably is “Break It Up”. It starts slow and nice, but then is transformed into a much louder thing. The chorus is a perfect screaming, noise extravaganza. Then back to the silent verses. Excellent. No matter how much I do enjoy the stuff here, I still haven’t surrendered completely. The title track is one of those moments when it’s simply too much for me to take. Maybe not for you, though. I must point out the vocals. For some reason, Smith’s voice has been rumored to be an acquired taste. She’s no Celiné Dion, sure, but she sings with conviction. She never misses a note and her voice is a lot stronger and more powerful than given credit for. I don’t want to get into any feminism-debate here, but I guess it is less easy to accept a woman to be loud, unpolished and taking up space. Just a theory. Anyhow, the album was produced by John Cale, so maybe it’s not a coincidence that I mentioned the VU earlier. Despite its (obvious) difficulties, Horses is a good album, certainly original and I would’ve called it groundbreaking, had I only known anyone who followed the new path. Original will do for now.
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