Friday 29 November 2019

Dancing Barefoot: The Patti Smith Story by Dave Thompson

I am usually a bit wary of musician’s lives told from articles and interviews, but the media has always had a fascination with Patti Smith so everything she has done has been well documented.

I knew a lot of this information from previous books, but this went into much more detail about the musicians and who played on what albums. This puts much more context around the music itself and you can see the different musical influences effecting the album. You will have your own favourite songs, but of course music was only part of the Patti Smith experience.

She moved to New York City and successfully created four albums that are imprinted into music history. Sometimes a group of people end up making music that is completely unique and can’t or shouldn’t be repeated. In some ways it was good that she stopped creating albums for some time, as these four stand out as a unique set of albums

Her story is a sobering tale of fame, someone finding their one love, death and rebirth.

Her later works are listed and are interesting but not as ground breaking as the original four. Banga her latest album is a return to form and is soaked in imagery. An album of beauty and storytelling at its best.

It is hard to write about someone who has done so much and has been at the forefront of so many things. You like what she does, but I would struggle to qualify what exactly it is that attracts me to her work.
Patti Smith always had a specific idea of what it was to be a Rock and Roll star and she achieved it.

At the end of this book there is a list of book and music releases which is quite helpful if you are looking for other Patti Smith creations. She has a new book out called Year of the Monkey, but also check out other books the library has, M train, Just Kids, Devotion and the superbly named Woolgathering

Currently she is on the cover of Uncut Oct 2019 and will be playing in Wellington and Christchurch in April 2020

Reviewed by Rob Middleton

Catalogue link:  Dancing Barefoot

No comments:

Post a Comment