Patti Smith: Twelve

Patti Smith
Twelve
Columbia

If there’s anybody we ought to trust with the dangerous notion of a covers record, it’s Patti Smith. Thirty years ago, her manic, passionate reworking of Van Morrison’s “Gloria” became her own trademark anthem and an archetype for the cover song done right.

Now, fresh off her induction into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame and the unfortunate Sammy Hagar shoulder-rubbing entailed, Smith is diving back into other people’s material with Twelve, her eleventh studio album and first all-covers effort.

Those hoping for a grab bag of obscure, hipster-chic selections from the Godmother of Punk will be sorely disappointed here. Instead, just about every song on Twelve is a big hit from the classic rock pantheon—the Stones’ “Gimme Shelter,” Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit,” Gregg Allman’s “Midnight Rider”— the kind of tunes anybody would recognize. In many ways, this is a great thing, as the total emphasis of the album falls on Smith and her unique take on tunes that are a part of our public consciousness. When it works, it works dramatically. Smith’s voice sounds as soulfully raw as ’77, turning “White Rabbit” and the Beatles’ “Within You Without You” into two halves of a spine-tingling funeral march. Better still is a sparse but incredibly powerful, six and half minute rendition of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” in which Cobain’s once unintelligible lyrics are beautifully restored like uncovered artifacts.

The record’s only disappointing moments come when Smith either doesn’t stray enough from the original (Neil Young’s “Helpless”) or phones things in a bit (Tears For Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”)—minor missteps on an otherwise fine homage-athon.

(Andrew Clayman)


Published in The Metro Pulse, April 2007