Patti Smith revisited
A long, long time ago (c.1980) in a place far away (Liverpool), I bought a 12″ version of Patti Smith singing Privilege (Set Me Free) with 25th Floor and the poem Babel Field on the b-side (the Set Free EP according to the discography).
God I loved that record. In true teenage form I used to shut myself in my bedroom with it belting out the speakers. Even now, when I hear Privilege or 25th Floor memories of early teen angst come rushing back.
Yes, everyone loved Easter; and if you were trying to be cool, you said you preferred Horses; but my favourite album, for some reason, was, Wave (not very cool I know: thanks to Todd Rundgren’s production, it’s rather soft rock in bits).
Anyway, as I’m sure you’ll know, she’s got a new album coming out at the end of April: Trampin’. At the weekend, Observer Music Magazine named it the CD of the month; and it seems that over the coming weeks a lot of people of a certain age will be gushing about her genius.
It’ll be the first record I’ve bought of hers for years (other than replacing vinyl with CD), but I sort of know that even though it will be a great album, it simply can’t play as big a part in my life as that 12″ single all those years ago. One of the great tragedies of growing old, methinks.