Easter [Original recording remastered]

Patti Smith | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 18, 1996)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Arista
• ASIN: B000002VQP
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,287 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #15 in Music > Alternative Rock > Hardcore & Punk > American Punk
  • #22 in Music > Alternative Rock > Hardcore & Punk > Proto Punk
  • #34 in Music > Alternative Rock > Hardcore & Punk > Punk

Editorial Reviews

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Rock and Roll Masterpiece, March 22, 2000

By 

baby moon pie (Lancaster, Pa United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Easter (Audio CD)

In early 1978, when this album was released, I ran a small record shop in Lancaster, Pa. I had been intrigued by "HORSES" and even more intrigued by its successor "RADIO ETHIOPIA", which contained some of the most provocative rock to come from the early American punk scene. I was not ready for the power and the glory of "EASTER", however, and its scope and depth took me completely by surprise. I listened to nothing else (well, okay, except for "DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN")at the store and at home, sometimes sitting in front of the stereo in a trance, totally overwhelmed by this record. From the opening cut "Til Victory" to the closing prayer "Easter" (I don't have the remastered version...hence I don't recognize "Godspeed" as the true final track), this record is mezmerizing, mystifying, and completely in tune with what The Patti Smith Group was aiming for...a declaration of musical independence. Though the entire album is electrifying, there are a few cuts that are just plain incredible, including "25th Floor/High On Rebellion", "Privilege" (Set Me Free), and of course, the single "Because The Night" and the title track. Expertly produced by Jimmy Iovine, this album will take you back to a time when rock this unadulterated was being performed by a group of New York bands that shaped music for years to come..Talking Heads, Television, The New York Dolls, and of course, The Patti Smith Group, to name a few. Buy this, take it home, wait until late at night, and then go for the ride it takes you on...I guarantee it will leave you breathless. Needless to say, this is one of my favorite records of my lifetime, and it provided the soundtrack for the greatest years I've known, when I swaggered just as righteously as this band and this album. It filled a place in my rock and roll heart that, to this day, it still occupies just as wholly. This is serious and thought-provoking music that, for this listener, has transcended time and space. I loved it then and I love it more now...it is indeed a classic and belongs in every serious rock and roll record collection.

37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An album to discover and rediscover, April 14, 2002

By 

Lauren (Buffalo, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Easter (Audio CD)

Many years after her seminal late-seventies work, Patti Smith's debut, Horses, gets the lion's share of the accolades within her body of work. I'll probably get a lot of disagreement and maybe even a flame or two from that disc's staunch supporters, but in my opinion Easter is the pinnacle of her recording career. Horses is probably the more groundbreaking work, but to these ears it's a difficult listen and probably more trendy than it is good. Though given a more mainstream production, Easter is not one iota less tough or uncompromising.

Easter is stylistically a late-seventies hard rock album, but still it's all Patti, complete with her poetry and earthy sensuality. Her poetry is more mature sounding: There's only one ill-advised, childish diatribe here on "25th Floor", and the song appropriately enough soars so high you don't mind. Her vocals are less hysterical and more focused than ever before or since. She sings like a woman utterly possessed, and it's this element that gives Easter its power.

The Patti Smith Group shifts effortlessly from thundering anthems ("Till Victory", "Privilege") to stately ballads ("Easter") to quirky art-rock ("Space Monkey"). Patti's definitive reading of Bruce Springsteen's "Because the Night" -- which cuts both Natalie Merchant's soulless version and surprisingly the author's more gritty rendition -- is here too. Happily, it is neither the best thing about Easter, its weakest link, nor its centerpiece as it simply fits comfortably within the CD's mosaic.

Granted, if you're the type who exists on an audio diet of the Velvets, Talking Heads, and Tom Waits and who thinks that REM sold out after Chronic Town, do the rest of us a favor and pass on this. However if you enjoy female rockers like Chrissie Hynde, Debbie Harry, Kate Bush, and Tori Amos -- or just love moody hard rock -- buy this. You're in for a real experience.

And surely goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of your life and you shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever...god damn.

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Cornerstone For Your Collection, December 13, 2001

By 

Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Easter (Audio CD)

Patti Smith isn't the kind of girl you'd want to bring to meet your church-going mother: she's outraged, angry, and profane, and meeting her music for the first time can have the impact of slamming into a brick wall. But if you listen closely you'll find she also has an artistic and intellectual depth that far outstrips virtually any other rock-and-roller working today.

EASTER, Patti Smith's most commercially successful album, may not be in quite the same league with HORSES but it is so close it hardly matters, and some may even prefer the tighter structure of EASTER over the more free-form HORSES. Either way, either album, Patti Smith [belts out] some serious rock-n-roll (...): her ability to channel a passionate ferocity into a raw, innovative, and uncompromising art is simply amazing.

Every track on EASTER explodes with Smith's unique creativity, but some jump out a bit more than others. The first three songs of the collection--Til Victory, Space Monkey, and Because The Night--mix some serious guitar, driving beats, and disconcerting vocals to tremendous effect, and 25th Floor/High on Rebellion is Patti Smith at her hard-rocking poetic best, spinning passionately voiced recitals against an increasingly dissonant musical background. If you're new to Patti Smith's music, EASTER is probably the best introduction; if you're already a fan, EASTER should be cornerstone of your collection.