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I was surprised to find that Patti Smith, an alternative artist if ever there was one, would do something as conventional as release an album of covers. But she did, in 2007, with good results. For the most part, Patti stays with the same vocal arrangements as the originals. Her voice, three decades after her peak of popularity, is in very good shape, one reason why I find the lyrics easier to understand than in some of the originals. However, the instrumental arrangements are in many cases quite different from the originals. Some of them, helped by modern technology, give the songs a bigger, thicker quality, as if they have been "magnified". There is excellent guitar work of varying styles throughout the album. Most of the songs are iconic classics - I own 9 of the 12 originals - so I am not saying this album is better than the originals, just a different take.
The first track is "Are You Experienced?" (original by Jimi Hendrix). It is slower and more bluesy than the original, and the slowness amplifies it, makes it heavier. When Patti answers her own question "Have you ever been experienced?" by singing "Well, I HAVE", the drums kick in, and it is electric. "Gimme Shelter" (Stones) and "Soul Kitchen" (Doors) are likewise magnified by being louder and heavier. Jefferson Airplane/Grace Slick's "White Rabbit" is given a stronger psychedelic aura through elaborate guitar and techno effects. "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" (Tears For Fears) is not really that much heavier than the original, but is it slightly slower, making it sound closer to blues than pop.
The Beatles/George Harrison's "Within You Without You" is more accessible because the Indian instruments are replaced by guitars. But it flows just as it should, just as the original does, just as life does, in Harrison's own words: "...and the time will come when you see we're all one, and life flows on within you and without you". The Allman Brothers track "Midnight Rider", Neil Young's "Helpless" and Bob Dylan's "Changing Of The Guards" are, as far as I can recall, pretty close to the originals. Patti's vocal is especially good on "Changing Of The Guards". For Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", there's good news and bad news. The good is that Patti's vocal makes the song more personal than the anthem it became for Nirvana. The bad is that it is backed by a banjo and fiddle (?!?), and that certainly would not have been my choice.
I was not familiar with two of the tracks. "The Boy In The Bubble" is from Paul Simon's 1986 album "Graceland". It is straightforward old-style rock with a very noticeable, active bassline. And although I don't believe I ever heard Stevie Wonder's "Pastime Paradise", I do recognize parts of it from being sampled by Coolio in "Gangsta's Paradise" in the mid-90's. It is a somber song about our materialistic and pleasure-seeking society, with a hypnotic repeated piano line.
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Cover-versions and by a personal selection by artist
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 7, 2021
