Patti Smith

Gone Again (Arista)
by Ryk McIntyre

So Patti Smith must have been playing “Opposites Day” when she titled this album Gone Again, ’cause she is back. Praise goddess, Patti Smith has come back to us. And what a return it is. From the begs-to-be-louder title cut’s first chord it’s clear the chant is begun, and the circle cast. And, it seems, the magic to be done is that of survival, of honoring those gone, by bringing them back in song. Certainly this album weaves its way up from the immeasurable losses Patti has endured over a few short years; the deaths of artist/friend Robert Mapplethorpe, collaborator Richard Sohl, and mostly, the loss of her husband, Fred “Sonic” Smith. Long ago Patti was referred as a sort of punk-poet-priestess, here she shows us why. Many cuts on the album build from a chant-like start, such as the beautiful “Beneath The Southern Cross” (which features guitarist Tom Verlaine, who played in the too-important band Television), or the ode to another recently dead musician “About A Boy.” The old often are surprised to eulogize the young who precede them into death, and Patti gives the kind of testifying tribute I expect Cobain would’ve given her in return, under opposite circumstances. And if you can listen to “My Madrigal,” and think about Patti and Fred, and then not cry… well, too bad for you. Of sorrow, this sip is almost too bitter sweet. I could mention “Summer Cannibals,” “Dead To The World,” “Ravens,” or any other cut, but I’d have to discuss them all in depth. I will mention the cover of Bob Dylan’s “Wicked Messenger” because, hey – his song, her version of it? Sometimes two great tastes do go great together. In short, there isn’t enough time or space to go into every reason to seek out Patti Smith’s new release, it would be much easier to tell you all the reasons