No Room for Nostalgia

Through the filter of thirty-two years, it’s hard to see Patti Smith’s debut, Horses, from the perspective of 1975. It was punk in the most refined manner—edgy, raw, beautiful, powerful, shocking, fragile, and ultimately poetic. If the Sex Pistols were punk’s hammer, smashing music’s confines, Smith was its stiletto, eloquently slicing them open and leaving them to bleed.

An older, wiser, but no less passionate and relevant Patti Smith comes to the State Theatre on August 6. Once dubbed “punk rock’s poet laureate,” Smith has released five albums in the past ten years and is coming to town on the heels of her latest release, twelve. All of these albums have been refined, hyperliterate efforts with an air of danger most artists lose long before sixty (Smith’s age). A collection of covers, twelve is one of this year’s most poignant albums. Whether she’s taking on Jimi Hendrix (a haunting version of “Are You Experienced?”) or Nirvana (a bluegrass take on “Smells Like Teen Spirit”), Smith is surpassed perhaps only by Johnny Cash in her ability to transform other’s songs into her own creations.

There is a precarious edge to twelve, one that explores the duality of this world. The Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” is an unwon battle between love and war. Her standout take on Paul Simon’s “The Boy in the Bubble” seems like today’s headline news—juxtaposing bombs in baby carriages with the miracles of technology, a chance to destroy the world with a chance to restore it.

Above all, twelve is human. That is perhaps why Smith is still a vital artist, not a nostalgia act. In the seventies, she was too real to be a rock star. Today, her honesty and sensitivities to the plight of the world have kept her relevant long after all the other 1970s rock stars have moved to Vegas. August 6. 805 Hennepin Ave., Mpls., 612-673-0404

Bill Snyder writes about music for Mpls.St.Paul Magazine.