One of the original riot girls who fought and fucked her way through a male dominated era, purveyor of punk Patti Smith rewinds with a newly released collection of covers entitled Twelve that is a master class in musicianship. Smith reunites with fellow megalomaniacs Tom Verlaine, ex-lover and poet rival, and legend Lenny Kaye, former lead guitarist of The Patti Smith Group, to reconstruct the necessity and power of organic message music clearly lacking in contemporary manufactured tunes.

Twelve takes a cup of the idealistic 60’s mantra of achieving peace through peaceful protest represented on Gimme Shelter originally recorded by The Rolling Stones, and a sprinkle of Nirvana’s self-deprecating teen hit Smells Like Teen Spirit, and creates a dish of an album that serves as an important reference for all lyric lovers.

This is NOT a dance album kids! Smith has methodically managed to evaluate our lives for us simplistically in twelve songs. Deliverance by way of Lenny Kaye’s banjo, and Smith’s back-woods raspy vocals makes you pine for the days when music was an intrinsic piece of life’s puzzle necessary to fill all your voids…not just a data file.

Paisley Dalton

ALMBUM OUT NOW!