CD Review: Patti Smith - Banga

Written by Petra Whiteley Monday, 02 July 2012 07:40

Artist: Patti Smith
Title: Banga
Genre: Punk Rock/ Art Rock
Release Date: 1st June 2012
Label: Sony Music

Album Review

PATTI SMITH has been given a nickname as “Godmother of Punk”, her music is widely recognised and for many influential. She’s not only confined to music, also an author of poetry and a book of memoir (Just Kids) a visual artist and she’s even appeared in TV series ‘Law & Order: Criminal Intent’ and in Jean-Luc Godard’s video polemic ‘Film Socialisme’. Her new album, ‘Banga’, which stands as the eleventh studio LP in her catalogue, has been released in the beginning of this month. It is said to have been inspired by her unique dreams and observations as well as reflections of our modern world. There are also tribute-songs such as ‘This Is the Girl’ for the late AMY WINEHOUSE and ‘Maria’ for the late actress Maria Schneider.

The opening ‘Amerigo’ gives you a whiff that this album is more important with what Smith has to say (it’s more like a book in a music form) than remarkable regarding the music itself, which is straightforward, mostly guitar driven, in the case of this song even slightly naive as it sits on the border of folk-ish pop. Or maybe it’s just the feeling of an open-eyed (innocent) wonder. One of the album’s themes also rolls out, that of adventure, but in lieu of SMITH’s active interest in political and social issues, it carries some underlying commentary also. ‘Fuji-san’ followed the 2011 earthquake in Tohoku region of Japan. I am always left slightly uneasy by the need of the artists to write anything about these disastrous events unless they had been there themselves and experienced it with their own skin. That immediately raises an argument that you don’t have to feel empathy only if you experience something too and that it happens due to the need to process it within a consciousness, raise awareness or help funding for the aid or pay homage to the victims, and of course can be and in many cases it is so – but is it genuine here then is the burning questions, posed by what can be called my cynical self. PATTI SMITH’s background is of course already a give-away that her concern is genuine and the song itself seems to reach beyond the tragedy as a more philosophical problem – ‘who is there to hear the pleas? Can the indifferent [Gods, nature, nature-gods etc] listen and be besieged?’ So that negates that initial uneasiness.

‘This Is the Girl’ is quite a beautiful song, and can be said even touching with the way SMITH envelopes or embraces the late singer with what feels as a motherly, tender feeling. ‘Banga’ comes as one of the more musically interesting songs and even reminds of the more passionate songs of SMITH’s career. The album is indeed titled like this and it references the dog in one of SMITH’s favourite books “The Master and Margarita” written by Mikhail Bulgakov. In ‘Maria’ it’s more a friend’s tribute, the personal connection articulated richly with the poetic descriptiveness that SMITH has mastered better than many. ‘Tarkovsky (The Second Stop is Jupiter) has a great atmosphere, the narrative is wonderfully surreal which adds to an interest to anyone who was already enticed by the mention of the legendary filmmaker.  SMITH has taken inspiration from ‘Ivan’s Childhood’, Tarkovsky’s film about war. It’s also enough to recommend it to those who hadn’t seen it (or any of Tarkovsky’s visionary films). Together with ‘Seneca’ the lyrics feel the dreamiest and rich; this song is quite a pretty ballad with a smoothing effect upon the listening. Having said that, ‘Constantine’s Dream’ is within that vein too, but this song is more abrasive and more disturbing like a slight nightmare.

PATTI SMITH is still going strong with this album, what she ponders on, writes about and how she writes, are still relevant and stimulating, from these reasons especially, it’s a recommend indeed.


Tracklist

01. Amerigo
02. April Fool
03. Fuji-san
04. This Is the Girl
05. Banga
06. Maria
07. Mosaic
08. Tarkovsky (The Second Stop is Jupiter)
09. Nine
10. Seneca
11. Constantine’s Dream
12. After the Gold Rush


Line-up

Patti Smith – vocals
Lenny Kaye – guitars, backing vocals
Tony Shanahan – bass, keyboards, backing vocals
Jay Dee Daughterty – drums, percussions, mandocello, backing vocals


Websites

http://www.pattismith.net/


Cover Picture




Rating

Music: 9
Sound: 8
Total: 8.5 / 10