Patti Smith - Trampin'
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CD Details
Artist: Patti SmithBrand: Columbia
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2004-04-27
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
- Jubilee
- Mother Rose
- Stride Of The Mind
- Cartwheels
- Gandhi
- Trespasses
- My Blakean Year
- Cash
- Peaceable Kingdom
- Radio Baghdad
- Trampin'
Music reviews of Trampin'
Music Review: Best Recording Of 2004!
Rating: 5 Stars
I have been consistently listening to Patti Smith's "Trampin " since it first came out this spring. I've waited to write anything about it until now because I needed time to "digest" the work. I instantly found it to be one of her finest outputs, but I needed to live with it for a while before commenting on it.
The scope of human emotions Smith visits on "Trampin" at one moment seems vast and yet at another moment seems sublime. The album opens with the spectacular and biting "Jubilee" as she calls forth for the land to celebrate while at the same time realizing that celebration is difficult and out of reach due to threats and troubles.
She works out more of these pleas for help in "Gandhi", a breathtaking piece which calls upon Martin Luther King and Gandhi to awake from their slumbers. It's as if Smith is demanding that a voice with the power of King and Gandhi arise once again and take on the troubles of the earth and create a movement within the populace to combat complacency.
On a more intimate level Smith delivers the beautifully sad "Mother Rose" and "Trespasses". For me these songs, while wistfully poignant, are ultimately songs about the renewal of spirit and strength. They are about the passage of strength from one generation to the next. As one life fades, another life force will pick up and carry on. "Trespasses" in particular seems very autobiographical when one views it in terms of the death of her husband and the coming of age of her children.
And then there's the ethereal sounding "Cartwheels" which almost defies description. It's simply mesmerizing in its creation of a hypnotic, surreal atmosphere that closes with visions of girls endlessly turning cartwheels.
"In My Blakean Year" is a bold song with the great line "one road was paved with gold, one road was just a road." How true. Out of all the excellent tracks on "Trampin", this track may well be considered the finest due to its great lyricism and scope. It's musically easy to grasp but lyrically challenging as it's meaning seems to change with each listen.
"Trampin" could have easily ended with the elegant and affecting "Peaceable Kingdom" as Smith expresses her hope that someday the world can and will live in peace. But then to illustrate her point that we are far from that place of peace, she cuts loose with "Radio Baghdad", a searing take on the invasion of Iraq. This is Smith at her most seething. Speaking at times as the ancient voice of Iraq and at other times as an Iraqi mother, her emotions on this piece run from fear to defiance. In 12 minutes (give or take a few seconds) she expresses the utter despair of the Iraqi people as their homeland is invaded and destroyed all in the name of "freedom". "Radio Baghdad" will call forth a response from any that hear it. Some may find it treasonous, others (like myself) will find that it sums up everything about the invasion of Iraq that they feel inside yet are unable to express. By listening to "Radio Baghdad" I too can participate and vent my anger regarding this atrocity. It's therapeutic.
But in the end as Smith closes "Trampin" she takes the old spiritual, "Trampin" and claims it as her song to live by. Smith is a survivor and she will persevere as she tries to find that spot where heaven and home are one and the same.
As an endnote, I am completely disappointed that this recording has been ignored on most of "the best of 2004" lists and also by the Grammys. In my opinion it was/is the most important release of the year!
Description of Trampin'
11 tracks. Stickered: ***** - David Fricke - Mojo.Alternative Rock CDs
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