Patti Smith – Outside Society (Arista/Columbia/Legacy)

One could easily, and justifiably, make the argument that it’s impossible to condense Patti Smith‘s visionary 35+ year career onto one disk. Cherrypicking tracks from singular, focused statements like Horses and Gone Again, deciding what tracks from records best heard as a whole will best represent the work, is almost a fool’s errand. So despite it being compiled by longtime Smith bassist Tony Shanahan and participation from the auteur herself, it’s probably best to think of Outside Society as a sampler, a taster, if you will – better served to someone who may have heard or read Smith’s name and not yet listened to her music than to a more diligent fan. In that respect, the record succeeds admirably.

The obvious suspects are here, of course – the haunting pop song “Dancing Barefoot,” the ragged-but-oh-so-right rewrite of Them‘s “Gloria,” the brilliant rock anthem “Because the Night.” But there are plenty of tracks that dig deeper, and if the selection seems somewhat arbitrary to a diehard, it’s worth noting that the dramatic “Pissing in a River,” the beautiful “Beneath the Southern Cross,” the smart and catchy “Summer Cannibals” and the defiantly provocative “Rock N Roll Nigger” will likely shake a casual listener out of any complacent stupor. The collection also shines a well-deserved spotlight on the underrated Gung Ho with the excellent “Lo and Beholden” and the rocking “Glitter in Their Eyes,” and even justifies the existence of the much-maligned Dream of Life by smartly including the great arena rocker “Up There Down There” as well as the more obvious (in more than one sense) “People Have the Power.”

There seem to be a few too many covers – her banjo-driven acoustic take on Nirvana‘s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is quite brilliant, but her version of the Byrds‘ “So You Want to Be a Rock & Roll Star” is pedestrian enough to make you wish Shanahan had chosen another original instead. And it would have been great to have the first Patti Smith Band single “Piss Factory” included. But those are quibbles best left to fanatics. As a potential first exposure to this unique American rocker, Outside Society hits enough of the right notes to likely be a revelatory experience for the uninitiated.

http://www.pattismith.net
http://www.legacyrecordings.com