It isn't hard to make the case for Patti Smith as a punk rock progenitor based on her debut album, which anticipated the new wave by a year or so: the simple, crudely played rock & roll, featuring Lenny Kaye's rudimentary guitar work, the anarchic spirit of Smith's vocals, and the emotional and imaginative nature of her lyrics -- all prefigure the coming movement as it evolved on both sides of the Atlantic. Smith is a rock critic's dream, a poet as steeped in '60s garage rock as she is in French Symbolism; "Land" carries on from the Doors' "The End," marking her as a successor to Jim Morrison, while the borrowed choruses of "Gloria" and "Land of a Thousand Dances" are more in tune with the era of sampling than they were in the '70s. Producer John Cale respected Smith's primitivism in a way that later producers did not, and the loose, improvisatory song structures worked with her free verse to create something like a new spoken word/musical art form: Horses was a hybrid, the sound of a post-Beat poet, as she put it, "dancing around to the simple rock & roll song." ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
Tracks
Track Title
Composers
Performers
Time
Gloria: In Excelsis Deo/Gloria [Van Morrison Version]
John Cale (Bass), John Cale (Producer), Tom Verlaine (Guitar), Richard Aaron (Photography), Frank d'Augusta (Assistant Engineer), Jay Dee Daugherty (Drums), Jay Dee Daugherty (Musical Consultant), Lenny Kaye (Bass), Lenny Kaye (Guitar), Lenny Kaye (Vocals), Bernie Kirsh (Engineer), Bernie Kirsh (Mastering), Ivan Kral (Bass), Ivan Kral (Guitar), Ivan Kral (Keyboards), Ivan Kral (Vocals), Allen Lanier (Guitar), Allen Lanier (Keyboards), Allen Lanier (Producer), Bob Ludwig (Mastering), Patti Smith (Guitar), Patti Smith (Vocals), Patti Smith (Main Performer), Patti Smith (Liner Notes), Richard Sohl (Piano), Bob Irwin (Mastering), Bob Irwin (Reissue Mastering), Huey "Piano" Smith & the Clowns (Inspiration), Vic Anesini (Mastering), Bob Heimall (Design), Edie Baskin (Photography), Sherri Whitmarsh (Design), Sherri Whitmarsh (Reissue Design), Robert Mapplethorpe (Photography), Bob Gruen (Photography), Chuck Krall (Photography), Danny Fields (Photography)
Not quite the forgotten gem that record-collector hype has long maintained, Horses nevertheless has a lot going for it, especially for a one-shot, studio-only curio. The nucleus of the group that created the LP had its genesis in the excellent mid-'60s bubblegum-psychedelic outfit the Rainy Daze, which had a minor, Top 100 hit with the camouflaged ode to marijuana, "Acapulco Gold," in 1967. Denver radio host David Diamond had moved to Los Angeles in 1965 to kick off a new rock format called "Boss Radio" and brought the band with him. The tightly formatted, hits-only nature of his new gig didn't sit well with Diamond, so he soon moved over to KBLA, where he quickly became one of L.A.'s hippest and hottest radio personalities with the development of the psychedelic program The Diamond Mine, the beginning of the looser, more free-form underground FM radio. Frank Zappa was a fan and frequent listener, and it was Diamond's suggestion to the Doors that resulted in an international hit with the edited version of "Light My Fire." He also was the first to spin such classic songs as the Seeds' "Pushin' Too Hard," Iron Butterfly's "In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida," Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'," the Stone Poneys' "Different Drum," the Rolling Stones' 17-minute "Goin' Home," and, yes, the Rainy Daze's "Acapulco Gold." Diamond played an important role during the band's life-span, convincing an increasingly erratic Phil Spector to sign them to a management contract and then, when the significant publicity push Spector had planned didn't pan out, arranging a deal with UNI, which released the group's fine LP. The quintet's catalysts were Tim Gilbert, the lead vocalist and guitarist, and John Carter, the lyricist. The two developed into one of the more interesting minor songwriting team's of the era. They scored a huge, Number One hit with Strawberry Alarm Clock's "Incense and Peppermints," and placed compositions with Yankee Dollar and the intriguing David Axelrod-produced West Coast outfit Hard Water (famous, fellow ex-Colorado surf/instrumental unit Astronauts in disguise), but Carter and Gilbert's pet project was the quasi-psychedelic, hard rock group Horses, which they built from scratch along with Diamond after all three relocated to San Francisco in 1969.
The Rainy Daze broke up following several post-LP singles on the Turtles' label, White Whale. Carter and Gilbert, meanwhile, had written an entire album, and now needed a band to record it. With Diamond, they held auditions and ultimately assembled Dave Torbert on bass, Scott Quigley and Matt Kelly on guitars, Chris Herold on drums, and lead singer Rich Fifield. Fifield was replaced midway through the recording sessions with an unknown 18-year-old kid, Don Johnson, in his first professional gig. The resultant, self-titled album was a strong effort, mixing tongue-in-cheek counterculturalisms ("Class of '69" was a carefully couched song about a sex act) and hippie-fied country elements into its hard rock, but also, unfortunately, came out on White Whale just at the moment that the label was beginning to come undone. (It was reissued on CD by Gear Fab in 2003.) Horses did not last far into 1970, though two of its songs, "Overnight Bag" and "Asia Minor," had a second life with Kingfish, who recorded them on their first LP. Kingfish, incidentally, were founded by Herold and Torbert (who also later joined New Riders of the Purple Sage) along with the Grateful Dead's Bob Weir in 1975. Kelly, too, later guested on several Dead albums in the '70s, and released a pair of solo albums on the group's Relix label. He had also been in the band Gospel Oak, which recorded a 1970 LP. Quigley later played with the Sammy Hagar Band before perishing from a drug overdose. Gilbert went on to record a pair of singles under his own name, while Carter, in addition to continuing to contribute songs to other artists, became a top producer for Capitol Records, working with the Motels, Bob Welch, and Tina Turner (the international hit Private Dancer). Diamond continued as an ace radio DJ, and also became a successful novelist. Johnson, of course, became a worldwide superstar as a film and television actor, most memorably in the iconic '80s cop series Miami Vice. ~ Stanton Swihart, All Music Guide
Horses is the debut album by American musician Patti Smith, released in 1975 on Arista Records. The record was a key factor and major influence on the New York punk rock scene.
A member of the Mercer Arts Center crowd and a friend of Richard Hell, Patti Smith came to CBGB for the first time to see The Neon Boys perform. A veteran of independent theater and performance poetry, Smith was developing an intellectual, feminist take on rock 'n' roll when she released Horses.[citation needed]
At the time she recorded Horses, Patti Smith and her band were favorites in the New York club scene along with Blondie and The Ramones.[citation needed] Smith was a rabid fan of many 60's rock musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Little Richard, Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones and Jim Morrison as well as favorites of Motown and jazz such as Smokey Robinson and John Coltrane. The former's influence can be best heard in the track "Gloria", a radical retake on the Them garage rock classic. "Birdland"'s music, in particular, owed more to the jazz music Smith's mother enjoyed than to the influence of punk. When recording this song, which was improvised by the band in Electric Lady Studios, Smith has said she imagined the spirit of Hendrix watching her. The lyrics of "Birdland" are based upon A Book of Dreams, a 1973 memoir of Wilhelm Reich by his son Peter. Several of the album's songs—"Redondo Beach", "Free Money", "Kimberly"—were inspired by moments with members of Smith's family, while others—"Break It Up", "Elegie"—were written about her idols. "Land" was already a live favorite and featured the first verse of Chris Kenner's "Land of a Thousand Dances" and contains a tribute to her long-time idol Arthur Rimbaud."[1] Guest musicians included Tom Verlaine of Television and Allen Lanier of Blue Öyster Cult.
Influence
In 2003, the album was ranked number 44 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[2]NME named the album number 1 in its list "20 Near-as-Damn-It Perfect Initial Efforts".[3] According to a list released by Time magazine in 2006, Horses is one of the All-Time 100 Greatest Albums.
Smith has been called an early pioneer of punk rock. Allmusic's William Ruhlman said that it "isn't hard to make the case for Patti Smith as a punk rock progenitor based on Horses"[4] while David Antrobus from PopMatters chose Horses as his favorite album and considered it a life-changing classic.[5]Michael Stipe bought the album as a high school student and says it "tore my limbs off and put them back on in a whole different order."[6]Morrissey and Johnny Marr shared an appreciation for the record, and one of their early compositions for The Smiths, "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle", is a reworking of "Kimberly".[7]The Libertines' song "The Boy Looked at Johnny" is named after the line in the title track of the album. In 1977, Sammy Hagar released a cover of "Free Money" on his self-titled second album.
In 1998, the Millennium television series episode "The Time Is Now" used the song "Land" in a bizarre "music video" sequence depicting a character's descent into madness.[8]
Artwork
The cover photo was taken by Robert Mapplethorpe using natural light in a penthouse in Greenwich Village.[9] The triangle of light on the wall was the product of the afternoon sun. The record company wanted to make various changes to the photo including airbrushing out Patti Smith's moustache but Smith overruled such attempts.[9]
The live album was recorded as part of the "30th Anniversary" on June 25, 2005 in Royal Festival Hall at the Meltdown festival, which Smith curated. It follows the same running order as the original release of Horses, and features Tom Verlaine on guitar and Flea on bass guitar. Released November 8, 2005 under the title Horses/Horses this is a double CD, with the digitally remastered version of the original 1975 album (with the bonus track "My Generation") on the first disc, and a live recording of the entire album on the second disc:
"Gloria: In Excelsis Deo/Gloria (version)" –7:01
"Redondo Beach" – 4:29
"Birdland" – 9:52
"Free Money" – 5:29
"Kimberly" – 5:28
"Break It Up" – 5:24
"Land: Horses/Land of a Thousand Dances/La Mer (De)" – 17:35
^ abThorgerson, Storm; Aubrey Powell (November 1999). 100 Best Album Covers: The Stories Behind the Sleeves (1st American edition ed.). Dorling Kindersley. pp. 74. ISBN0-789-44951-X.
