Patti Smith - Horses (1975)

I've listened to three live sets by Patti Smith: two from 1975 and one from 2006. All three times during Patti Smith's meandering story interludes she mentions Television in some manner of awe that falls between reverence and deification. Specifically, Smith has strong friendships with Neon Boys/Television founders Richard Hell and Tom Verlaine formed in the heart of the New York punk scene, the CBGB. Tom collaborated with Patti in songwriting ("Break It Up") and played guitar as a session musician on her debut album.

Inspired to form her own band after attending a Neon Boys/Television concert, Patti Smith started playing at the CBGB with guitarist Lenny Kaye in 1974. She recruited bassist Ivan Kral, drummer Jay Dee Daugherty, and pianist Richard Sohl to round out the Patti Smith Group with Patti leading the quintet with her vocals, guitar, lyrics, and her intellectual approach to rock. They released their first single (funded by curator Sam Wagstaff), a rendition of "Hey Joe" that included a spoken word section about Patty Hearst. The group's growing popularity led to their signing to Arista Records by legendary producer and record executive Clive Davis.

By the end of 1975, the Patti Smith Group released Horses to reasonable chart success and universal critical acclaim. The album highlighted Patti Smith's unique take on rock and roll that meshed feminist, poetic, and jazz influences. Of course, Patti was also an important player in the punk scene, and Horses holds the seed of punk. The album's only single, a unique take on Them's "Gloria", came out in 1976 to not chart. The song featured new, more personal verses by Smith alongside the classic G-L-O-R-I-A chorus. The album's cover by Patti Smith's ex-boyfriend Robert Mapplethorpe has, alongside the album, gone on to become an icon of rock and roll.

Here is the discography surrounding Patti Smith's debut album:

Hey Joe (1974 single)
Horses
Gloria (1976 single)



If you have any ideas for where the tour should go next, please give a shout. I'm open to whatever as long as the artists are historically related in some way and go in an artist's chronological order.

Pass the Headphones!!