Patti Smith - Gone Again CDs • Vinyl Records • LPs • Music Albums

the artist Robert Mapplethorpe. But in addressing and assessing the weight of all that loss, Smith emphasizes and draws on the resilient magic of art and camaraderie, sometimes with a shy, almost retiring, country-folk subtlety ("Wing," "Ravens"), at other moments with a breathtaking, free-form grace ("Beneath the Southern Cross," "Fireflies"). Fred Smith, of course, is all over the record – in fact (his co-writing credits on the explosive "Gone Again" and "Summer Cannibals") and in spirit (the soaring marriage ballad "My Madrigal"). Yet the most compelling quality of Gone Again is the generosity of energy and warmth that Patti Smith brings to her passage through grief. It has been way too long between records and tours for her, but her sense of timing and strength of commitment have not failed her. As Smith sings with epic outrage in Bob Dylan's "Wicked Messenger," "If you cannot bring good news, then don't bring any." She just waited until she was ready. (RS 750/751)

DAVID FRICKE