faytal_kraydel

Before the Sex Pistols gave everyone a bloody nose with Pretty Vacant in '77, across the Atlantic came a poet and singer-songwriter pushing at the boundaries.

Bruce Springsteen came from North Jersey; Patti Smith came from South Jersey, where she once said: "We used to eat guys like Bruce for BREAKFAST!" Musically, she really came up from the New York scene where you had to be tough, streetwise and fiercely individual to succeed. Her debut album, Horses, offered first proof of her art. Her second album, Radio Ethiopia, went outside of conventional hard rock with the long title piece that set her as the rock 'n' roll nigger. Otherwise Ask The Angels and Pumpin' [My Heart] were attempts at chart action.

She spent as much of her time in Europe as she put her energies into touring the US. This has paid off as her fan base in Europe is loyal. This show in Stockholm features a number of "radio-friendly unit shifters" - covers of the Velvets, the Stones [Time Is On My Side] and Van Morrison's Gloria, all given the Patti Smith touch, i.e., swearing.

The allusion to Dylan in the bootleg's title is likely due to both artists being regarded as poets. On the sleeve of Radio Ethiopia, Smith dedicated the album to poets Arthur Rimbaud and Constantin Brncusi. Smith's poetry sits comfortably with European poets while Dylan unabashedly lists Woody Guthrie and American folk and blues music as his main influence. In that sense, she "never talked to Bob Dylan".

Dylan has since shifted away from being a spokesman for his generation. Smith remains committed to political causes and writes such songs and poems which she performs regularly. Despite that, she remains in the mainstream and was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.

This show is an excellent representation of Smith's legendary stage antics (she'd get so into her performance that she once said she'd pissed herself and had even had an orgasm onstage) and remains a punk favourite. "Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, f*** the clock" was the count-in to Time Is On My Side. An FM stereo broadcast never officially released. Perhaps, like punk, metal and hardcore, Patti Smith and the outsiders are biding their time.