Patti Smith - Trampin'

Poet. Punk. Priestess. Patti Smith is still all these, yet much more on Trampin', which ranges from protest songs to hopeful hymns. Though the disc opens with an exuberant exhortation to "discard your Sunday shoes" ("Jubilee") and concludes with a quiet gospel standard, in between Smith's journey to find heaven on Earth is rocky. She calls on Ghandi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the poet William Blake for aid. She chants to rebuild a "Peaceable Kingdom," then whips around and unleashes the furious twelve-minute fireball of "Radio Baghdad," a jagged, Zeppelin-esque epic that recalls her 1975 debut, Horses. Her band, featuring longtime guitarist Lenny Kaye, are in superlative form: intertwining hypnotic leads on "Cartwheels;" dropping a mournful surf-tinged solo into "Mother Rose." Marked by both its simplicity and ambition, Trampin' reiterates that Smith remains a quintessential American artist, every inch the equal of Springsteen, Dylan, or Lou Reed. --Kurt B. Reighley Amazon.com

Perhaps Smith's Single Finest Collection

Born in 1946 Chicago, Patti Smith had an interestingly rocky beginning, growing up in New Jersey under the watchful eye of a Jehovah Witness mother determined to instill religious belief into her daughter--who ultimately rejected straitjacket concepts and departed for New York, where she mixed with the likes of Robert Mapplethorpe, Sam Shepard, and Alan Ginsberg and dabbled in poetry, journalism, and performance art. In 1975 she suddenly released the album HORSES and was an overnight iconoclast. Over the years both public profile and recordings have been up and down--but regardless of the artistic merit of any one particular song or album, Smith has never been less than interesting. And the 2004 TRAMPIN' is Smith at her finest. It is certainly her best album since the 1996 GONE AGAIN, and it may in fact be her best work to date.

TRAMPIN' is full of treasurers, but it seems to me that the key selection on the release is "Peaceable Kingdom," a delicately smooth song that envokes loss, failure, and separation primarily in order to broach the notion that there is a way to repair what is broken; the difficultly lies in finding out what that way is. It might be through celebration ("Jubilee") or recognition of mortality and personal integrity ("Trespasses"); it might be through transcendent love ("Mother Rose"), intellectuality ("My Blakean Year"), or spiritual insights ("Ghandi.") One thing is for sure: it isn't through more destruction ("Radio Bagdad.")

As always, Smith has the unexpected gift of being able to take a scalding sense of outrage and transform it into art--and to take art and use it like a razor, slashing at human stupidity. At her best, however, she tempers her contempt with mercy, and TRAMPIN' has this in abundance. Every single cut is a wonder, the album works as a whole, and the musicianship is flawless throughout. Strongly recommended.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer July 14, 2008

ASL

The song Trampin is simple and I will be using it for my school class as an ASL (American Sign Language) project for the school talent show. September 13, 2007

Trampin my review

Trampin is one of the best ive heard from this decade.Jubilee is uplifting. Cartwheels is good Stride of the mind rocks Gandhi is intense vintage Patti. Tresspasses is beautiful so is My blakean year and Peaceable kingdom Cash is good. Radio Baghdad is the best song ive heard about the Iraq war it has great lyrics and music it reminds me of the Doors and zeppelin best new song in a while. Trampin is a soothing song. Trampin is great it is a class cd from a great artist March 26, 2007

Album of the Year

It's hard to believe that an artist that had pretty much been given up for gone is back with a album of such stunning quality that I, for one, would have no problem saying it is the best relase I have heard in the last year. There isn't anything specfic that I could add that other reviewers have not already stated: the band is superb; the songs are outstanding in their depth and breadth; the production is flawless. I would just add that Patti Smith's vocals are so extraordinarily fine that I can't believe it. This is an album for all-time. October 10, 2005

it's like the homestretch in a way.

i think this was one of the only TRUE rock albums released in 2004. patti has come such a long way & has had such an amazing career. "trampin" is full of pensive, intelligent, & meaningful songs of quality. patti never let's me down, she seems so wise. July 28, 2005

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