Horses (album)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Horses
Studio album by Patti Smith
Released	November 1975
Recorded	1975, Electric Lady Studios, New York
Genre	Rock
Length	43:10
Label	Arista Records
Producer(s)	John Cale
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link The Guardian 4 Nov 2005 Pitchfork (9.4/10.0) 1 Dec 2005 PopMatters 5 Aug 2003 Robert Christgau (A) link Rolling Stone 21 Jan 1997
Patti Smith chronology
	Horses (1975)	Radio Ethiopia (1976)

Horses is the debut album by Patti Smith released in November 1975, produced by John Cale. The innovative track, "Land", is a radical reworking of Chris Kenner's "Land of a Thousand Dances". "Gloria" is a similar reinterpretation of the old Van Morrison classic. "Birdland" is based upon "A Book of Dreams" (1973), a memoir of Wilhelm Reich by his son Peter.

Contents 1 Legacy and influence 2 Track listing 2.1 Bonus track (1996 reissue) 3 Samples 4 Personnel 4.1 Additional personnel 5 Charts 6 Miscellanea

[edit] Legacy and influence

While Horses's commercial success was modest – it peaked at #47 on the U.S. Pop Albums chart – its impact has been far greater.

Smith has been called an early pioneer of punk rock, such as by allmusic's William Ruhlman, who said that it "isn't hard to make the case for Patti Smith as a punk rock progenitor based on Horses" [1], while PopMatters' David Antrobus chose it as his favorite album and considered it a life-changing classic [2]. 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." [3]

Horses frequently appears on lists compiling the greatest rock albums. Mojo Magazine named the album the tenth greatest of all time in 1995. In 2001, VH1 named Horses the 28th greatest album of all time. In 2003, the album was ranked number 44 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

An episode of Millennium, "The Time Is Now", would later use the song "Land" in a bizarre "music video" sequence depicting a character's descent into madness.

[edit] Track listing

1. "Gloria" (Patti Smith, Van Morrison) – 5:56
   • "In Excelsis Deo" (Smith)
   • "Gloria" (Morrison)
2. "Redondo Beach" (Smith, Richard Sohl, Lenny Kaye) – 3:26
3. "Birdland" (Smith, Sohl, Kaye, Ivan Kral) – 9:15
4. "Free Money" (Smith, Kaye) – 3:51
5. "Kimberly" (Smith, Allen Lanier, Kral) – 4:26
6. "Break It Up" (Smith, Tom Verlaine) – 4:04
7. "Land" (Smith, Chris Kenner) – 9:25
   • "Horses" (Smith)
   • "Land of a Thousand Dances" (Kenner)
   • "La Mer(de)" (Smith)
8. "Elegie" (Smith, Lanier) – 2:56

[edit] Bonus track (1996 reissue)

1. "My Generation" (Live) (Pete Townshend) – 3:17 at The Agora, Cleveland, January 26, 1976

[edit] Samples

[edit] Personnel

• Patti Smith – guitar, vocals
• Richard Sohl – piano
• Lenny Kaye – lead guitar
• Ivan Kral – guitar, bass, vocals on 8
• Jay Dee Daugherty – drums, musical consultant

[edit] Additional personnel

• John Cale – bass on 8 & on 1996 reissue bonus track
• Tom Verlaine – guitar on 6
• Allen Lanier – guitar on 7
• Robert Mapplethorpe – photography (cover)
• Richard Aaron – photography
• Frank d'Augusta – assistant engineer
• Danny Fields – photography
• Bernie Kirsh – mastering Engineer
• Bob Ludwig – mastering
• Bob Irwin – mastering
• Vic Anesini – mastering
• Bob Heimall – design
• Edie Baskin – photography
• Sherri Whitmarsh – design
• Bob Gruen – photography
• Chuck Krall – photography

[edit] Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1976	Billboard Pop Albums	47

[edit] Miscellanea

• Scottish musician K.T. Tunstall has said that her song Suddenly I See was inspired by the cover of this album. [4]