Patti Smith’s ‘Gung Ho’ works despite glaring errors
■ Competent album
brings some songs that
fans will like.
By Josh Krauter
Senior editor
Patti Smith’s new album, “Gung
Ho,” is a reminder th^jt icons dpn’t
always make iconic music.
It’s a competent rock album that
sounds like it was made, recorded
and produced by real people, not
untouchable deities. But that feeling
of urgency, importance and absolute
necessity that makes for rock god
head is missing from “Gung Ho.”
Instead, it’s just a competent album
lull of decent rock songs.
Smith’s 1975 debut album,
“Horses,” was an epic - a humorous,
melancholy, alive, electric, varied
and fiercely-played set of raw rock
‘n’ roll. It inspired, and still inspires,
loads and loads of great bands, and
kick-started New York punk.
Smith has never matched the
intensity of “Horses” since - though
1978’s “Easter” came close - but
that’s all it took to get the “legend”
nameplate on her office door.
Still, “Gung Ho” has its
moments, most often on the record’s
first half. And it’s the most comfort
able album Smith has made since the
1970s.
There are several reasons for this.
First of all, Smith and the band (most
of which were members of her old
band) are finally getting back into
the groove of making records and
touring. “Gung Ho” is only the third
album Smith has made since coming
back from her long retirement, and
her and the band sound rejuvenated.
Smith is probably also done
grieving, which helps the music
breathe again. Her comeback was
spurred by the deaths of her husband,
her brother and a former band mem
ber, all from heart attacks, and a
good friend, photographer Robert
Mapplethorpe, from AIDS.
So it was no surprise that her last
two albums, “Gone Again” and
“Peace and Noise,” were somber sor
rowful affairs with an undercurrent
of hope. Both albums had a handful
of great songs, but there was some
thing a bit stilted and a bit cold about
them.
Smith and the band sounded a lit
tle uncomfortable rocking again, and
though the material was good, the
execution and heavy-handed produc
tion squeezed the excitement out of
some of the music. It was as if the
band were recording in a sauna dur
ing a heat wave.
Well, Smith and her band have
turned back into a spontaneous rock
‘n’ roll machine, and this time they
have a producer who knows how to
record guitar rock.
Gil Norton is at the helm on
“Gung Ho,” and his credits include
the Pixies, Foo Fighters and Pere
Ubu. Guest musicians also help out.
Ex-Husker Du drummer Grant Hart,
ex-Television guitarist Tom Verlaine
and the ever-present Michael Stipe
all lift a few tracks a notch or two
higher.
But it’s mostly Smith and her
band who are responsible for this
pleasing collection of rock, at least
for the first half of the album. Smith
manages the feat of making a better
album than her last one with lesser
material.
The first half of “Gung Ho”
regains the intensity Smith has been
missing for awhile. The record opens
with “One Voice,” and Lenny Kaye’s
winding guitar sounds more fluid
and electric than it has in years. “Lo
and Beholden” is an excellent com
panion piece to 1978’s “Because the
Night,” and “Persuasion” is full of
pop hooks, passion and fierce play
ing. “China Bird” is a great ballad.
Then the album sags a little.
“Strange Messengers” is an eight
minute pretentious mess, in which
Smith speak-sings over meandering
backing from the point of view of an
African slave transported on a slave
ship. What, can Smith, a white
woman bom in the 20th century, pos
sibly have to add to this discussion,
especially when she fails to tie it in to
anything in the present that she may
have a connection with?
Later, she tackles the 12-minute
title track, in which she presents her
take on Ho Chi Minh’s experience in
Vietnam. This song gets by on its
hypnotic melody and trance-induc
ing musicianship, but the lyrics are
more pretentious nonsense. Smith
seems to be suffering from well
meaning white liberalism, and she’s
doing more harm than good.
She finally tackles a political
subject that is in her range of experi
ence on “New Party,” an expression
of dissatisfaction with the current
climate of politics as usual. The song
is loud and raucous, but the lyrics
bash the listener over the head, with
out any trace of subtlety. I suspect
Smith packs a U-Haul for a weekend
vacation.
The pretensions in her lyrics have
increased throughout her career. On
“Horses,” Smith covered Van
Morrison and Them’s “Gloria,”
keeping the gender pronouns the
same and turning the song into a cel
ebration of punk rock excess. On
“Land,” she threw snatches of “Land
of a Thousand Dances” into the song,
Patti Smith
i- *'
4-1 TITLE: Gung Ho
LABEL: Arista
GRADE: B
** ; FIVE WORDS: Smith is
back, sort of.
chanting “go Rimbaud” in between
shouts to “do the Watusi,” skewering
her own pretensions and celebrating
the simultaneous importance and
ridiculousness of rock ‘n’ ro)l.
These three songs are severe mis
steps, but the strength of the rest of
the material will keep “Gung Ho”
out of the used bins. Anyone who
likes Patti Smith will find much to
enjoy here. Just make sure the fast
forward button works so you can
trim the fat from the album, even if
Smith didn’t.
Tuesday,April 11,2000 ,5/15
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8 ■ I \ A A I B I I I I I A A $0.15 each additional word
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3 piece sectional with recliner and queen fold out
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Computer table with bookshelves and chair. $150. Full
size bed with mattress box and frame. $80.438-8831
__
Kenmore washer/dryer for sale. Good condition. $250
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Vacuum cleaner, $40.438-8831.
SONY 3-CD changer, $50.438-8831.
‘90 Prizm, 4-door, auto, air, 91K, $2650. ‘88 Nissan
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Auto Accidents & DWI
Other criminal matters, call Sanford Pollack, 476-7474.
For all your insurance needs: auto, home, health, life
and business, call Jim Wallace at American Family
Insurance, 1340 L St., Lincoln, NE 68508 or call
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Need Help Moving?
Moving help within Lincoln or Nebraska tor home furni
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Summer Storage
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400s Housing
Female nonsmoker to share 3BR apartment,
$175/month+ 1/3 utilities. Call 476-1159 or 472-6364.
Looking for 1 non-smoking roommate for summer.
$260 + 1/2 utilities. 477-7113
Looking for a place to live? www.housing101.net...
Your move off campus! Free roommate sublet listings.
One female roommate needed by May. Rent:
$230/month. Call 325-9569
One person to share 3 bedroom apartment with two
male roommates for the summer, Near campus
$24Q/mo. 476-5958
Two roommates needed, May-August 1. $250+ 1/3
utilites, close to UNL 435-7448.
3 Bedroom, Belmont area, close to campus,
$725/month + utilities + deposit. No pets. Call
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400 Terrace Road, 3 bedroom, A/C, garage, fence yard,
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432-0644.
1430 South 9th 4 or 5 bedroom , 2 bath, dishwasher,
offstreet parking $860 438-4209.
4200 Balwin, 6 bedroom, 2 bath, A/C, nice. Available
8/1 $900 440-8046, 440-2248. _
Great houses close to UNL, available in May or earlier.
432-0644:
• 1237 Court, 3BR, $650
• 1438 N. 21,4BR, $800
• 1541 N. 26, 5BR, $900
• 1426 N. 23, 5BR, $950
Newer 4 bedroom, 2 garage, 2 bath, family room.
$1,050 a month, no pets. Available in May. 432-0415.
Nice 5BR, 3266 Dudley. 2 and 1/4 bath, ceiling fans,
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Off-Campus Student Housing
♦ East Campus, parking, AC
♦3 BR duplex, $600
♦4 BR house, $850
Call, 489-5168.
Two to five bedroom houses near UNL Available May
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We Love Students!
Avoid noisy apartment complexes!
Great 2, 3, and 4 bedroom homes near UNL. A/C,
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4BR duplex for rent, 2 car garage, close to'campus,
$950/month+utilities. Excluding water. Available May
1. Call 484-7737, ask for Clint or Troy. _
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BRAND NEW-CAMPUS
3 and 4BR, 2 Bath, washer/dryer, garages. Available
May and August. $750-$995. (402) 438-3393.
Newer 3 bedroom, 2 bath, ‘i garage, family room, fire
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Newer
Close to campus, nice, 3 bedroom, 3 bath, garage,
W/D, all appliances, $795. HIP, 465-8911.
* Brand New Duplex *
3434 “P" St
-Available in August
4BR, 3 fun bath, 2 famHy room, double garage and
off-street parking. Call 308-487-3819 or 303-487-5314.
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4 Bedroom, 2 baths, garage 5350 Cooper $795
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♦STUDIO*
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Built for students. Recently built. Washer/dryer fur
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♦ 700 S. 17th FURNISHED ♦
Available now. 2BR $410 and 1BR $360, includes
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AMBERWOOD APARTMENTS
“OPENING DOORS TO
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Pets Welcome
(Select Breeds Restricted)
One, two, & three bedroom apartments. 3, 6, 9, & 12
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40th St. & Hwy 2, (402) 423-0978.
Apartments on UNL Campus
One studio and 1BR available now and other units
available May 1. No smoking, no pets, controlled ac
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$325-$450. Brick Yard Apartments, 17th & Holdrege,
477-6578.
Available now. 2BR, second floor of remodeled house.
Student tenants, central air, gas heat, parking, deck,
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-AND
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Clean 1BR apartment, newly remodeled kitchen and
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Commercial
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SELECT A HOME
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Highland View 436-3483
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Flexible Leases. 640 S. 12th, $320. 2312 R, $325
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