About Me

My photo
Just musings and views. Nothing more, nothing less.

Monday 25 March 2019

Vinyl #32 - Patti Smith Group

"Because The Night" (7" single)


I'm not and never have been a great fan of Patti Smith's sonic output (the best thing she has done was her excellent memoirs book 'Just Kids').

However...her biggest hit is the exception - probably because it's co-written with Bruce Springsteen. It was actually a Bruce reject (he recorded a version for one of his early albums but rejected it, although since Patti had a hit with it he's since played it live) but Patti wrote a different set of lyrics and hey presto, a bona fide top 5 hit in the UK in 1978.

In fact it sounds like The Boss but with a woman's voice, the music is just like the E Street band, the driving melody keeps going and then lifts even higher. It's without doubt Patti Smith's best vocal performance and really is an all time classic single. Nice picture sleeve as well. Here's the music:

https://youtu.be/c_BcivBprM0