Patti Smith
Dream of Life

THE REVIEW

Introduction:

Wave was the first album I ever bought. September '79, Bologna, Patti Smith, my first "international" concert. Will it mean something to me? Obviously, the first album and the first concert are like the first love. So, I went back and appreciated three monumental albums that made history in the...(well, you decide the genre). Then shock, confusion, bewilderment. The priestess announces her retirement. And what do I do? Endless pondering over what once was. Then the miracle. Nine years later, Dream of Life comes out. And then heaps of criticism, negative reviews, detractors galore... the passionate rock poetess, having melancholically abandoned the utopian and ideological scene of the seventies, the American punk rock scene, the cultural movement of Chelsea H., has she gone insane? Dream of Life certainly doesn't offer the dirty basement sound, the angry and pained voice of the previous decade. It's a tender, intimate album, but right from the very first "People Have the Power," it exudes a lot of energy. Yes, people have the power, hahahahahahahah, demagogic, populist anthem, useless in a scene dominated by all the worst human values that have led to the current "people don't matter one bit." Extremely relevant song, damn it. Then there's Smith's voice, clean, pleasant, never so beautiful. Fred Sonic cleans up the sound, harmonious, pleasant guitar with non-trivial rhythms and far from predictable ballads. No need for track by track, the album flows seamlessly, inspired, in a serene, measured context, in my opinion in a word, artistic maturity. Mapplethorpe once again, but unfortunately for the last time, will sign the cover photo. An album not inferior to the previous ones. 5/5