Track Listing

1. Till Victory
2. Space Monkey
3. Because The Night
4. Ghost Dance
5. Babelogue
6. Rock 'n' Roll Nigger
7. Privilege
8. We Three
9. Twenty Fifth Floor/High On Rebellion
10. Easter

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11286 in Music
• Released on: 1999-10-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

CD Description
"Rock and roll is the only cultural asset America has giventhe world", declared a young Patti Smith years before she made her own records. Then she made EASTER, which made that asset a little more valuable. EASTER is an essential culturaltouchstone.
Whereas HORSES was built on poetry and RADIOETHIOPIA scrapped accessibility for primal cacophony, EASTER was The Patti Smith Group's most approachable package of Smith's vision.
As an artist and songwriter, Smith constantly pushed the boundaries of rock's scope: The demented "Space Monkey" builds a visual landscape, "Because The Night" melds pop with literary intention, and "Ghost Dance" transcends all musical genres to become a mantra. Possibly the most powerful track on the album is Smith's epic "Babelogue/Rock NRoll Nigger" segue, where she incorporates Jimi Hendrix, Jesus Christ and Jackson Pollack into a paean to artistic individuality and its inevitable alienation.

Customer Reviews

PASSIONATE POETIC ROCK
Of her early work, Easter is Patti's most accessible album and owing to the inclusion of Springsteen's beautiful "Because the Night" it became her biggest seller - she had managed to adapt her poetic gifts to appeal to a mainstream rock audience. Strong melodies and arrangements abound: Till Victory is Patti at her rousing, anthemic best while Babelogue followed by Rock 'n Roll Nigger is a hypnotic stream-of-consciousness rant. Other great tracks include Space Monkey, Privilege and Ghost Dance. Easter found a good balance between her commercial aspirations and artistic vision, and is recommended as a starting point for those who want to investigate the punk poetess.

One of the albums of the year in 1978…
In the spring of 1978 “Patti Smith” released what would be her only top 5 single in the U. K., “Because the Night” which was co-written by “Bruce Springsteen” who wrote the music and of course “Patti” wrote the lyrics. “Natalie Merchant” famously covered this track on the 10,000 maniacs album “M.T. V. Unplugged” released in 1993.
This was the taster for the forthcoming album “Easter” was released on the back of the success of the single the album sold well and introduced “Ms Smith” to a wider audience.
As the album thunders into life with the song “Till Victory” with the sound of “Jay Dee Daugherty” drums announcing it’s beginning, the listener can’t help but feel a sense of being un-comfortable as Ms Smith’s” rage comes barking from the speakers, this track was written by her long-time writing partner “Lenny Kaye” the guitarist in her band.
For the following song “Space Monkey” was co-written by “Mr Kral” the bass player in the band and “Mr Tom Verlaine” of the band “Television” fame who is another long-time collaborator of “Ms Smith”, this we are told on the sleeve-notes, as there is a credit for “Mr Verlaine” for the arrangement of the song “We Three” from 1974.
The hit single is next in the running order and is a welcome piece of familiarity for the listener who is new to Ms Smith’s work, then comes one of my personal favourite songs of the album “Ghost Dance” which is written using minor chords and creates an atmosphere of despair and longing that the words and music of this song just capture perfectly for me.
As that track finishes hold onto your hats “Patti” rage is burning she begins a rant called “Babelogue” which introduces the angriest song on the album “Rock n Roll Nigger” which is very unsettling to listen to.
“We three” is a song that sounds like a blues track but with a different twist.
“25th Floor” is an excellent song with its electric guitar riff at the start to give it that meaty feels that rock fans love.
The last 2 tracks that were on the original vinyl release are songs that must be listened to very carefully as the lyrics of the title track “Easter” give the listener covering story of what’s gone before.
As a bonus this 1996 re-issue has included the track “Godspeed” that was the b-side of the single “Because the Night”, which was an out-take from the original recording sessions…

One of the albums of the year in 1978�(corrected version)
In the spring of 1978 Patti Smith released what would be her only top 5 single in the U. K., "Because the Night" which was co-written by Bruce Springsteen who wrote the music and of course "Patti" wrote the lyrics.

Natalie Merchant famously covered this track on the 10,000 maniacs album "M.T. V. Unplugged" released in 1993.

This was the taster for her forthcoming album called "Easter" which was released on the back of the success of the single; the album sold well and introduced "Ms Smith" to a wider audience.

As the album thunders into life with the song "Till Victory" with the sound of Jay Dee Daugherty drums announcing it's beginning, the listener can't help but feel a sense of being un-comfortable as Ms Smith's angry vocals come barking from the speakers, this track was written by her long-time writing partner Lenny Kaye the guitarist in her band.

For the following track "Space Monkey" was co-written by Ivan Kral the bass player in the band and Tom Verlaine of the band Television fame who is another long-time collaborator of "Ms Smith", this we are told on the sleeve-notes, as there is a credit for Mr Verlaine for the arrangement of the song "We Three" from 1974.

The hit single "Because the Night" is next in the running order and is a welcome piece of familiarity for the listener who is new to Ms Smith's work.

Then comes one of my personal favourite songs of the album "Ghost Dance" which is written using minor chords and creates an atmosphere of despair and melancholy that the words and music of this song just capture perfectly for me as that track finishes hold onto your hats "Patti" rage is burning she begins a rant called "Babelogue" which introduces the angriest song on the album "Rock n Roll Nigger" which I find very unsettling to listen to.

"We three" is a song that sounds like a blues track but with a different twist, the song "25th Floor" is an excellent track with its electric guitar riff at the start to give it that meaty feels that rock fans love.

The following 2 tracks "High on Rebellion" and "Easter were on the original vinyl release, these are the songs that must be listened to very carefully as the lyrics of both give the listener an insight to the tracks on the rest of the album.

As a bonus this 1996 20 bit re-issue has included the track "Godspeed" that was the b-side of the single "Because the Night", which was an out-take from the original recording sessions.

This for me this is a welcome re-issue package as a along time follower of Ms Smiths music and words this was essential for my collection...