Track Listing

1. Waiting Underground
2. Whirl Away
3. 1949
4. Spell
5. Don't Say Nothing
6. Dead City
7. Blue Poles
8. Death Singing
9. Memento Mori
10. Last Call

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #62854 in Music
• Released on: 2004-04-26
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

CD Description
One of the most important figures of the musical revolutionof the late '70s, Patti Smith later went into a self-imposed exile, returning to form after nearly a decade with 1996'sGONE AGAIN. On PEACE AND NOISE, she proves that the comeback was no fluke. While themes of death and loss pervade, Smith tries to make sense of it all.
On "1959" she take a nostalgic look at a turning point in our cultural history, continuing the lesson with "Spell", an excerpt from Ginsberg's Howl read over a bed of acoustic guitars and strings. On "Dead City", Smith mourns the economic death of Detroit, workinga proletarian fury worthy of her late husband Fred's Detroit proto-punk band MC5. This sentiment is furthered on "Blue Poles", a powerful ballad of a family losing hope in the Dust Bowl. Where GONE AGAIN served as the document of one woman's loss, PEACE AND NOISE finds the godmother of punk taking a parental view; looking at the world her children (both biological and spiritual) have inherited, and she's flying the flag of discontent for a whole new generation.

Customer Reviews

A Wandering Soul on the Burning Shore
Patti Smith has always been renowned for her willingness to face the darkness--and in her earlier releases she relentlessly questioned the nature of God and God's relationship to man, often in the most violent and blasphemy-laced manner possible, working her ferocity into high art.

In the 1980s, after a period of silence and following the deaths of such close friends as Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe, the quality of her work began to undergo a change: she continued to face the darkness, continued to question God and God's relationship to man, but the tone was increasingly introspective, deliberately thoughtful, increasingly controlled. Then in the wake of her husband's death she reemerged with GONE AGAIN and PEACE AND NOISE. Both find her as passionate and often as outraged as ever. But here the questioning carries with it the sense that the answers are just below the surface.

Like most of Smith's work, PEACE AND NOISE is extremely hard to take in on the first listening, and my initial response to the thing was that it was one of her lesser works. But over time, and after repeated listenings, I find it every bit as powerful as the best of her best. True, as some have noted, there are no single "standout" cuts here--nothing that suddenly jumps up and bites you the way that such Smith classics as "Gloria," "Because The Night," "Dancing Barefoot," or "Gone Again" do. But the album works as unit in a way that many Smith albums do not: it is not a matter of variety here, playing jarring cuts against quieter moments, but one of long consistency.

The opening track, "Waiting Underground," is a powerful piece, bitter, outraged, and yet curiously hopeful--and the strange combination of these qualities persists throughout every selection here. While Smith remains as attacking as ever, condemning the less savory aspects of human nature with every fiber of her being ("Dead City" is a classic example), it is now the outrage of someone who perceives that reality could be substantially different from what it is, that mankind as a whole could rise above the ashes in which we wallow.

Perhaps the single most obvious statement here is "Spell," a strange, hypnotic, chant-like piece in which Smith considers the world and finds everything in it "Holy," an aspect of the God she so persistently probes. But if everything is Holy, why isn't everything different? This is the hard question she poses--and the answer seems to be because we will not have it so. We are unwilling to try hard enough. Ultimately, the album presents us with an equation of life as "noise" and death as "peace"--and the ultimate answer. It is the way home.

This is such a driven, bitter, delicately balanced recording. And while Smith is often memorable for her musical extremes, she offers none of them here--there are no screaming, rioting guitars, no nail-driven drums; it is instead a slow build of tension that coils tighter and tighter from selection to selection, relying more upon Smith's vocals and remarkable lyrics than upon instrumentation. PEACE AND NOISE is not, perhaps, the ideal album for a first-timer; it really has to be considered in the overall context of Smith's body of work. But it is a remarkably fine one. Strongly recommended.

GFT (Amazon Reviewer)

A masterpiece that seems to have been overlooked
I was hesitant to buy 'Peace and Noise' because of one condemning review I read. But on the first listen I knew I was in the territory of a Patti Smith masterpiece, up there with 'Horses' and my personal favourite, 'Wave'. I would give her other recent CDs 'Gone Again' and 'Gung Ho' five stars too, but if I could, 'Peace and Noise' would score six radiant, heavenly constellations.

On 'Peace and Noise' Patti Smith expounds her articulate poems with variations of gentle soul and harsh passion. The backing instrumentation is faultless; either forceful or mellow depending on the mood of the song.

Thank you Patti and group for continuing to make music that touches the depth of the soul. Has this masterpiece 'Peace and Noise' been overlooked?

Solid rock sound
Patti Smith’s 1997 album has a beautiful insert booklet with black and white pics and handwritten notes, that serves primarily as a tribute to William Burroughs (1914 – 1997). There is a good rock sound throughout, but none of the songs really stand out like for example Gloria or Redondo Beach on Horses, Because The Night on Easter or Dead To The World and Ravens on Gone Again. The lyrics are up to her expected high standard, but I think the songs lack gripping melodies. Perhaps it’s just a matter of taste, but to me Smith represents those impassioned, melodic anthems that transport the listener to the lofty realms of rock. The best track here is Memento Mori with its impressive instrumentation and its improvised lyrical meanderings. Much as I adore the inimitable Patricia, I cannot recommend Peace And Noise to the casual listener. So, this is not the place to start for those who wish to investigate the genius of Patti Smith; rather try Hoses, Easter, Wave, Radio Ethiopia or Gone Again to experience the best of her soaring, poetic songs.