Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Dancing Barefoot
2. Babelogue
3. Rock 'n' Roll Nigger
4. Gloria
5. Pissing In A River
6. Free Money
7. People Have The Power
8. Because The Night
9. Frederick
10. Summer Cannibals
11. Ghost Dance
12. Ain't It Strange
13. 1959
14. Beneath The Southern Cross
15. Glitter In Their Eyes
16. Paths That Cross
17. When Doves Cry

Disc 2:

1. Piss Factory
2. Redondo Beach
3. Distant Fingers
4. 25th Floor
5. Come Back Little Sheba
6. Wander I Go
7. Dead City
8. Spell
9. Wing
10. Boy Cried Wolf
11. Birdland
12. Higher Learning
13. Notes Of The Future

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15972 in Music
• Released on: 2004-10-04
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .35 pounds
• Running time: 121 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
In some ways, singer/songwriter Patti Smith seems an unlikely choice for a full-bore anthology like Land (1975-2002). After all, she's had only one charting single with "Because the Night". Yet her influence on the fledgling NYC punk scene and as a protofeminist poet renders her something of an American counterculture icon. As such, Land serves to frame an uncompromising career spanning four decades.

Split over two discs and featuring 31 tracks and almost two-and-a-half hours of music, Land begins with a survey of Smith's studio albums, relying most heavily on 1978's Easter. All the greats are here--"Dancing Barefoot", "People Have the Power", "Gloria", "Rock 'n' Roll Nigger", "Frederick" and, of course, "Because the Night". There's also a newly recorded version of Prince's "When Doves Cry", one of two songs cut specifically for this collection.

The second disc is where fans--who were solicited for track selection input via gigs and the Internet--get the goods. Early demos, among them 1974's coveted "Piss Factory", plus two other pre-Horses recordings, "Redondo Beach" and "Distance Fingers", kick things off. What follows is a batch of previously unreleased live recordings--"Dead City", "Spell", "Boy Cried Wolf"--most captured during a 2001 tour through the US and Europe, and studio outtakes. Smith herself helped remaster the recordings while stacking the accompanying booklet with fans' photos and the like.

Land probably won't spark a Smith renaissance, but loyalists can marvel at an artist who's never turned a fast buck by easing up on the sweat, tears, hunger and integrity that inform every one of these tracks. --Kim Hughes

CD Description
The two-disc set LAND (1975-2002) is post-punk icon Patti Smith's own selection of her finest work from the first quarter-century of her career. The first disc, a best-of collection, is a non-chronological sampling of her key songs ("Dancing Barefoot", "Because the Night", and many more) and adds one new track, a surprisingly effective cover of Prince's "When Doves Cry" that sounds like an outtake from 1978's EASTER. (Confusingly, the track list doesn't include the "Land" medley from 1975's HORSES.) The second disc starts with Smith's incredibly rare 1974 DIY single "Piss Factory", but then runs through previously unheard demos (like a skeletal early version of "Redondo Beach" that sounds more like crazed calliope music than the reggae song it became) and revelatory live tracks. LAND (1975-2002) is a thoughtful, idiosyncratic compilation, but it's more for fans than newcomers, who are still best advised to get a copy of HORSES and move on from there.

Customer Reviews

Classic
When Patti Smith burst onto the NYC underground scene in 74' with Hey Joe/Piss Factory, she was exciting - something which the music scene just now could do with a dose of.

The interest in the NYC punk scene, CGBG club and the bands who have passed through these scenes (The VU, The Strokes, Patti Smith herself, Blondie et al) seems to have rekindled in part thanks to the resurgence of blues-punk like the White Stripes and The Moldy Peaches, and pop-punk like the everpresent Strokes. I can only hope that Patti Smith will not be forgotten as a key player in the development of the Underground scene, and hopefully this CD will open more people up to her music.

This CD is comprehensive, taking in Smiths' whole career, and standout tracks are undoubtedly '1959' off 1998's Peace and Noise, about both a little girl and her love of a car and the plight of the Dalai Lama, and her only charting UK single 'Because The Night', as well as the beautiful 'Dancing Barefoot' and 'Gloria'. From CD2, live cuts such as '25th Floor' (culminating in a guitar battle between Smith and her bandleader Lenny Kaye) and 'Wander I Go' are stunning. 'Wander I Go' is pure poetry, and the second side of that double-A-side, Piss Factory, is as raw and exciting as it was the first time I heard it.
Smiths strength lies not only in her strange, primitive rock'n'roll voice, but also in her way with words, the ease with which she spins a tale and compresses it into four minutes.

The fact that I am only 16 proves that Smith is still relevant today - she doesn't belong to the 70's or the 80's where she made her name, her mark can still be seen here in todays burgeoning garage-rock and underground scene - try it...

The Poet Speaks
This is the perfect CD to replace those scratched vinyl albums, as it contains the best of Smith's seventies and eighties masterpieces like Babelogue, Gloria, People Have The Power, Frederick and Because The Night, plus live versions of old and more recent classics and interesting demo versions of Redondo Beach and Distant Fingers. Even if you have already replaced your vinyl with CD's, this is still a must have. The rare early single P-Factory, a true collector's item, makes this an essential purchase for the true fan. There is no one quite like Patti Smith with her talent for merging rock and poetry. It is luxuriously packaged with an informative booklet. Watch out for the hidden track - it's a lovely surprise to hear her take on the Broadway song Tomorrow!

a must buy at this price - four quid !!!!
I'm so tempted to buy this again even though I've already got it.Really at this price its got to be worth a try even if you dont know any Patti stuff at all.
Its not really a 'Best Of' album.If you want the best of Patti Smith then just buy the sublime Horses album.
But this 2 disc set is packed with classics from the 70s ,with several cuts from Horses included.Highlights are Gloria,Free Money,Because The Night,Dancing Barefoot,Piss Factory,Redondo Beach,Birdland (live) and many others.This album mixes Patti's 70s stuff with cuts from her later more subdued albums such as Gone Again,Peace and Noise,and Gung Ho, which for me don't compare well to her classic albums Horses,Easter,and Radio Ethiopia.But here you can get a taster of what all those albums sound like,plus some rare demo and live stuff.The package also includes a great booklet packed with photos and lyrics.Really for £4 you cant go wrong here,so buy it now before they put the price up !!