Product Description

1976's RADIO ETHIOPIA, the follow-up to HORSES, turned out to be both more conventional in some ways and more challenging in others. A deciding factor was Jack 'Aerosmith' Douglasreplacement of John Cale as producer--the songs were more succinct (for the most part) this time around. The group continued to strive for the perfect balance between thought-provoking poetry and rough rock n' roll, and while RADIO ETHIOPIA contains it's share of highlights, many Smith fans consider it a transitional album not quite up to par with either HORSES or EASTER.
The opening "Ask the Angels" was perhaps The Patti Smith Group's most straight-ahead rocker up to that point, while the exploratory reggae-tinged "Ain't It Strange" would be extended concert staple. The tempo is brought down a notch or two on the cool "Poppies", "Abyssinia", and "Chiklets" (the latter a bonus track on the '96 CD remaster),but soon returns to furious rock with "Pumping (My Heart)".Also included is the album's best track, the haunting and heartbroken "Distant Fingers", while the 10-minute title cut features a repetitive heavy metal riff amongst a backdrop ofsonic experimentation and a frantic recitation by Smith.

Track Listing

1. Ask The Angels
2. Ain't It Strange
3. Poppies
4. Pissing In The River
5. Pumping (My Heart)
6. Distant Fingers
7. Radio Ethiopia
8. Abyssinia

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37038 in Music
• Released on: 1996-07-01
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Smith's best - "rock'n'roll is what I'm born to be"
One of Smith's two best albums, Horses being the other one - and I think I slightly prefer this one. While the first was ascribed to 'Patti Smith' alone, this one is 'Patti Smith group'; she is still the One, but there is a guitar playing here that goes straight down the spine (Ain't it strange beginning, for instance). Isn't it all a tad pretentious, with all that Rimbaud and poetry stuff? You bet. But does it work? Oh yeah. "Ask the angels" and "Pumping my heart" are wonderful rock'n'roll, guaranteed to get your heart and fists pumping, while tracks like "Poppies" and "Distant fingers" are the best of seventies cool, surely. 'Pissing in a river' is another fantastic highlight, this grows on you (and me, for 32 years already...). Not a bad track on the album (well, maybe ~Abyssinia~). "Ain't it strange" is the absolute high point from the high priestess of rock (sorry if I grow a tad pompous, must be the music) - electric, understated, tense and wonderful. This is an album that is performed from both the heart and the brain, and the two mesh to perfection.Total abandon!

Some of her finest work
Horses and Easter are such wonderful albums that it's easy not to be carried away by Radio Ethiopia, which has some of her more difficult tracks. But it deserves 5 stars for Ain't it Strange? and Pissing in the River alone. Ain't it strange has always been my favourite Smith album, an edgy, hypnotic number that conjures up strange images and carries the listener to strange place. 'Do you go to the temple tonight? Oh, no, I don't think so, no....'

an underrated album - my favourite
This is my favourite Patti Smith album - it abandons the "poppy" aspect of Easter and picks up where Horses left off. Ain't it strange is a really funky track, as well as Poppies. She is very imaginative with this album and it works. Let yourself be absorbed!