Holy shit, this CD is fucking awesome.

It's a very odd collection of covers. She does Jimi's "Are You Experienced?"

And when Patti Smith sings "And have you ever been experienced...? I have..." you totally believe it.

Her cover of the Stone's "Gimme Shelter" is just unhinged.

Patti is an ageless wonder. This is going to be one of my favorite albums of 2007, no doubt about it. I've been listening to it more than American Doll Posse or the new NIN

ever hear her cover of When Doves Cry?

NorthernLad said:

Her version of Hey Joe is really next level shit. Completely mind blowing,. That and Piss Factory were her first two recordings, it doesn't get better than that!!!!!


My favorite Patti cover is The Marvelettes When The Hunter Gets Captured by the game and the song Mafia on this bootleg,

She really is a great cover artist.


[Edited 4/26/07 20:42pm]

lilgish said:

No, i never got around to getting the retrospective, but i'm going to now. i need to fill in the gaps in my Patti collection.

i have horses, easter, dream of life, gone again, gung ho and 12. i'm sure i'm missing some

I love the fact that you have Rainbow in your avatar! I was listening to "Street of Dreams" earlier today. That's an early-80s favorite of mine

NorthernLad said:

well, it's a bootleg concert, I'm not sure that cover is on actual album. She did a B.O.C cover and a version and a take off on the Nirvana song she titled About a "Boy". Most of her great covers are bootlegs that I've heard. This site has alot of good info http://www.oceanstar.com/patti/

lilgish said:

sweet, i will definitely check it out!

patti smith is so amazing.

Oh, I haven't heard about this CD yet!

I must search for it...

I LOVE Patti, and was SO glad that I was able to see her while in Europe (She played the closing ceremonies at the Cannabis Cup a few years ago), but the new record sounds like someone singing in the shower. Y'all are better off buying "Trampin" if you don't already own it.

jackmitz said:

i don't think "twelve" is as bad as some people are making it out to be - on first listen, i was expecting a total disappointment (so why did i buy it? - curiosity, mainly) but i found that going into it with low expectations yielded moderately high gains.

i think with a little added "oomph", this could have been a killer covers album. patti's voice sounds great throughout (at 60, she sounds just like she did back in the "horses" days), but the arrangements lack a little something. it's like, in each song, i keep waiting for the build-up, or for the big ka-boom, or for the dynamics that made the original versions so great...and it never really happens.

i think patti's cover of "smells like teen spirit" is the most frustrating because her vocals are lovely and the hippie-bluegrass accompaniment was a surprisingly interesting choice, but after the shock of this new take on an old hit, the song just hangs there without going anywhere. patti's got great pipes, but come on - you can only expect her to carry a song SO FAR by herself.

i think this is a fun little bauble for patti fans and a sweet way for patti to say "thank you" for being inducted to the rock'n'roll hall of fame, an honor that she says she is proud of more for the people in her life than for herself. to expect "twelve" to be the next "horses" or "trampin" is WAY off the mark here. expect nothing and you'll get more than what you went in for.

Anx said:

Funny, I actually was expecting a solid album, interesting choices, new takes on old tunes. But I was really disappointed. Two highlights: Smells like, I did like the bluegrass take; the last track.

So,
low expectations: great album,
high expectations: great disappointment.