Gung Ho

04/19/2000 6:02 PM, LAUNCH
Rob O'Connor

There was a time when a new Patti Smith album was an event unto itself. She'd holed herself up in Detroit to raise a family and music took a backseat. Even the tiniest morsel had to be savored. You never knew if and when she'd be back.

Now that she's clearly on the active roster, releasing her third album in five years, we've become accustomed to her sound. The way she curls a note, the way her lyrics both exalt life and admit deep suffering, the way the guitars will pitch themselves skyward without a guitar hero's stance, but with the ratty insistence of a garage band's enthusiasm. She is about recapturing youth as age continues to mount. She remembers Jerry Garcia this time around in "Grateful." Her own father adorns the album's cover. At one point, she repeats, "May you live a long life."

Just as she was once rock 'n' roll culture's biggest fan with her punk attitude driving her forward, now in her braids and graying hair she is an earth mama laying claim to all that is sacred. A weird transition in some ways, yet the song truly remains the same.