Wave [CD] 1996 Reviews

Patti Smith’s fourth studio album, Wave, is missing some of the messy, anarchistic folk-punk that made her previous albums so compelling (even if some of the songs worked better as experiments than as actual recordings). Yes, this is the album that began her move towards more radio-friendly sounds. Yes, it’s the most polished and pop oriented album she’s ever cut. But that does not mean that it is without it’s charms and merits.

“Dancing Barefoot” at first sounds like a redo of “Because the Night,” but builds upon that song's promises of mystery and sexuality to become something even more beautiful and rich. It’s no wonder that it’s become one of her biggest songs, if not one of her more defining cuts. “Frederick,” a love song to her future husband, is also soft and AOR friendly, but just as quirky and slightly strange as any other Patti Smith song. And “Revenge” might just have one of the greatest lyrical intros to any song: “I feel upset/Let’s do some celebrating/Come on honey, don’t hesitate now.” If that’s not a call to arms and a kinky-dangerous come on, I don’t know what is. “So You Want to Be (A Rock & Roll Star),” a Byrds cover, and “Wave,” an imagined conversation with Pope John Paul I, are the only other tracks worth a listen on the album.

Sadly, the rest is just too bland and polished for any album, but especially for a Patti Smith. As a follow up to almost-as-great-as-Horses Easter, Wave fails to impress. It would be roughly twenty years until she came back with a vengeance, armed with an album anywhere as exciting or crazy as her greatest works. This always has been and always be one of the lesser works in her canon. DOWNLOAD: “Dancing Barefoot”