Patti Smith – Horses Review

A debut album, now more than ever, has got to be a statement. Something an artist can tour for the years to follow as they work on bigger and bolder material. It was the same in the 1970s, but with the sheer volume of new music, it’s hard to know who will stick around. Patti Smith has been around for years, and her debut album, Horses, is as strong as ever. Informed by the protest era before her, Smith takes to the studio with a desire to hit harder, stronger, than those preceding Horses did. She sets a standard many musicians are still trying to reach the blur of punk rock tones and honest sentiment. Horses is a hopeful statement of the future. Smith would stick true to the words she performed here, and after fifty years of this debut classic, it’s hard to hear where the musical unity may come from next. It’s still there, the beating heart of many communities and spirited discussions, but Horses now fights a losing battle. 

Or does it? Smith opens with a career-best effort, Gloria. A song of nightmares and pushing against them irrespective of the outcome, and that’s all we can ask of ourselves and musicians with a care for culture. Smith is an innovator. One of the great musical influences. You can hear entire genres in just one song of Horses. She would go on to influence her influences with songs like Gloria and Redondo Beach. That latter song has an instrumental groove and tone which Bob Dylan would try and fail to adapt over the course of a decade. Few can do the simple instrumentals, the repetitive grooves, well enough to drag it across an entire song, let alone an album. Smith knows to cut a few pieces short, to leave a listener wanting more. That’s the greatest strength of Horses. Near ten-minute epics like Birdland are the norm, and it’s a staggering, spirited pull at A Book of Dreams.  

Strength is the strongest part of Horses. Not just in the performance or instrumental structure but the idealism, the hope of a brighter future. So long as Smith keeps performing it, so long as people keep listening, that rebellious and punk spirit reigns on. Poetry in motion is the clear quality of Horses. Nothing quite like Land has been released since, not in the same genre at least. Beyond the intensity and influence, there is a quality of musicianship here which plants Smith on the map and keeps her at the top of her game for years to come. Songs like Free Money and Break It Up are clear in their political and cultural intent but are also, crucially, performed well. There is a flair which keeps the counterculture burning but also appeals to the strait-laced listeners.  

Reinterpretation of rock and roll turns into a reckoning of truly great instrumental work. There are songs here which rely on those thrilling, blues-rock and 1960s spirit, like Break It Up. But for every moment making note of the past, there are two more with an arresting look at the future. Smith feels the flow of potential as the 1970s continues on, and even now, Horses remains a defiant piece of work. You could embed this in modern times and it’d feel like a staggering read on the world around us. Timeless is the right word for a piece like this, a triumph of impressive writing and a great, counter-culture assessment. Glorious and beautiful but also jagged, brutal assessments of the culture of the times. Things have not changed since Horses released. Those same pitfalls, all those shortcomings, are still lingering in modern times. Smith is the real counter-culture voice of her time, and she remains a prominent force.