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In fact, her love of poetry is the clearest it’s been in years, Spell taking its cue – and some of its words – from Allen Ginsberg’s Footnote To Howl. Grief in the wake of her husband’s death is still raw, but there’s a sense of looking to the future, of keeping on going and making the most of precious time left on earth, not least in the meandering 10 minutes of improvised, stream-of-consciousness poetry and noise that make up Memento Mori. Politics aside, Gung Ho sees Smith playing with language, turning over phrases and throwing in the odd wickedly coarse expression that clearly delighted her the moment it wormed its way into her brain, as on New Party: ' Why don’t you fertilise the lawn with what’s running from your mouth?'Īfter a period of reflection and mourning, this is Patti Smith putting herself back out into the world.Ĭharged by the creative high point of Gone Again, Smith returns a year later with Peace And Noise. Both songs take their cue from her own generation, from the protests against the war in Vietnam in the 60s, regenerating the hippie ideal for the 21st century. There’s no mincing words or hiding behind metaphor, her cry of ' awake, people arise!' In Upright Come as direct and clear-eyed as it needs to be. If 1996’s Gone Again and 1997’s Peace And Noise were Smith’s manifestation of personal grief, Gung Ho takes a much more worldly look at existence, opener One Voice calling for togetherness in the fight for the health and happiness of the planet and trumpeting the emergence of Patti Smith as earth mother.