Patti Smith Live in the USA - 10-CD Box Set

 After taking a chance and loving the 10-CD Tom Waits set by this same company, I ordered this set of live Patti from 1975-1979 when she was at her height, and at the time when I was able to see a number of her concerts and loved each highly unique performance.

Once again, the sound quality is excellent overall (with a couple of very minor exceptions), as these were recorded for radio broadcasts, and the early sets are relaxed affairs, with Patti giving solo poetry readings/improvisations/monologues and even a question'n'answer section! When the band comes in they are on fire, with incendiary readings of numbers from her debut, along with the assorted oddity'n'cover tune (the Who, Rolling Stones and Velvet Underground, primarily).

Of course, songs are repeated but that's to be expected since the sets are relatively close together, chronologically, but she and the band never did a song exactly the same twice, especially the more poetic excursions, such as "Land". (Hah, she gives kudos to Boston band Third Rail who yelled out to her on the 3rd CD!) Of course, as the years go by, she performs numbers from each album, right thru to Wave. There are some surprise cover tunes, such as "Mr. Tambourine Man" (on Bob Dylan's birthday and played right after their take on "So You Wanna Be a Rock'n'Roll Star"), "Jailhouse Rock" (!), "You Light Up My Life" (I've got the bootleg with that title, as well), "The Kids Are Alright", "We're Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together", "Pale Blue Eyes", "Time Is On My Side", "All Along the Watchtower", "Twist and Shout", "Cold Turkey", "Secret Agent Man" and, of course, "My Generation", among others!

As I've said before, I've been a fan even before her debut, due to her work with Blue Oyster Cult and her rock writings, so it's no surprise that I dig this, but it really is pretty damn great from start to finish. Highly recommended!