Patti Smith: A Biography

by Nick Johnstone

Book Overview

Patti Smith is one of pop culture's true originals. The 1975 release of her debut album Horses signalled the start of a career full of passionate commitment, abrupt gear changes and unlikely collaborations which continues to flourish well into the 21st century.

Arthur Rimbaud, Robert Mapplethorpe, Sam Shepard and Bruce Springsteen are just a few who have become associated with the Patti Smith legend. She has toured...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1780383584
• ISBN13: 9781780383583
• Release Date: September 2012
• Publisher: Omnibus Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.2" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Patti Smith Incomplete

I mostly enjoyed this book; it is obvious that Mr Johnstone did not personally interview Patti or anyone close to her, either personally or professionally - he acknowledges as much, and that may have hampered him in obtaining crucial facts, but he has evidentally spent considerable time reading other material, so the book is pretty well researched and does include info I had never read before. I am still a little taken aback by some factual errors; as someone has already pointed out, the repeated misspelling of Jimmy Iovine's name (I fail to see how someone who works as a music writer would not know the name of such a well-known producer), also he gets Patti's son Jackson's birth year wrong! As for the attempted interpretations of Patti's writing; didn't Mr Johnstone have access to a lyric sheet for "Easter"? He thinks the title track is about "Frederick and Little Lee" and assumes the latter is a nickname Fred gave Patti because her middle name is Lee? The actual names referenced are "Frederic and Vitalie" the siblings of Arthur Rimbaud, and the song is about their First Communion - this is explained in the liner notes! His dissection of the poems "Judith" and "Judith Revisited" are equally ridiculous; he speculates as to whether they refer to a lesbian crush or a male lusting after a female friend, even as he acknowledges the "red herrings" that one apparently has the name "Patti" and "homosexual love" is mentioned! Patti wrote those poems about her own unrequited crush on her friend Judy Linn, the photographer - she discussed it extensively in a 1972 interview with Victor Bockris! I can't believe Mr Johnstone missed these facts, since he does seem to have read up on a lot of research material. Anyway, overall it did make for an interesting read, minus the "interpretations". I was a little disappointed at the photos; a lot of them are not even of Patti, and the ones that are do not include any accompanying info about when and where they were taken. However, the cover photo more than makes up for it - it is gorgeous! Such a pale-skinned beauty; the stuff that dreams are made of,for this girl at least :)