Everything about Horses Album totally explained
Horses is the debut album by
Patti Smith, released in 1975 on
Arista Records. While commercial success of the album was modest – it peaked at #47 on the
Billboard 200 – its impact has been far greater.
Horses frequently appears on lists of the greatest rock albums.
Music and inspiration
At the time she recorded
Horses, Patti Smith and her band were favorites in the
New York club scene. Smith was a rabid fan of many 60's rock musicians such as
Jimi Hendrix,
Brian Jones of
The Rolling Stones and
Jim Morrison as well as favorites of
Motown and jazz such as
Smokey Robinson and
John Coltrane. The former's influence can be best heard in the track "
Gloria", a radical retake on the
Them garage rock classic. "Birdland"'s music, in particular, owed more to the jazz music Smith's mother enjoyed than to the influence of punk. When recording this song, which was improvised by the band in
Electric Lady Studios, Smith has said she imagined the spirit of Hendrix watching her. The lyrics of "Birdland" are based upon "A Book of Dreams" (1973), a memoir of
Wilhelm Reich by his son Peter. Several of the album's songs ("
Redondo Beach", "
Free Money", "Kimberly") were inspired by moments with members of Smith's family, while others ("Break It Up", "Elegie") were written about her idols. "Land" was already a live favorite and featured the first verse of
Chris Kenner's "
Land of a Thousand Dances." Guest musicians included
Tom Verlaine of
Television and
Allen Lanier of
Blue Öyster Cult.
The cover
The
cover photo was taken by
Robert Mapplethorpe using natural light in a penthouse in
Greenwich Village. The triangle of light on the wall was the product of the afternoon sun. The record company wanted to make various changes to the photo including airbrushing out Patti Smith's moustache but Smith overruled such attempts.
NME named the album number 1 in its list "20 Near-as-Damn-It Perfect Initial Efforts". while David Antrobus from
PopMatters chose
Horses as his favorite album and considered it a life-changing classic.
Michael Stipe bought the album as a high school student and says it "tore my limbs off and put them back on in a whole different order."
Morrissey and
Johnny Marr shared an appreciation for the record, and one of their early compositions for
The Smiths, "
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle", is a reworking of "Kimberly".
The Libertines' song "The Boy Looked at Johnny" is named after the line in the title track of the album. In 1977,
Sammy Hagar released a cover of "
Free Money" on his
self-titled second album. An episode of
Millennium, "The Time Is Now", would later use the song "Land" in a bizarre "music video" sequence depicting a character's descent into madness. In the
Toy Machine Skateboards video "
Good and Evil", Johnny Layton used the song "Free Money" in his part.
Track listing
Side one
"Gloria: In Excelsis Deo / Gloria (version)" (Patti Smith, Van Morrison) – 5:57
"Redondo Beach" (Smith, Richard Sohl, Lenny Kaye) – 3:26
"Birdland" (Smith, Sohl, Kaye, Ivan Kral) – 9:15
"Free Money" (Smith, Kaye) – 3:52
Side two
"Kimberly" (Smith, Allen Lanier, Kral) – 4:27
"Break It Up" (Smith, Tom Verlaine) – 4:04
"Land: Horses / Land of a Thousand Dances / La Mer (De)" (Smith, Chris Kenner) – 9:25
"Elegie" (Smith, Lanier) – 2:57
Bonus track (CD reissue)
» *"My Generation" (Live) (Pete Townshend) – 3:16
Legacy edition
The live album was recorded as part of the "30th Anniversary" at the Meltdown festival, which Smith curated. It follows the same running order as the original release of Horses, and features Tom Verlaine and Flea on bass. Released November 8, 2005 this is a double CD, with the digitally remastered version of the original 1975 album (with the bonus track "My Generation") on the first disc, and a live recording of the entire album on the second disc:
Track listing
"Gloria: In Excelsis Deo/Gloria (version)" – 7:01
"Redondo Beach" – 4:29
"Birdland" – 9:52
"Free Money" – 5:29
"Kimberly" – 5:28
"Break It Up" – 5:24
"Land: Horses/Land of a Thousand Dances/La Mer (De)" – 17:35
"Elegie" – 5:08
"My Generation" - 6:59
Personnel
Original release
Band
Patti Smith – vocals, guitar
Lenny Kaye – guitar, bass, vocals
Jay Dee Daugherty – drums, consultant
Ivan Kral – bass, guitar, vocals
Richard Sohl – keyboards
Additional personnel
Allen Lanier – production, guitar, keyboards
Bernie Kirsh – engineering, mastering
Bob Gruen – photography
Bob Heimall – design
Bob Irwin – mastering
Bob Ludwig – mastering
Chuck Krall – photography
Danny Fields – photography
Edie Baskin – photography
Frank d'Augusta – assistant engineer
Richard Aaron – photography
Robert Mapplethorpe – photography
Sherri Whitmarsh – design
Tom Verlaine – guitar
Vic Anesini – mastering
Charts
Release history
Further Information
Get more info on 'Horses Album'.
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