TWELVE update

[L French <lrfrench>]

  It was the summer that Coltrane died. The summer Jimi Hendrix set his guitar in flames and China exploded the H-bomb. There were riots in Newark and marches against the war in Vietnam. The world was on the brink of change. It was the summer of love. And the summer of a chance encounter that would change the course of my life. It was the summer I met Robert. 
   
  Patti Smith 
   
   
   
  TWELVE by PATTI SMITH 
   
  Patti Smith's new album is titled TWELVE, which has many connotations beyond the obvious "Twelve" cover songs it will contain. According to Lenny Kaye, if you count the Land greatest hits package with its second bonus disc (as #10), and the Horses/Horses (second disc as #11), it is number Twelve. Though obviously that's not why the title was chosen...  
   
  There is also the fact that 5 x 12 = Pattis current age (Sixty), and Pattis love of 12-inch vinyl records. Patti also covered the song THE TWELFTH OF NEVER, sung by Johnny Mathis, after her husband, Fred "Sonic" Smith died in 1994. 
   
  On top of that, there is historically, many significant meanings to twelve, starting of course with the twelve disciples, who figured in Pattis first poetry reading back in 1971, where she wrote: christ. greater escape artist than Houdini. And the finest faggot in history having 12 men to lick his feet.  
   
  Now wouldnt it be interesting if there should also be a hidden 13th track? Since that is traditionally an unlucky number, it would of course be hidden. But like Christ and his disciples, it would match the number of the traditional coven of witches. 
   
  The known tracks for TWELVE are listed below. The remaining bands have also been confirmed, but the song titles have not. As Lenny Kaye says, surprise be us in the title names. 
   
   
  twelve (Columbia Records) 
   
  Release date: April 17, 2007 
  Recorded at Electric Lady Studio and Loho Studio, New York City 
  Produced by Patti Smith and her band 
   
  Confirmed tracks: 
   
  1. JIMI HENDRIX: Are You Experienced? 
  2. NIRVANA: Smells Like Teen Spirit 
  3. NEIL YOUNG: Helpless 
  4. STEVIE WONDER: Pastime Paradise 
  5. JEFFERSON AIRPLANE: White Rabbit 
  6. THE DOORS: Soul Kitchen 
  7. TEARS FOR FEARS: Everybody Wants To Rule The World 
   
  Unknown tracks by these artists: 
   
  8. BOB DYLAN: possibly Changing of the Guard 
  9. THE ROLLING STONES: possibly Gimme Shelter 
  10. THE BEATLES: possibly Revolution 
  11. PAUL SIMON: ? 
  12. THE ALLMAN BROTHERS: ? 
   
   
  And since Patti obviously recorded many other songs, here are some possibilities for hidden tracks B-sides and promo tracks: 
   
  13. Wild Card - THE GRATEFUL DEAD, REM, PUCCINI  
  14. Wild Card - TIM BUCKLEY, GENE CLARK, THE YARDBIRDS 
   
   
  An assortment of guest artists appear with Patti on Twelve including Italian cellist Giovanni Sollima; playwright Sam Shepard (with whom Patti collaborated on "Cowboy Mouth" in 1971) on banjo for Patti's version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit;" early 60s Greenwich Village folk artists John Cohen (banjo) and Peter Stampfel (fiddle); Red Hot Chili Peppers' bassist Flea; Television guitarist Tom Verlaine; the Black Crowes' Rich Robinson on slide guitar and dulcimer; and hip-hop producer Luis Resto (Eminem) on keyboards (Resto was the keyboard player on Pattis Gone Again album). Patti's son, Jackson, and daughter, Jesse, are on-hand to contribute guitar and vocals respectively. 
   
  _____________  
   
   
  here-in a flame
memory spins
bright as a bloom
in the black wind
here-in a light
simple and stern
here-in the deep
where perfection burns
spewing silver bits
from a raging sea
turned with the wit
of a man such as he
bright as a bloom
the span of a man
bold as a tulip
in the black wind


   
   
   
   
     
   


 
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