Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

I have been all over the place with TWELVE, the new release by Patti Smith. For me, the reference point of her work has been and probably will always be HORSES, her debut long-player, a statement that you can listen to from beginning to end without being tempted to skip a track. That has not been true of her subsequent releases --- quick, name more than three tracks from any one of them, without peeking --- and it is not true of TWELVE, a selection of a dozen oddly chosen, and at times, oddly performed, cover tunes. Yet, for all its faults, it is one of the more memorable releases of recent memory.

I'm blessed with an advanced copy of TWELVE, shipped without credits. Perhaps it is just as well. The Patti Smith Group was much more than Smith and a backing band; her music lost some of its fire when she parted ways with them. Some of that fire could have been used on TWELVE, what with tracks like Jimi Hendrix’ “Are You Experienced” and The Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter.” So indelibly are these two compositions linked with their creators that covering them would seem at best a challenge, at worst a mistake. The problem here is that Smith doesn't even sound like she’s trying on these songs. Both lack even a touch of fire, being slowed down to a relative crawl with nothing much to recommend them. At least her cover of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” sounds as if she was trying, even if she fails, as she does with another ill-chosen selection, The Doors’ “Soul Kitchen.”

But…but…Smith also, somehow, maddeningly so, ties the project together and makes it worthwhile with a number of successes. One of these, improbably, is her take on Tears For Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule The World.” Nothing should work on this. It is one of the worst, most-overplayed songs in existence, right up there with “Susudio,” and Smith plays it almost totally straight, actually singing normally on it, backed with a straight ahead arrangement which almost sounds like karaoke. The result is…lovely. It’s a single. It could be her biggest single. I can see some college girl buying TWELVE and then going out and buying RADIO ETHIOPIA thinking she'll be getting more of the same. Hoo ha! Smith also does a take on “Boy In the Bubble” that will make you forget all about Paul Simon’s version…what? You'd already forgotten about Paul Simon? Actually, I did too, I thought the song was the flip-side to “Let Her In” by John Travolta, but no, it’s the Paul Simon tune, rendered wonderfully European by Smith. My favorite track on the whole CD, however, is “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Yes, the one by Nirvana. It’s incredible. She uses a banjo on it, for Pete’s sake. And before you start laughing, think of “Gallows Pole” by Led Zeppelin, think of the brilliant, under-appreciated work of 16 Horsepower, how they make your hair stand on end, conjuring up a vision of a cloven-hoofed beast of darkness chasing you through a forest at night. That’s Smith’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” And you need to hear it.

Smith relied heavily on cover tunes early in her career --- “Gloria,” “Hey Joe,” “My Generation” to name a few --- and it’s interesting, if not consistently entertaining, to hear her close the circle with TWELVE. While not everything on TWELVE is memorable, there’s nothing on here that will make you throw your yourself in front of a train, either, and the great tracks are…well, they're great. Worth a listen or four, for sure.