Teeming with ambition, primitivism, anybody-can-do-this chutzpah and casual androgyny, Horses demands a reaction. On the basis of attitude alone, Smith inspired every punk and Riot Grrrl artist who followed in her wake. A published poet and rock critic, she began reciting her Beat-tribute “Ba... 

 Radio Ethiopia boasts the Patti Smith Group's growing power as a band, broadcasting a gritty, hard-rocking rhythm guitar sound. “Pumping (My Heart)” and “Ask the Angels” ring out like anthems, but the grueling title cut reveals the Achilles' heel among Patti's pretensions h... 

 On Easter producer Jimmy Iovine makes good on Smith's professed rebel stance by moving her sound even closer to solid, meat-and-potatoes mainstream rock. You can hear the newfound confidence in her singing, and the more traditionally structured approach doesn't dull the jagged convictio... 

 Wave continues that melodic roll with “Dancing Barefoot,” and “Frederick,” though for the rest of the album Smith sounds uncharacteristically fuzzy, even disengaged. Once the Patti Smith Group had completed a successful tour in 1979, Patti Smith abruptly retired from the music scene. Perh... 

 After eight subsequent years of marriage (to Detroit rocker Fred “Sonic” Smith) and two children, Smith quietly resurfaced perhaps the only low-profile comeback of the late Eighties. Overproduced by Jimmy Iovine (with Fred “Sonic” Smith), Dream of Life's net effect underwhelms most e... 

 Then with Gone Again in 1996 Smith launched her most sustained productive period since the Seventies. Gone Again is dedicated to Fred “Sonic” Smith, and not surprisingly, the songs on Gone Again focus on death and loss. Though not near as aggressive as her classic Seventies work, the hard roc... 

 Peace & Noise, on the other hand, is a disappointment. Some of the songs like “Dead City” and “Spell” are weakened by the busy out-of-place metal guitar of Oliver Ray and others like the far stronger “1959” feel like leftovers from Gone Again.  

 Far better is Gung Ho where on songs like “New Party” and “Strange Messengers” Smith returns to bringing political and social commentary into her vatic pronouncements. “Lo and Beholden” is another fantastic collaboration with Lenny Kaye. Only on the nearly 12-minute title track does S... 

 Hardly a traditional greatest hits collection, Land’s first disc is mostly a career spanning retrospective that many will find a bit too focused on Smith’s Nineties work. The second disc of Land–a rarities, live recordings and outtakes collection–is even more heavily weighted to the Nine... 

 On Trampin’, Smith shuffles between garage-y rockers and more meditative ballads. The best songs are focused, melodic cuts like “Peaceable Kingdom,” where she hopes for harmony in a post–9/11 world.  

 Twelve is a covers record where Smith holds her own on some tough songs. She remains relatively faithful to the original on “Gimme Shelter,” but on a haunting version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” she replaces grunge guitars with banjo and acoustic strumming.  

 Smith cut the live Coral Sea with guitar wizard Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine. Culled from two different performances, it’s a mostly spoken-word tribute to the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe record, with surrealistic (and sometimes sung) narratives about a sea voyage that are surrounde...