Patti Smith Complete

Victor Bockris is now best known for his studies of Muhammad Ali, William Burroughs, and Andy Warhol, but a In an earlier incarnation he was responsible for publishing a book of poems entitled Seventh Heaven by a young unknown named Patti Smith. He's therefore well placed to chart the rise of that fledging poet as she turned to music, recorded the timeless 1975 album Horses, and became the instantly familiar, thrillingly gaunt face of New York's artsy version of punk.

Bockris knows 1970s Manhattan Bohemia like the back of his hand, and Patti Smith provides the perfect entree. When your lovers include playwright Sam Shepard and legendary musos Tom Verlaine and Todd Rundgren, and your flatmate's a 19-year-old wannabe named Robert Mapplethorpe, there's plenty to write home about. But Smith soon dropped out in favour of a family life in the suburbs of Detroit, bringing up two children, and supporting her husband (MC5 guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith) until his death from alcohol in 1994. In so doing, as one wit put it, "She managed to be a rock'n'roll death without having to die."

Quoting extensively from eyewitness accounts of Smith in performance, Bockris captures something of the intensity of this remarkable artist, and contributes in no small part to her current reincarnation. --Alan Stewart