Patti Smith: Live at Montreux 2005

On tour at the time in support of 2004's Trampin', poet-musician Patti Smith performs in this satisfying 2005 engagement from Switzerland's Montreux Jazz Festival, backed by three longtime collaborators—guitarist Lenny Kaye and drummer Jay Dee Daugherty (Patti Smith Group) and Tom Verlaine (Television)—as well as Tony Shanahan on bass and keyboards. Although Smith sprinkles new tracks throughout the set, she spends more time on 1970s classics, like "Dancing Barefoot" and the Bruce Springsteen co-written smash hit "Because the Night." Smith also trades vocals with Kaye on a forthright cover of Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone," which isn't bad, although her rollicking take on Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away" works better, not least because vocal partner Shanahan is a stronger singer than Kaye. Thirty years down the line, Smith and her band mates still sound vital and energized, and while Smith primarily concentrates on the delivery of her words and lyrics, she picks up an electric guitar for "25th Floor" and an acoustic one for "Beneath the Southern Cross," which features a Byrds-inspired instrumental interlude. And towards the end of the 12-song set she adds clarinet to the stately, mournful "Seven Ways of Going," which she dedicates to free-jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman. Presented in DTS-5.1 and Dolby Digital stereo on DVD, and DTS-HD 5.1 and LPCM stereo on Blu-ray, this is recommended. (K. Fennessy)