In 2005 the wife and I walked into a gallery in Rome and quite by accident saw an exhibition of Polaroids by Patti Smith. The beautiful white frames were not hung on a straight wall. No, they were installed at waist level, horizontally, facing up along a curved wall. In other words you looked down to view quiet, intimate moments. Not quite what I expected from the Godmother of punk rock.

Patti is much more infamous for her profanities, protest work, 1970’s punk rock anthems, friendship with Robert Mapplethorpe and that off-key voice that could stop you dead in your tracks. (Patti doesn’t quite sing, does she? But like Bob Dylan, no one can sing her music the way she does.)

Then Arista Records had to go and make it impossible to NOT own a Patti Smith album. They released her first five albums as a box set called ‘Original Album Classics’ and Musica is selling it R240.00! That is R48.00 per album.

Listening to her now, 30 odd years after the albums were released I have realized that her music is timeless.

Go forth and buy.