Easter

Patti Smith’s already self-dramatizing stance entered a new dimension after a 1977 accident in which her neck was broken in a fall from a Southern stage. She emerged in relatively short time with Easter, a third album that was as visionary as its two predecessors had been. For all its art-world rhetoric and free verse, however, the album was her most polished yet, even bringing a hit single in the Smith/Springsteen coauthored “Because the Night.” Producer Jimmy Iovine brought a shaking thunder to the drums on cuts like “Till Victory” and “Space Monkey,” while making the shamanistic title track ring with a churchy depth. At a time when some punks were making compromises in faovr of radio-ready production, Easter showed how it could be done while incorporating such moves into the artist’s essence. This edition includes the “Because” B-side “Godspeed” as a bonus track.