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10.0
42381
10.0 |
BBC
Banga is the best Patti Smith album since Horses. No one else makes rock records as rich, poetic and sexy as this. Not even Polly Harvey
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9.0
42559
9.0 |
PopMatters
We hardly needed to be reminded of Smith’s faultlessness, but Banga is the sort of reminder one will welcome repeatedly
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9.0
43207
9.0 |
Paste Magazine
A song cycle that expresses a synthesis of all of her strengths to form one of her strongest albums
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9.0
44683
9.0 |
Tone Deaf
The best part of Banga, is that Smith knows she doesn’t owe her audience anything anymore and as a result, she’s become free to play around more and give us all a diverse, and thoroughly enjoyable record
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8.3
42715
8.3 |
A.V. Club
Her first collection of new songs since 2004, and it’s one of her most immediately engaging
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8.0
42751
8.0 |
Slant Magazine
Doesn't exactly break many rules, but it does find Smith rejuvenated, discovering new wisdom in old myths and icons, and in her missives to the young, a renewed sense of purpose
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8.0
42754
8.0 |
State
Banga is not the best album Patti Smith has ever made, but it is a very good one. It can best be described as mature, yet exploratory
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8.0
43000
8.0 |
No Ripcord
The songstress’s most ambitious statement yet
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8.0
43106
8.0 |
Rave Magazine
Sometimes it is apparent that an artist should just let go, but with Banga in mind, let’s all hope Smith keeps going for a while yet
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8.0
42671
8.0 |
The Independent
Some of her most touching love songs
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8.0
42598
8.0 |
Prefix
Patti Smith's voice is clear and powerful, an embodiment of her singularity as a poet and musician
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8.0
42626
8.0 |
Under The Radar
Finds Smith sounding utterly rejuvenated, with a heady idealism imbuing her finest record in more than two decades
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8.0
42379
8.0 |
The Observer
The first half of the album is actually pretty, with Smith crooning sweetly about Amerigo Vespucci while marvelling at the colonialist impulse to baptise on Amerigo. But it gets really good – idolatrously so – from the title track on in
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8.0
42380
8.0 |
The Guardian
The collision of sound and language is exhilarating
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8.0
42382
8.0 |
The Arts Desk
An album as challenging and original as any that came before it
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8.0
42388
8.0 |
The Irish Times
Played for the most part in an understated manner, and mulling over stuff in the way only Smith can, Banga is assured, and quite often serene
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8.0
42391
8.0 |
NME
She's as important now as she was when she was kicking dust at CBGB
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8.0
42408
8.0 |
Uncut
The betrayed promise of America and the despoiled Eden of the New World hang heavy over the album
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8.0
42410
8.0 |
Mojo
Smith's primary energies are the same ones that ignited and illuminated 1975's Horses and 1978's Easter. Print edition only
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7.1
42492
7.1 |
Pitchfork
Ultimately, it's Banga's earnestness about the thrill of discovery that makes it feel so out-of-time and refreshing
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7.0
42525
7.0 |
Drowned In Sound
A bit of musical beauty, some interesting lyricism and a pinch of hippy bollocks - still distinctly Patti Smith
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7.0
42438
7.0 |
Rolling Stone
Banga's real magic happens when the words start flying off the grooves
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7.0
42654
7.0 |
Consequence Of Sound
Banga doesn’t just preserve a petrified version of Patti Smith circa Horses; rather, it’s fresh and innovative, albeit disjointed
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6.0
42377
6.0 |
musicOMH
Much of Banga is dependably excellent and it is never anything less than competent. Yet there is still a sense that Smith, as an exalted artist of the critical mainstream who is not exactly required to have ‘hits’, might just let go a little more
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6.0
42414
6.0 |
Q
A low-light delight. Print edition only
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6.0
42383
6.0 |
The Scotsman
The title track is one of her most satisfying rock numbers in some time but elsewhere she goes mainly downbeat
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6.0
42385
6.0 |
Scotland on Sunday
Ticking over smoothly as opposed to burning political rubber, Patti Smith’s first album in eight years finds the high priestess of punk in mellow musical mood
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4.0
42387
4.0 |
Evening Standard
She sounds bereft of spirit and distracted
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