Banga (album)

''Banga'' is the eleventh and most recent studio album by American rock musician Patti Smith, released on June 1, 2012 on Columbia Records. Recorded throughout 2011 at New York's Electric Lady Studios and Hoboken's Hobo Recorders, ''Banga'' was produced by Smith, Tony Shanahan, Jay Dee Daugherty and collaborator Lenny Kaye. The album includes a number of guest musicians including Tom Verlaine of Television, Italian band Casa del Vento, Jack Petruzzelli and Smith's own children, Jackson and Jesse Paris.

Inspired by Smith's "unique dreams and observations", the material on ''Banga'' focuses on "a wide range of human experience" and features songs about history, current affairs, death and nature. The album was announced alongside the release of its lead single, "April Fool", as a digital download on April 1, 2012.

Recording

''Banga'' was recorded throughout 2011 at Electric Lady Studios in New York. Speaking of the recording process, Smith said: "there's a certain innocence recording your first things that you can't recapture but we recorded this album in the same studio -- in Jimi Hendrix' studio Electric Lady -- with the same personnel, the same sense of idealism and even, by coincidence, the record
is coming out on the anniversary of when we recorded my debut album ''Horses'' in 1974. These type of things, I always take them as good signs." The sessions were produced by Smith, Tony Shanahan, Jay Dee Daugherty and Lenny Kaye.

Composition

The material on ''Banga'' is "inspired by Smith's unique dreams and observations" and the album's lyrics are "a reflection of our complex world – a world that is rife with chaos and beauty." Both the album's musical structure and lyrical themes vary. "Amerigo" is based on "imagining the voyage of Amerigo Vespucci to the New World in 1497" and "Fuji-san" is a rock song in tribute to the people of Japan following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. "This is the Girl" is referred to as "a classic ballad" in memory of English musician Amy Winehouse and "Nine" is reportedly a birthday song for Smith's friend Johnny Depp. "Constantine's Dream" is a "ten-minute-plus improvisational meditation" and Smith has said "n the songthere are many questions. It questions the role of artists in our society. The questions are there, and they're not answerable questions." "Maria" is partially based on actress Maria Schneider and the song Smith calls "the more emotional song on the record." Describing the song, Smith said: "it's the one that looks back on a beautiful time and sort of encapsulates the 970sin a certain way for me. It's a nice little R&B song, but an emotional song."

Packaging

In an interview on ''CBS News Sunday Morning'' on April 1, 2012, Smith explained the album's title: "for those who are curious, you can find what ''Banga'' is if you read ''The Master and Margarita'' by Bulgakov." N.B. References are found from 3:42–5:27 in the embed video. In ''The Master and Margarita'', Banga is Pontius Pilate's dog to whom Pilate could freely complain about the hemicrania that tortured him. Other songs on the album were also inspired by literature, particularly "April Fool," inspired by Nikolai Gogol.

The photos within the booklet of the CD detail part of the album's composition, in late 2011 aboard the ''Costa Concordia'', months before she capsized off the coast of Italy. Smith and Kaye were invited by Jean-Luc Godard to accompany him while he was shooting his film '' Socialisme''. Smith makes a brief cameo appearance in the film. The ''Banga'' CD booklet includes photos taken of Smith and her band during their cruise.

Release

''Banga'' was announced for released on April 1, 2012. The album's lead single, "April Fool," was released as a digital download on various online stores the same day. Prior to the album's release, Smith performed a one-off show at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, Ireland with Sam Shepard on April 9 and debuted "This is the Girl" at a performance at the City Winery in New York on May 13. ''Banga'' was released on June 1 in Ireland, June 4 in the United Kingdom and June 5 in the United States. The album was issued on CD and LP with a special edition CD including a 64-page hardcover book of images, lyrics and liner notes and a bonus track titled "Just Kids."

Smith promoted the album with a 40-date European tour, beginning in Bergen, Norway on June 23 and concluding in London, United Kingdom on September 13. The tour included two legs in the United Kingdom, one in June and another in September. Smith also performed at a number of summer festivals including the ZMF Festival in Freiburg, Germany Bospop in Weert, Netherlands Stockholm Music and Arts Festival in Stockholm, Sweden and Electric Picnic in Stradbally, Ireland.

Reception

''Banga'' was released to widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 81, based on 30 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Allmusic editor Thom Jurek awarded the album four out of five stars, writing that "the album is absent the dynamic, free-form chaos that marks her earlier recordings, but is better for it... it's not only provocative and expansive lyrically, but abundantly enjoyable musically." BBC
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