| 100 |
Entertainment Weekly
A collection of hypnotic, human rock & roll that extols such seemingly antiquated virtues as moral fiber, history, and love as spirituality.
|
| 90 |
Rolling Stone
The album's producer, Gil Norton (whose crescendos for the Pixies were an alternative-rock cornerstone), has subtly filled out the sound of the Patti Smith Group without losing its handmade, jamming essence. Guitar tones resonate through the mix, and new lines snake through what used to be hollow space.
|
| 90 |
Wall of Sound
Gung Ho feels like it's operating slightly outside the constraints of time, as if it were simultaneously a product of the past four decades and a look back at them from a vantage point far in the future.
|
| 80 |
Billboard
Easily the icon's strongest, most satisfying effort since her '78 classic "Easter," "Gung Ho" is, by turns, wistfully poetic and sharply observational.
|
| 80 |
CDNow
Of her three post-"comeback" albums, it is the closest in spirit to her '70s work. And not coincidentally, it may be her best.
|
| 80 |
Checkout.com
Smith's latest CD, Gung Ho, is the most socially relevant album to come along in eons, pointing rock back towards its ambitious past when it once attempted to affect social change.
|
| 80 |
Salon.com
Smith veers from anthems to open-ended jams to downright funky ditties.... her voice is still rich with power and conviction and fresh with vigor and life.
|
| 80 |
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Smith has released her most direct and, not coincidentally, hardest-rocking album since 1978's Easter.
|
| 80 |
Sonicnet
Even at its slickest moments, Gung Ho is worthwhile, not only for Smith's lyrics but for her soulful vocals. At 53, she sounds much like the jazz vocalists who develop and train their voices as they age.
|
| 70 |
Mojo
Smith's third album since her mid-'90s comeback, might be a more orderly affair than one might have hoped for, but she's still capable of wreaking a little havoc.
|
| 70 |
HOB.com
The album lacks nothing in substance, but in edge it could use a jolt.
|
| 60 |
New Musical Express
It's a terrible pity: when she stops politicising like a councillor on a complementary therapy summer camp, there's music here that's full of the febrile commitment and unashamed passion that marked her out as a valid icon in 1975.
|
| 60 |
All Music Guide
Another handsome, shaded, and satisfying work from an artist that has reconnected with her muse.
|
| 50 |
Spin
The music, particularly Lenny Kaye's guitars, can be both gritty and lush, but it mainly functions to uplift the words and hold them closer to the ears. The problem here is that Patti's got our attention but her couplets are too often second-rate.
|
| 46 |
Pitchfork
On Gung Ho-- much like 1996's Gone Again and 1999's Peace and Noise-- Patti and the band aren't exactly bad, but they hardly rock like they did back in '77.... when you listen to Gung Ho and forget about myth, legacy, mystique and all that crap, you have to wonder-- does Patti Smith really matter anymore?
|
| 40 |
Q Magazine
Despite the presence of original Patti Smith Group members Lenny Kaye and Jay Dee Daugherty, this lacks the buzz of her past material.
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