On two very special and intimate nights in 2005 and 2006, the most unusual collaboration took to the stage for two very special performances. Punks godmother Patti Smith and My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields came together at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall and they performed The Coral Sea, taken from the name of Patti Smith's 1996 book of poetry. Both the book and the performances served as tributes to the late artist and Patti's close friend Robert Mapplethorpe, who famously took the iconic photo of Patti that appears on the cover of the 1975 album 'Horses'. Sadly Mapplethorpe died of complications from AID's on March 9th 1989. Patti expresses that "..His mortal suffering was so profound that I wept through much of his illness..." This live album consists of Patti's spoken word and accompanied by Kevin Shields on guitars and effects.
"From a place apart, Morpheus, god of dreams, awakes," Patti's first line which silences the audience, which gives you the sense of heads reeling, bringing a sense of being taken from the real world during the performance. The performance tells the story of Mapplethorpe’s or passenger M, as he is described in the poems, voyage in to the afterlife to see the stars of the Southern Cross, "...wet crepe, a beloved port, or a loved one fading, a tiny dot dissolving, in the vast grainy sea...” This poetry seems to be Patti's own biographical work of Mapplethorpe, allowing you to see the mythical and imaginative style he held once more. The two Cd's each an hour long, really allow you to feel the platonic intimacy that she felt for Mapplethorpe, the atmosphere which come across on disc is haunting and hypnotic in places as you are drawn in with every word while the whirling of effects and a very different guitar style from usual Kevin Shields humbly takes a back seat and lets his musical influence do the talking.
The poetry continues to bring you back to Mapplethorpe’s deathbed. "It's not the physical pain/I could endure it, till the end of time/its the pain of disappearing, of being gone..” This is a true reminder to anyone you has lost a loved one due to a painful illness the sadness that the suffer is experiencing. The moment feels intense as a slight warble in Patti's voice occurs, Shields guitar work is so perfectly matched, sombre yet sincere. Her voice regains its determination and with every word her passion and fire is apparent.
This album is hard work and pulls on many emotions as you listen, and you feel the loss Patti suffered with every spoken word. However with a sense of hope that death is not always the end, she ends with a command from Mapplethorpe through Patti's voice "Don’t cry ‘cause I’m gonna fucking die/give me tears of joy because I’m gonna live fucking forever!"
