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Patti Smith, Kevin Shields Ready Spoken Word Record

Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine and legendary Lower East Side poet/musician Patti Smith have announced the official CD release of a very special live performance. Captured on June 22, 2005, and September 12, 2006, at London's QEH club, The Coral Sea was written by Smith as a posthumous homage to her close friend, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. (A 1996 book was also released under the same title.)

According to a Guardian review of the 2005 show, "A kind of screaming requiem, The Coral Sea describes Mapplethorpe's terminal illness. Intense, layered electronics surged to a discordant climax as Patti Smith read her poem, the words sailing over the noise like an ocean liner."

Heavy stuff, in other words, with Shields providing guitars/effects and Smith reading her haunting prose over the course of two shows and nearly two hours. Whether the pair will perform its piece again is unknown at this time.

—The ARTISTdirect Staff
04.25.08