Man, this hip New York Beat poet rock scene is getting old - and so are the hip New York Beat poet rockers. And they're getting cranky, too.

 Sitting one booth down from Lou Reed in that proverbial hip coffee shop is the earnest and political Patti Smith, who wouldn't have made this earnest and political album if the late Allen Ginsberg hadn't talked her into it. Thanks a lot, Al.

 Did that sound sarcastic? Sorry. Better to have Smith making records than brooding in that coffee shop.

 Anyway, this isn't an easy album to get through, but if you're up for a challenge, it's worth the effort. Devoid of humour and packed with social issues, it's a history lecture in the form of rock songs. In her distinctive braying voice, Smith cuts loose on everything from war to greed to the World Trade Organization and all behind a loose garage-style band plowing through one minor-keyed epic after another.

 Contrasting her serious delivery, there are welcome flashes of raw emotion. In the eight-minute Strange Messengers, a exploration of the slave trade, she angrily spits out this line: "Smoking crack! That's how you repay your ancestors!" She slams the two-party system in New Party, sings about General Custer in the bluegrassy Libbie's Song and goes on and on about Ho Chi Minh over one chord in the title track. It's all very sobering and important sounding. You were expecting Britney Spears?

Track Listing 1.One Voice
  02.Lo And Beholden
  03.Boy Cried Wolf
  04.Persuasion
  05.Gone Pie
  06.China Bird
  07.Glitter In Their Eyes
  08.Strange Messengers
  09.Grateful
  10.Upright Come
  11.New Party
  12.Libbie's Song
  13.Gung Ho