What do you do if your record contract requires you to release a greatest hits collection and you've only ever had one hit -- Because The Night, co-written with Bruce Springsteen -- over the course of your 27-year career?

If you're the great punk poet Smith, you ask your fans for some help.

Thus, the first CD here is made up of 17 songs chosen by fans -- more than 10,000 votes were tabulated. They include obvious choices like Dancing Barefoot, Rock N Roll Nigger, Gloria, People Have The Power and Because The Night.

But there's also an exquisite cover of Prince's When Doves Cry -- a concert staple she recorded in studio last year.

The second CD is previously unreleased demos, outtakes and live performances dating back to her 1974 original indie single Piss Factory and 1975 demos Redondo Beach and Distant Fingers.

Two recent recordings are 2001's Higher Learning, with Smith on clarinet, and Notes To The Future, which she recited on New Year's Day 2002 in St. Mark's Church in New York -- the site of her 1971 public debut.

There's also the unreleased 1996 track Wander I Go featuring Television's Tom Verlaine on electric guitar and Jeff Buckley on acoustic guitar.

The accompanying 36-booklet is chockablock with photos, leaflets, lyric sheets, an opening tribute from poet Susan Sontag and a closing message from Smith herself. (More on Patti Smith).

Track Listing Disc: 1
1. Dancing Barefoot
2. Babelogue
3. Rock 'N' Roll Nigger
4. Gloria
5. Pissing In A River
6. Free Money
7. People Have The Power
8. Because The Night
9. Frederick
10. Summer Cannibals
11. Ghost Dance
12. Ain't It Strange
13. 1959
14. Beneath The Southern Cross
15. Glitter In Their Eyes
16. Paths That Cross
17. When Doves Cry (Unreleased Studio Track-2001)
TOTAL TIME: 71:47


Disc: 2
1. Piss Factory (Track, 1974)
2. Redondo Beach (Demo, 1975)
3. Distance Fingers (Demo, 1975)
4. 25th Floor (Live: Eugene, Oregon 1978)
5. Come Back Little Sheba (Studio Outtake, 1996)
6. Wander I Go (Track, 1996)
7. Dead City (Live: Denmark, 2001)
8. Spell (Live: Portland, Oregon, 2001)
9. Wing (Live: Paris, 2001)
10. Boy Cried Wolf (Live: Paris, 2001)
11. Birdland (Live: Los Angeles, CA, 2001)
12. Higher Learning - Contemplation (Unreleased Studio Track, 2001)
13. Notes To The Future (Live: St. Mark's Church, New York, N.Y., 2002)
14. (hidden track) Tomorrow (Live: Philadelphia 1978)
TOTAL TIME: 72:19