This selection this week is Patti Smith - Horses (1975).

Who would have thought punk rock was, in part, kickstarted by a girl? Poet, misfit, and New York ligger, Patti channelled the spirts of Keith Richards, Bob Dylan, and Rimbaud into female form, and onto an album whose febrile energy and Dionysian spirit helped light the touchpaper for New York punk. The Robert Mapplethorpe-shot cover, in which a hungry, mannish Patti stares down the viewer, defiantly broke with the music industry's treatment of women artists (sex or girl-next-door) and still startles today. Without this there would be no REM, PJ Harvey, Razorlight. And no "powerful" female pop icons like Madonna.

Good ahead and have at it.

Swish