Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, announced today a vinyl and CD release in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Patti Smith’s Horses.

The album, originally released in 1975, will be released as a 2LP and 2CD on October 10th, 2025.

This release will feature the iconic original album remastered direct from the original 1/4” master tapes, as well as previously unreleased outtakes and rarities, including Patti Smith’s 1975 RCA audition tape.

The release of Horses (50th Anniversary) will feature eight never-before-released songs, such as “Snowball” and “Birdland (Alternate Take)”, along with RCA demos. “Snowball” was the very first single made available on all streaming platforms to promote this new re-release.

Side A:
1. Gloria: In Excelsis Deo
2. Redondo Beach
3. Birdland
4. Free Money

Side B:
1. Kimberly
2. Break It Up
3. Land: Horses / Land of a Thousand Dances / La Mer(de)
4. Elegie

Side C:
1. Gloria: In Excelsis Deo (RCA Demo) *
2. Redondo Beach (Alternate Take)
3. Birdland (Alternate Take) *
4. Snowball *

Side D:
1. Kimberly (Alternate Take) *
2. Break It Up (Alternate Take) *
3. Distant Fingers *
4. The Hunter Gets Captured by The Game *
5. We Three *

*Previously unreleased

When beat poetry meets punk rock. Welcome to Horses. Simple, raw, and still awesome, I love how it merges punk/garage rock with art rock and poetry to create an album that feels both very raw and beautiful.

This most iconic album has now been lovingly remastered direct from the original 1/4” master tapes, and now also includes previously unreleased outtakes and rarities, including Patti Smith’s 1975 RCA audition tape.

Birdland is probably my favorite song here and it always hits me really hard. Her emotional delivery and the way the guitar and piano naturally get more intense is just so incredible. Gloria, Kimberly and the title track are my other favorites from here, but overall this album was, at the time, a complete game changer for both Patti and the industry.

But then there is Redondo Beach, which is a study in contrasts with dark, grim lyrics of a tale of suicide set to a whimsical early example of new wave reggae fusion. And whilst a track like Free Money is a dutiful cover of an old standards, there’s Birdland, a surrealistic epic of a grieving boy who imagines his father as an alien and wishes to join him.

Smith conjures up an ecstatic, almost gospel like fervor on the track, one that’s as uplifting as its story is to its central character. And then there’s Elegie, a most beautifully, albeit at times eerie, almost Eno-esque beguiling tribute to lost rock legends.

Patti Smith - The Hunter Gets Captured by The Game (Official Audio)

Official Purchase Links

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