Johnny Marr has a new album out soon, a double vinyl sixteen track opus (it's been dripped out too already as four, four song EPs). I hope this isn't too much Marr- sometimes sixteen song albums could be pared down to ten or twelve. The single Spirit Power And Soul came out last summer, a vibrant, uptempo guitars and electro- pop number, Johnny's increasingly confident vocals at the fore alongside the slinky guitar playing and pulsing rhythms.
Johnny always comes over as one of the good guys. In interviews he is thoughtful, considered, enthusiastic and well read, deftly tying to avoid spending every interview talking about his first band and that band's singer, when he'd clearly much rather talk about other topics- science fiction, modernism, Aldous Huxley, The The or the Bhagavad Vita. His live shows are life affirming events with Smiths songs reclaimed and played and sung joyously, and Electronic songs dropped in along with his solo work and some well chosen covers.
His solo albums over the last decade have contained some great sounding guitar pop songs. From 2013 The Messenger, Upstarts and New Town Velocity. Playland's Easy Money. Call The Comet from 2018 had Hi Hello, The Tracers and Spiral Cities. A compilation pulling the best of his solo work from the last decade may be in order once the new album has sunk in. In 2019 he put out this standalone single called Armatopia, indie/ dance pop about dancing at the end of the world as ecological disaster swallows us up.
Tempting to note that as his former
ReplyDeleteco-writer's star has waned, so Johnny's solo career has flourished. I've enjoyed all the solo albums, and similarly think a compilation would be solid gold. Is he touring any time soon, I wonder?
I had the pleasure of seeing Johnny at the Brixton Academy a few years ago, on his tour promoting his Playland album; his solo stuff was great but it made me realise that The Smiths' legacy is in much safer hands with him than the bequiffed racist - when he played any of those, the venue was suddenly full of men and women of a certain age, singing along and looking happier than any Smiths fan is characterised as being. Ditto the Electronic tune (Getting Away With I, which was fine, though I'd have loved it if he'd done Get The Messsage).
ReplyDeleteYou're bang on though: he does seem to be getting more confident about his singing capabilities.
Right, I'm off to frantically re-write the Johnny Marr post I'd written so it doesn't look like I've just copied yours!
Marr is an easy guy to like. He's done a lot of interesting work with other folks since the Smiths. I've seen him live a couple of times. It's always nice to see a guitarist of his calibre. That said, I'm not moved by any of his solo stuff. His singing is improving, yes, but he's not much of a front man. And I can't remember a Marr solo song even though I've heard a lot of them. Spirit and soul is a perfectly forgettable example.
ReplyDeleteI really do like Spirit, Power and Soul - also think it has a sort of timelessness about it, as if it could have come from almost any point in the last 40 years, hard to place but no bad thing as it really works. Also it's been bugging me, the chorus reminds me of something else and I can't think what! Maybe it's just the general feel.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes by all accounts he really does seem to be a genuinely decent, lovely man.
Marr has managed to be more than just a "have guitar, will travel" sort of former member of... type of guitarist, a lot that awaits so many after their band days are over.
ReplyDeleteWhile I can't admit to liking or worrying over all of his solo out put, the last few releases have established his sound in my mind.
Jez- sorry to gazump you, hope you can rewrite successfully.
ReplyDeleteJTFL and Echorich- somewhere in between your 2 opinions I think is the heart of the matter. I like his solo songs and I think he's carved out a JM sized niche. There's a uniformity about them which sometimes makes them blur a bit. But I think there are enough that stick in the mind- as Jez says though, live, the Smiths and odd Electronic songs are the ones that fill venues with voices.
C- it really does sound like something else. Simple Minds maybe?