Johnny Marr | ||
| Allmusic Biography : The supple, ringing guitars of Johnny Marr helped establish the Smiths among the most acclaimed and enduring bands of the 1980s. Born John Maher in Manchester, England, on October 31, 1963, he played in such little-known groups as Sister Ray and Freaky Party before forming the Smiths with singer Morrissey in 1982. In the years to follow they became one of Britains most successful acts, but in 1987, following sessions for the LP Strangeways, Here We Come, Marr dissolved the group, claiming their musical approach had gone stale. In the wake of the Smiths demise, he made cameo appearances on records by the likes of Talking Heads and Kirsty MacColl before joining Matt Johnsons The The for 1989s Mind Bomb. Marr also teamed with New Orders Bernard Sumner and Pet Shop Boys Neil Tennant in the alternative supergroup Electronic, scoring a hit with the single "Getting Away with It." Apart from a handful of guest appearances, he kept a relatively low profile during the 90s, most notably lending his talents to The Thes 1993 effort Dusk and Electronics long-awaited sophomore record, 1996s Raise the Pressure. Marr returned to music three years later on Electronics third album, Twisted Tenderness, which wasnt released in the U.S. until fall 2000. He also spent time working with his new band, the Healers, playing dates across England. The next few years saw a time of redefinition and reflection for Marr. He finally assembled his Healers with ex-Kula Shaker bass man Alonza Bevan and Ringo Starrs drumming son, Zak Starkey, in 2002; a deal with Artist Directs iMusic followed before the end of the year. Fans of this legendary guitarist were treated to Marrs proper singing debut in early 2003 with the release of Boomslang. In 2007, he appeared on the Washington band Modest Mouses album, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, and toured with them as a member. Marr stayed with the band into 2008 but soon switched allegiance to another band from another country -- the British indie group the Cribs. A songwriting session soon expanded into full-fledged membership and Marr wrote, played, and toured for the 2009 album Ignore the Ignorant. Like his stint in Modest Mouse, Marr lasted only one album with the Cribs before leaving for another project and, this time it was one that he led himself. He relocated his family to his hometown of Manchester and set about recording a solo album. The resulting record, The Messenger, appeared to strong reviews in February 2013. He quickly followed the record with a second solo set called Playland, which appeared in the autumn of 2014; the live album Adrenalin Baby followed in 2015. Marr published his autobiography, Set the Boy Free, then turned his attention to writing and recording his third solo album. The resulting Call the Comet appeared in June 2018. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 6 Title: The Messenger Released: 2013-02-25 Tracks: 12 Duration: 48:27 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 The Right Thing Right (03:41) 2 I Want the Heartbeat (02:47) 3 European Me (03:56) 4 Upstarts (03:38) 5 Lockdown (03:58) 6 The Messenger (04:29) 7 Generate! Generate! (04:21) 8 Say Demesne (05:37) 9 Sun and Moon (03:23) 10 The Crack Up (03:52) 11 New Town Velocity (05:11) 12 Word Starts Attack (03:29) |
| The Messenger : Allmusic album Review : Upon leaving the Smiths in 1987, Johnny Marr embarked on a musical walkabout, choosing to collaborate rather than build a career. He began playing studio sessions, appearing on records by Talking Heads, Pretenders, Kirsty MacColl, Pet Shop Boys, and Billy Bragg, embarked on an extended collaboration with Matt Johnson of The The, and formed Electronic with Bernard Sumner, effectively sitting out the great Brit-pop explosion of the 90s. By the turn of the millennium, he finally tried his hand at fronting a band, turning in the underwhelming Boomslang with the Healers in 2003, before once again sliding into a supporting role, joining Modest Mouse in 2006 and then decamping for the Cribs a few years later. Marrs time in two bands kick-started something within him, as after he departed the Cribs in 2011, he relocated to his hometown of Manchester and set about recording The Messenger, his first full-fledged solo album. The Messenger is an unapologetic return to his roots, sounding for all the world as if it could have been released in 1990, just a few years after Strangeways, Here We Come, which isnt to say its a collection of demos awaiting finished vocals by Morrissey. Marr has long demonstrated an affection for electronics and dance rhythms, evolutions Moz considers as anathema, so its hard to picture the albums title track, pulsating along to a slick disco beat, or the angular, echoing syncopation of "Word Starts Attack" coming out under the Smiths rubric. Nevertheless, considerable portions of The Messenger are filled with riffs and guitar textures Marr could conceivably have used during the bands brief life, and the effect isnt a desperate attempt at recapturing the past but rather an embrace of his core strengths as both a guitarist and songwriter. The latter is as crucial as the former, perhaps more so, as Marrs painterly skills as a guitarist have never been in question while his steadfast avoidance of releasing new songs under his name has obscured how he was the sonic architect of the Smiths. One quick listen to The Messenger brings all his signatures rushing back -- the intricate, intertwining arrangements, the insistent riffs finding a counterpoint in the elastic yet precise melodies, a romance with the past that doesnt negate the present. Marr has avoided these traits, so hearing each in full bloom on The Messenger is rather thrilling; hes no longer wandering, hes found his way back home. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 6 Title: The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Released: 2014-04-01 Tracks: 20 Duration: 1:08:10 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 I’m Electro (00:46) 2 There He Is (02:54) 3 I’m Spider-Man (01:04) 4 My Enemy (08:17) 5 Ground Rules (01:11) 6 Look at Me (03:10) 7 You Need Me (03:17) 8 So Much Anger (02:12) 9 I Need to Know (04:29) 10 Sum Total (02:51) 11 I Chose You (01:34) 12 We’re Best Friends (02:16) 13 Still Crazy (02:42) 14 You’re That Spider Guy (05:29) 15 It’s On Again (03:50) 16 Song for Zula (06:09) 17 That’s My Man (03:47) 18 Here (04:38) 19 Honest (03:57) 20 Electro Remix (03:27) |
| The Amazing Spider-Man 2 : Allmusic album Review : Credited to Hans Zimmer & the Magnificent Six, who replaced James Horners largely orchestral score for the first film with a juiced-up, largely electronic one, the soundtrack for the Amazing Spider-Man 2 echoes the sequels frenetic, slick, and streamlined action, offering up 14 instrumental pieces and six non-score-related songs that dutifully reflect the measured and meticulous, corporate tie-in sensibilities of the traditional summer blockbuster while still managing to march to the beat of their own very loud drum. Zimmer and his small army of hit makers, who include Johnny Marr (the Smiths), Junkie XL, Michael Einziger (Incubus), Andrew Kawczynski, Pharrell Williams, and Steve Mazzaro, infuse Andrew Garfields second go-around as the web slinger with equal amounts of pomp and circumstance, introducing a new main theme that pairs a traditional, heroic, horn-driven melody with a serpentine (or spider-like) arpeggiated synth motif that goes a long way in marrying the faded glory of Spideys comic book origins to the high-octane, over-stimulation of 21st century cinema. Upon first listen, the villain theme, introduced right off the bat with "Im Electro," seems a little too on the nose, but the mesmerizing eight-minute "My Enemy" eradicates any off flavors by presenting a theme that matches the grace and muscular chrome sheen of Spider Mans cue, albeit via the bold strokes of dubstep. It shouldnt work, but Zimmer and co. have constructed a beast of a piece that frames a whispered laundry list of internal transgressions with an electro-rock center and a sneaky, Baroque-kissed whip of a base melody that spins the whole thing off in a kind of Marvel-approved re-imagining of Coolios "Gangsters Paradise." The tacked-on songs, which include radio-ready offerings from Pharrell Williams, Phosphorescent, and Alicia Keys feat. Kendrick Lamar, are all well and good in that largely forgettable, ubiquitous movie-credits-sequence kind of way, but Zimmer and companys remarkably forward-thinking score makes this sequel to a film (which arrived a mere five years after the first franchise ended) a surprise gem. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 6 Title: Playland Released: 2014-09-30 Tracks: 11 Duration: 42:06 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Back in the Box (03:05) 2 Easy Money (04:05) 3 Dynamo (03:59) 4 Candidate (04:50) 5 25 Hours (03:35) 6 The Trap (03:24) 7 Playland (04:41) 8 Speak Out Reach Out (04:04) 9 Boys Get Straight (03:02) 10 This Tension (04:01) 11 Little King (03:14) |
| Playland : Allmusic album Review : Johnny Marr always wanted nothing more than to play guitar in a rock & roll band, so once he finally got his solo career off the ground in 2013 with The Messenger, he couldnt stop. As he toured the album, he continued to write new songs, then he took his touring band back into the studio with producer Doviak -- the same collaborator as on the 2013 record -- to knock out Playland. Unsurprisingly, the 2014 sequel feels cut from the same cloth as The Messenger, containing the same blend of classicist British pop values and modernist rock production that constitutes something of a throwback to the pre-Brit-pop 90s. If anything, Playland places a heavier emphasis on prominent dance beats ("Easy Money") and shimmering synthesized surfaces ("Candidate," "25 Hours"), which means this winds up recalling Electronic nearly as much as it does the Smiths, a nice transition that emphasizes Marrs sonic palette nearly as much as his songwriting and expert instrumental skills. Furthermore, Playland proves Marr wasnt wrong to rush into the studio to cut a second album quickly: it may glisten more than The Messenger, but its a more visceral experience, gaining energy from its performance and also the sense that nothing here was fussed over. All this means that Playland is superficially more pop with all its style and flair, but it plays more like a rock & roll album, always in a hurry to make its point understood as quickly as possible. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 6 Title: Freeheld: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Released: 2015-09-25 Tracks: 7 Duration: 27:41 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 On the Case (04:39) 2 Can I Have Your Number? (02:19) 3 House Hunting (03:10) 4 Can’t Leave Her (07:18) 5 The Decision (03:07) 6 Justice (02:36) 7 Remembering (04:28) |
 | Album: 5 of 6 Title: Adrenalin Baby - Johnny Marr Live Released: 2015-11-13 Tracks: 17 Duration: 1:17:51 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Playland (06:14) 2 The Right Thing Right (04:00) 3 Easy Money (04:07) 4 25 Hours (04:01) 5 New Town Velocity (05:34) 6 The Headmaster Ritual (04:45) 7 The Messenger (04:43) 8 Back in the Box (03:24) 9 Generate! Generate! (04:41) 10 Bigmouth Strikes Again (03:20) 11 Boys Get Straight (02:51) 12 Candidate (04:42) 13 Getting Away With It (07:04) 14 There Is a Light That Never Goes Out (05:53) 15 Dynamo (04:11) 16 I Fought the Law (02:45) 17 How Soon Is Now? (05:30) |
| Adrenalin Baby - Johnny Marr Live : Allmusic album Review : After a grueling international touring schedule over the course of three years in support of his first two solo albums, 2013s The Messenger and 2014s Playland, former Smiths guitarist/songwriter (who has become a legendary legendary guitarist/singer/songwriter) Johnny Marr compiled this 17-track live album mostly from shows at O2 Academy Brixton and his hometowns Manchester Apollo in October 2014. With his steady touring lineup of guitarist/keyboardist James Doviak, bass player Iwan Gronow (the Mutineers, Haven), and drummer Jack Mitchell (Haven, Bad Lieutenant), he showcases his rhythmic, textured guitar playing and reinforces the fact that hes not a bad vocalist, either, even proving a fine substitute for Morrissey on their former bands "Bigmouth Strikes Again" (an album highlight), "The Headmaster Ritual," "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out," and "How Soon Is Now." Marr also performs a tune by a different former band, Electronics "Getting Away with It," and covers the Sonny Curtis (er, the Clash) classic "I Fought the Law." Its a pedal type of show, the guitars are mixed loud and clear, and one just might catch oneself singing along with the crowd on "There Is a Light...." | ||
 | Album: 6 of 6 Title: Call the Comet Released: 2018-06-15 Tracks: 12 Duration: 57:59 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Rise (05:03) 2 The Tracers (04:35) 3 Hey Angel (05:37) 4 Hi Hello (04:23) 5 New Dominions (04:24) 6 Day in Day Out (04:43) 7 Walk Into the Sea (06:02) 8 Bug (04:39) 9 Actor Attractor (05:36) 10 Spiral Cities (04:07) 11 My Eternal (03:16) 12 A Different Gun (05:28) |
| Call the Comet : Allmusic album Review : Working once again with producer Doviak for 2018s Call the Comet, Johnny Marr adheres to the meticulously sculpted soundscapes he patented on his 2013 solo debut, The Messenger, but the guitarists perspective has shifted. Faced with the political tumult of the late 2010s, Marr concentrates on essential humanist traits, crafting songs that arent so much protests as wishes for a better, kinder world. Empathy is the engine of Call the Comet and the characteristic that separates the album from its two predecessors, The Messenger and Playland. Take away these open-hearted pleas and Call the Comet is virtually identical to its cousins, a gleaming collection of old-fashioned college rock that fuses the skyscraping six-string theatrics of the Smiths with the cool, stylish affectations of Electronic. Marr doesnt disguise the skill fueling his craft, so Call the Comet is more accomplished than compelling, but there is pleasure in hearing how all the parts fit together so tidily. | ||