New Johnny Marr single: The Tracers

[Anonymous]

I can't understand people who ridicule Moz' utterings but nothing Johnny says in this article. I was so embarrassed while reading it.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/...ump-inspired-new-album-call-the-comet-w518812

 

[Amy]

I can't understand people who ridicule Moz' utterings but nothing Johnny says in this article. I was so embarrassed while reading it.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/...ump-inspired-new-album-call-the-comet-w518812

Johnny is a dyed-in-the-wool lefty and I admire that about him, he has remained true to his (political) principles. The thing is, he is so careful to swerve any real 'controversy' that he often veers into hippy-dippy nonsense about the cosmos like this. I can't imagine him having the lyrical chops to do justice to subjects like terrorism, either - "come the glory, listen, we're chosen", what?

I also can't understand the way he harps on about being so proud of The The - he wrong one song for one album, otherwise he just was sessioning. How on earth can that be compared to the Smiths, what world is he living in?

 

[Eldritch]

I can't understand people who ridicule Moz' utterings but nothing Johnny says in this article. I was so embarrassed while reading it.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/...ump-inspired-new-album-call-the-comet-w518812

What do you find embarrassing in that article? Marr is not a deep thinker and I usually skim through his interviews, but he usually says the same kind of things other pop musicians say, quite boring and definitely not noteworthy. Morrissey on the other hand has a brilliant mind so more is expected of him, which means his stupidities are less palatable and more disappointing.

 

[Eldritch]

Sadly this feels too sycophantic to be truly believable.

That's the always the case with these advance track-by-track guides. It's more than two months to the release, so the record company will always choose a well-known sympathizer in the media to write it. They wouldn't want a critical review to rain on their parade at the very beginning of the album campaign. And the writer knows the score -- being negative about the album would mean that (s)he won't get the same kind of access in the future, so the review must be very positive and carefully worded.

 

[Anonymous]

The Tracers has 1,695 views on You Tube. Let's pitch in and push it up to 1,700!

 

[Anonymous]

It's not even on youtube - at least in the UK, it's been blocked.

Anyway - I finally heard it after preordering the album, and on first listen it doesn't do much for me. And I liked his first two solo albums. Hopefully the other tracks will be more gripping.

 

[SweetnTenderYorkshireman]

Listened to a bit of the track and watched that trailer music video, which i hope was supposed to be ironic? Far too much oh so serious posing in strobe lights for me, at least Moz tried to have a bit of fun with his recent videos.

Johnny Marr is one of the greatest guitar talents of all time in my opinion, but for me his solo records never really caught my ears. Like other said, he sings okay, but I don’t feel like he has much vocal range, or at least he doesn’t try to use any, so many songs sound flat and a bit pedestrian to me (though ‘Easy Money’ was his best song since ‘We Share The Same Skies’ and is a banger).
Feel bad saying that, as he is one of my biggest music inspirations and when I saw him live, was a fantastic performer.
The cover isnt great (but neither was ‘LIHS’) and the font is just....

I think in this current climate, its so much easier to love and admire Marr and to easily dismiss Morrissey, though as some have pointed out here, what is he actually saying here? It’s like he wants to make a political record, but (in a way understandably) doesn’t want to upset anyone in the process.

Will still listen to the album though, he is still a genius.

 

[Anonymous]

I think in this current climate, its so much easier to love and admire Marr and to easily dismiss Morrissey, though as some have pointed out here, what is he actually saying here? It’s like he wants to make a political record, but (in a way understandably) doesn’t want to upset anyone in the process.

It's weird - I liked Johnny's last two albums, but the lyrics were often so ambiguous I couldn't understand what 90% of the songs were actually about, until I read interviews explaining them ('Dynamo' is about a guy who falls in love with a building? Oh, OK then - now I get it) Then at the other end of the scale, you have Morrissey's recent albums, where the sledgehammer-subtle lyrics on things like 'World Peace' are so blunt and lacking in nuance you wish he'd go the other way. Two different approaches for sure, and now they seem to be politically opposite as well. These guys really are the ying to each others yang.

 

[Anonymous]

I️ like the new song. Very trippy. He posted a few seconds of another song on Instagram today that sounds very cool.

 

[Anonymous]

I think in this current climate, its so much easier to love and admire Marr and to easily dismiss Morrissey, though as some have pointed out here, what is he actually saying here? It’s like he wants to make a political record, but (in a way understandably) doesn’t want to upset anyone in the process.

Will still listen to the album though, he is still a genius.

There are actually many people upset with Johnny's statements about Trump and Brexit. His interview in Rolling Stone was picked up by right-wing Breitbart and (shudder) the comments on it are hair-raising. You think there are trolls on this forum...boy oh boy.

Love the new song, by the way, has a goth vibe, reminds me of Sisters of Mercy - would fit into their classic "First and Last and Always" album if Johnny sang an octave lower.

 

[g23]

There are actually many people upset with Johnny's statements about Trump and Brexit. His interview in Rolling Stone was picked up by right-wing Breitbart and (shudder) the comments on it are hair-raising. You think there are trolls on this forum...boy oh boy.

Love the new song, by the way, has a goth vibe, reminds me of Sisters of Mercy - would fit into their classic "First and Last and Always" album if Johnny sang an octave lower.

Well, now this is open in another window for me. Pity about what happened to his voice over the years, because he sounds great here.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, now this is open in another window for me. Pity about what happened to his voice over the years, because he sounds great here.

Oh nice! I'm pretty sure I saw them on this tour, or what I could see through the fog they had on stage - Love them!

I think that Johnny is expressing his views about the current world through his music, rather than through his deliberately obscure lyrics. It's something I think he's learned through doing soundtrack work with Hans Zimmer. The music sounds rather dark to me.

 

[Uncleskinny]

 

[g23]

So it goes from My Love Life, but someone farted in the car, to a tour of the factory where Depeche Mode filmed Dracula Voice the Musical.
Hm. Kind of a dull video for such a rockin' song.

 

[Peppermint]

So it goes from My Love Life, but someone farted in the car, to a tour of the factory where Depeche Mode filmed Dracula Voice the Musical.
Hm. Kind of a dull video for such a rockin' song.

It's surprisingly amateur. It reminded me of those pointless 80s videos with people staring into the middle distance for no apparent reason, trying to give some slab of Wank Rock a bit of gravitas. All those shots where the camera stays fixed on his face are so uncomfortable they make me want to look away. I've actually grown to like this more than I did and I do think it deserves better.

 

[g23]

It's surprisingly amateur. It reminded me of those pointless 80s videos with people staring into the middle distance for no apparent reason, trying to give some slab of Wank Rock a bit of gravitas. All those shots where the camera stays fixed on his face are so uncomfortable they make me want to look away. I've actually grown to like this more than I did and I do think it deserves better.

I like the song just fine, and think it'll blow faces off live. But yeah. It was very 80s, bland. I don't know what kind of video would have suited it. I could see animation, but that's a lot more $ than filming a field trip to a factory.

 

[Peppermint]

I like the song just fine, and think it'll blow faces off live. But yeah. It was very 80s, bland. I don't know what kind of video would have suited it. I could see animation, but that's a lot more $ than filming a field trip to a factory.

Yeah, I get the cost aspect. I just think if he'd spent a couple of grand on a half-decent director it would have been great. Those shots where people are just standing/staring are so awkward, it just looks like they didn't know what to do.

 

[g23]

Yeah, I get the cost aspect. I just think if he'd spent a couple of grand on a half-decent director it would have been great. Those shots where people are just standing/staring are so awkward, it just looks like they didn't know what to do.

"Just look spiritual and worldly. Gaze into their souls, man. Be the Comet."

 

[Peppermint]

"Just look spiritual and worldly. Gaze into their souls, man. Be the Comet."

Yes. I think it went pretty much like that. Actually, had there been a naked woman in the abandoned factory, spreadeagled over some scaffolding, I might have thought SER had got himself a new commission.

 

[Anonymous]

Song still not really doing anything for me. No real hook, chorus or catchy guitar riff makes it a weird choice for a single. It sounds like some deep album track.