Review Johnny Marr - The Messenger Album

[Anonymous]

So I have listenned to the disc for a few days now. And I thought it was time to start a user review thread.

Overall, the album has such an early 80s vibe to it with a few tracks that sound late 90s (Upstarts). I really feel that the 1st 6 songs fit perfectly together.

1) The Right Thing Right - 9/10
I love this track. The Rolling Stone meets Stop Me beginning just puts a smile on my face. And the beat is very 60s girl pop sounding to me. Spector wall of sound.

2) I want the heartbeat 6/10
Less impressed with this track on its own. But in the context of the record, I do like it. Sort of like how Noel Gallagher allways puts a banging track in the #2 position (Roll With It/ Force of Nature)

3) European Me 8/10
I love this track plain and simple. I think it is a wonderful pop song. I know some people feel that the lead guitar should be front and center, but I think its just grand.

4) Upstarts 8/10
Modest Mouse/ Cribs track. Modern. Confident vocals. Just a great upbeat single.

5) Lockdown 7/10
Heroes by Bowie. Johnny is sounding like Mick Ronson here. I do like the song...heavy handed production sort of makes it less obvious then it should be. But maybe it was designed that way to fit

6) Messenger 7/10
Smiths esque. Good tune. Not the best, but the guitar sound is wonderful.

7) Generate! 4/10
I know he was trying for a Blondie sort of thing, but I just don't like this one.

8) Say Demesne 7/10
This is the most modern sounding song to me. Dark, grumbling. Great album rack. Sort of a Death of a Disco Dancer

9)Sun & Moon 8/10
This song is really a grower. I like the tone on the Fender - likely a Fuzz Face - and it is just a wonder track

10) The Crack UP ?/10
I have no idea what to say about this song...not sure if I love it or hate it. I have to bucket it with the Importance of Being Idle by Oasis...no clue what I feel about.

11) New Town 9/10
LOVE LOVE LOVE this. Smiths please let me get what I want for 2013. Great song.

12) Word Starts Attack 5/10
Honestly I wish the record ended with #11.

BSide - Psychic Beginner 8/10
This is a good song. Really glad to havve bought it. worth $1.29 @ ITunes.

Overall, 8/10. Pleased to have Johnny back. I have been disappointed in Moz's output since Quarry. I loved those songs and even loved the Bsides. Since then I like a few songs like Nobody's Hero...but Marr's record is very vibrante. and I simply am pleased to have it.

 

[Anonymous]

What do you think of the new Johnny Marr album?

Thought there must have been a thread for people to discuss their views of the new album but it seems not?
Personally, I'd say there's one brilliant song (NTV), two good ones (TM and EM), couple of ok ones, but about 6 or 7 real stinkers.
So, I'm pretty disappointed - would give it's a 5 or 6/10.
Still glad he's done it and, arguably, the 'campaign' has been worth it for New Town Velocity alone...
Mr E

 

[MY Thoughts]

1) The Right Thing Right - 7/10
It jumps out the gate and then doesn't do anything.

2) I want the heartbeat 6/10

3) European Me 8/10
Better lyrics would be a 9.

4) Upstarts 6/10
Poor lyrics, gets old after the first listen.

5) Lockdown 8.5/10
Great Song, some corny lyrics here and there. Uber glam-ness makes me overlook the lyrics.

6) Messenger 7.5/10
It goes on a minute more than it should. Lyrics too murky.

7) Generate! 8/10
Love it. Silly tech lyrics aren't enough to ruin the music for me.

8) Say Demesne 5/10
Boring. Not dark. Not heartfelt. Sounds like a bad U2 song (yes, even worse than normal).

9)Sun & Moon 7.5/10
Good track, doesn't do as much as it should.

10) The Crack UP 6/10
Super catchy but nothing is there.

11) New Town 8.5/10
Excellent. Line about driving around town with the windows down makes me cringe, that keeps it from being a 9.

12) Word Starts Attack 4/10
The main riff and his vocal melody during the verse are really annoying to me.

BSide - Psychic Beginner 8/10
Should've been the Aside instead of Upstarts. Probably left off the album because of too many songs about cities/towns.


Anything over a 7.5 I will listen to again. So 7 good to excellent tracks out of 13, not bad. But no classics.

 

[Anonymous]

Is it a 'great/amazing/as good as the Smiths' album? No. But it's still a damn good record, and a BIG improvement from the Healer's record. Musically it sounds much more urgent/together than that album, which was often just mid-paced sub-Oasis drone. Lyrically it's also an improvement - though on that department I still think Johnny has room to improve. Sometimes it's like he's playing his hand close to his chest, and unwilling to open up and express himself, which means the lyrics are a bit cagey - for a couple of them I only really know what the song is about because I've read Johnny's explanation in interviews (eg: New Town Velocity being about him bunking off school to start his music career, or Upstarts being about the girl on the radio talking about the riots - lines like 'hear her tell it now' don't really make sense without any context). So although it feels weird to say it about someone who's been around as long as Johnny I'd catergorise this as 'really promising debut album by an artist to watch'. Hopefully Johnny will keep touring as a solo artist, keep improving vocally and lyrically the more he does it, and knock out a real classic album a couple of records down the line.

My favourites:
I Want the Heartbeat - urgent, punky, and one of the highlights is the wobbly vocal line that breaks down in the middle .
European Me - gorgeous guitars, sounds like a lost Smiths classic. Musically this could have slotted into Strangeways without missing a beat.
Lockdown - a real grower, slow, grungy, and heavy as f***.
Generate! Generate! - love that chiming guitar line that just builds and builds. Should be a single.
Word Starts Attack - short, stabby guitar rhythms - I find this quite odd and hypnotic.

 

[fallfan]

I'm really loving this album. I know its good when I'm not listening to it and imagine what Morrissey's vocals would sound like on top of it. Marr's vocals are leaps and bounds from Boomslang, with some really nice melodies and little vocal flourishes here and there. Would also recommend to anyone that hasn't to download Psychic Beginners, a great rocker with a strong chorus. I think the album as a whole takes 3 or 4 listens to really sink in, which might explain why some people think it sounds average on first listen. I also need to throw some love to Word Starts Attack, which kicks ass with a Barbarianism Begins At Home-esque riff. And, of course, New Town Velocity is just lovely

 

[MORRIZSEY]

Can anyone work out what this eventually became? The Trap - Demo

It may be obvious when someone points it out, surely it wasn't thrown away.... possibly European Me, or New Town Velocity?

 

[Anonymous]

Well, whatever it was, it hasn't been used on the album - it obviously didn't make the cut. Maybe The Trap will appear as a B Side in the future? The video is only a fairly basic four chord sequence, so it's not like he's thrown away some amazing riff that the album couldn't be without.

 

[Anonymous]

Can anyone work out what this eventually became? The Trap - Demo

It may be obvious when someone points it out, surely it wasn't thrown away.... possibly European Me, or New Town Velocity?

It kind of sounds like new town sped way up; but I'll say it was tossed off. The guitar work is great, but the chord progression is really generic and dull. He supposed finished 19 or so songs. So this is one of the 6 that didn't make it.

 

[DAVIE]

Can anyone work out what this eventually became? The Trap - Demo

It may be obvious when someone points it out, surely it wasn't thrown away.... possibly European Me, or New Town Velocity?

How could he a thrown that song away and kept all that absolute garbage on his album is beyond me!?

Marr needs Rourke! He doesn't like Marr anymore, he's a Libertines rip off!

 

[Deleted member 1074]

Can anyone work out what this eventually became? The Trap - Demo

It may be obvious when someone points it out, surely it wasn't thrown away.... possibly European Me, or New Town Velocity?

It is being held as a future B-side.

 

[Anonymous]

So where's the review we've all been waiting for?
Come on, Amy!

 

[Anonymous]

Amy thinks everything Johnny has done since 1987 has been shit, surely?

 

[Amy]

Amy thinks everything Johnny has done since 1987 has been shit, surely?

Not all of it, but much of it has been unspectacular to my ears, yeah.

Regardless, I had huge hopes for The Messenger and I loved the early demo snippets posted on Facebook but the actual album is a bit of a mixed bag and not quite the magical thing I think the hype led people to expect. The fantastic riff from "European Me" pretty much got buried, "The Right Thing Right" is a good track but the vocals fall flat, and so on. After a while I thought that the songs on this album started to sound virtually indistinguishable from each other - a promising glimpse or guitar flourish here and there that gets lost and starts to meander around aimlessly. Disappointing to see that Johnny's cringeworthy lyrics haven't developed at all since Boomslang too, but then he isn't really either a frontman or a lyricist. For a guitarist's solo album, it's not awful. It's just not really any good either.

 

[Qvist]

I found it thoroughly mediocre, to be quite honest. Competent, but basically just landfill. The sort of album which life is too short to waste time listening to.