how about Pretenders Marr: C/D?
― the pinefox, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― nabisco, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― The Actual Mr. Jones, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Glad nabisco agrees - Forbidden City / For You / Out Of My League / can't think what the other killer would be, though.
Unsurprisingly, I think Marr's worst tracks are those where he DOESN'T PLAY GUITAR
The other relevant track here is of course THE BOY DONE GOOD - but again, save that for the Best of Marr.
Can this be opened up to Butler / Squire / etc.?
― thom, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Mary, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I was pretty tired for most of the panel and struggled to stay awake, but Marr said good things about Low and Godspeed You Black Emporer... which makes sense that he'd be about 2-3 years behind. I _was_ very sad to hear that Marr left the panel to go straight to soundcheck with Haven.
― Aaron W, Monday, 4 November 2002 21:54 (twenty-one years ago) link
― g (graysonlane), Monday, 4 November 2002 23:12 (twenty-one years ago) link
― g (graysonlane), Monday, 4 November 2002 23:14 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Vinnie (vprabhu), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 14:09 (twenty-one years ago) link
― g (graysonlane), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 16:52 (twenty-one years ago) link
Mary, I don't like Beth Orton's new album too much, and the song she wrote with Marr is far from exceptional. But Johnny doesn't play on the album, does he?
― Bubba, Wednesday, 6 November 2002 13:09 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Curt (cgould), Wednesday, 6 November 2002 15:47 (twenty-one years ago) link
Is it worth any effort at all to seek anything by them? Am I missing out on an amazing guitar band? Or is it all a bit like Oasis/Haven/Embrace, ie. rub as I suspect?
― Charlie (Charlie), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 02:43 (twenty-one years ago) link
― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 02:47 (twenty-one years ago) link
― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 03:22 (twenty-one years ago) link
― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 03:28 (twenty-one years ago) link
But it's likeable and not bad. Just not that distinguishable from, say, Haven.
― don weiner, Wednesday, 5 February 2003 12:59 (twenty-one years ago) link
― russ t, Wednesday, 5 February 2003 17:09 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 21:37 (twenty-one years ago) link
― DV (dirtyvicar), Sunday, 3 August 2003 22:35 (twenty-one years ago) link
I am listening to 'The Boy Done Good', featuring his ecologically-friendly solo.
― the pinefox, Thursday, 27 March 2008 10:30 (sixteen years ago) link
It is quite effective, and perhaps had an influence on me; but still, he could surely have done a *bit* more than he does during that guitar break. Crikey, he almost seems to have played it while falling asleep.
JtN used to say that this track demonstrated that you could always tell when Marr was playing: he just didn't sound quite like anyone else. I don't know how true that is.
― the pinefox, Thursday, 27 March 2008 10:32 (sixteen years ago) link
Compare the Smiths version of "Hand in Glove" against the version they did with Sandie Shaw, where Johnny Marr goes off on a way fussy solo at the end. Less is more, sometimes.
― Mark G, Thursday, 27 March 2008 10:33 (sixteen years ago) link
I have just realized that I said the same thing, on this thread, on 5 August 2002. This should not surprise me. Except that I'm surprised I was on ilx at all in August 2002.
'Shirley' has just come on - the electric version of 'Greetings' - on which *everything* was supposedly played by Marr. Well, he manages to do on harmonica what he originally did on guitar. And from 2:30 there's a nice chattering 12-string / Chorus phrase. This is not the worst of Johnny Marr.
'Walk Away Renee': another candidate for the best of Marr solo. If only he had overdubbed a couple more guitars ... and ... taken Bragg's vocal off it ... then ... this might have been the best thing ever recorded.
― the pinefox, Thursday, 27 March 2008 10:38 (sixteen years ago) link
Of course less can be more, and Marr was a maestro of that lesson - but I'm not sure the melodic phrases he comes up with on 'Boy Done Good' are as good as they could be.
I should listen to that Shaw take, though. I don't think I remember a big solo on it.
― the pinefox, Thursday, 27 March 2008 10:39 (sixteen years ago) link
I mentioned this to JM when I spoke to him last year and he seemed quite touched!
I have recently found a place in my heart for the Electronic song "Out Of My League".
― Stevie T, Thursday, 27 March 2008 11:12 (sixteen years ago) link
Oh, indeed: it has long had a place in my heart - though not a vast place. A park bench, a doorstep, a bus stop - but an expansive, romantic, string-laden one.
― the pinefox, Thursday, 27 March 2008 11:40 (sixteen years ago) link
The opening drum fill is great - I wonder if Marr even played it himself, as he seems to like doing things that don't involve him playing guitar. He probably played the descending piano phrase, I ... shouldn't wonder.
― the pinefox, Thursday, 27 March 2008 11:43 (sixteen years ago) link
Haha never saw this thread before. I was playing a few Marr riffs last night, as it happens - always fun to unravel.
But - I haven't heard most of the non-Smiths songs mentioned here. The last Electronic album was pretty awful - way too cluttered and most songs overlong. What JM was playing may well have been worth hearing, but there were too many layers of murk to tell.
The The were always utterly dire, although again JM's contributions may have been fine.
― Dr.C, Thursday, 27 March 2008 11:55 (sixteen years ago) link
The current Modest Mouse album is pretty fantastic.
― Dingbod Kesterson, Thursday, 27 March 2008 11:56 (sixteen years ago) link
If we're having a Marr (non-Smiths) lovefest, I'd nominate the solo in 'Forbidden City'. Just the most beautifully controlled piece of feedback, as Mark said less is indeed more.
― Billy Dods, Thursday, 27 March 2008 14:05 (sixteen years ago) link
Not sure if this belongs in this particular thread, but:
http://www.salon.com/2013/02/20/david_cameron_defies_smiths_ex_guitarist_johnny_marr/
The British prime minister is on a tear: First, he has gone after Hilary Mantel for her comments about Kate Middleton. Now, David Cameron has made a vow to defy Smiths ex-guitarist Johnny Marr, who has “banned” the Tory from listening to music by the Smiths, reports BBC News.In a story that recalls Paul Ryan’s uninvited and unrequited declaration of love for Rage Against the Machine (and, for that matter, Chris Christie’s obsession with Bruce Springsteen), the prime minister is a longtime fan of the new wave band — who split in the 1980s, and are perhaps best known for their songs “How Soon Is Now” and “Heaven Knows (I’m Miserable Now) — and has said so on many occasions. Marr has voiced his disgust, telling the BBC that this is “not allowed.” But Cameron, who was on a visit to India, declared he’d ”go on and listen,”anyway. In 2006, Cameron chose the Smiths song “This Charming Man” on Desert Island Discs.This isn’t Marr’s first ban imposed on the prime minister — he repeated the warning in an interview with BBC Radio 4′s Today programme — but this time he was specifically ruling that “This Charming Man” is off-limits. ”I think he likes the song,” Marr told the BBC. “That’s probably sadder than if he didn’t know it, really. He’s entitled to like whatever he likes, as long as he doesn’t say it. It’s a good song,” adding, “I do forbid him to like it. He shouldn’t like us because we’re not his kind of people. ”Marr isn’t alone in publicly decrying Cameron’s fandom. In 2010, Morrissey has also called on him to please stop proclaiming his admiration: “David Cameron hunts and shoots and kills stags — apparently for pleasure. It was not for such people that either ‘Meat Is Murder’ or ‘The Queen Is Dead’ were recorded; in fact, they were made as a reaction against such violence.” But Cameron, who was a teenager in the 1980s and grew up listening to them, can’t resist expressing his devotion, once even making a fleeting mention of the 1984 song, “William, It Was Really Nothing” during Prime Minister’s Questions.During a diplomatic and trade-building mission in Delhi, Cameron remained defiant, telling the BBC, “I’ve now got Johnny Marr and other members of the band saying I’m not able to listen to the Smiths. When I’ve got the complete and full set, even then, I’m afraid, I will go on and listen to the Smiths.”
In a story that recalls Paul Ryan’s uninvited and unrequited declaration of love for Rage Against the Machine (and, for that matter, Chris Christie’s obsession with Bruce Springsteen), the prime minister is a longtime fan of the new wave band — who split in the 1980s, and are perhaps best known for their songs “How Soon Is Now” and “Heaven Knows (I’m Miserable Now) — and has said so on many occasions. Marr has voiced his disgust, telling the BBC that this is “not allowed.” But Cameron, who was on a visit to India, declared he’d ”go on and listen,”anyway. In 2006, Cameron chose the Smiths song “This Charming Man” on Desert Island Discs.
This isn’t Marr’s first ban imposed on the prime minister — he repeated the warning in an interview with BBC Radio 4′s Today programme — but this time he was specifically ruling that “This Charming Man” is off-limits. ”I think he likes the song,” Marr told the BBC. “That’s probably sadder than if he didn’t know it, really. He’s entitled to like whatever he likes, as long as he doesn’t say it. It’s a good song,” adding, “I do forbid him to like it. He shouldn’t like us because we’re not his kind of people. ”
Marr isn’t alone in publicly decrying Cameron’s fandom. In 2010, Morrissey has also called on him to please stop proclaiming his admiration: “David Cameron hunts and shoots and kills stags — apparently for pleasure. It was not for such people that either ‘Meat Is Murder’ or ‘The Queen Is Dead’ were recorded; in fact, they were made as a reaction against such violence.” But Cameron, who was a teenager in the 1980s and grew up listening to them, can’t resist expressing his devotion, once even making a fleeting mention of the 1984 song, “William, It Was Really Nothing” during Prime Minister’s Questions.
During a diplomatic and trade-building mission in Delhi, Cameron remained defiant, telling the BBC, “I’ve now got Johnny Marr and other members of the band saying I’m not able to listen to the Smiths. When I’ve got the complete and full set, even then, I’m afraid, I will go on and listen to the Smiths.”
― schwantz, Wednesday, 20 February 2013 18:46 (eleven years ago) link
it's funny to me that people act like it's SO WEIRD that a middle aged guy from new jersey likes springsteen
― in a chef-driven ambulance (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 20 February 2013 18:51 (eleven years ago) link
When he sings.
― opecimmac, Wednesday, 20 February 2013 19:03 (eleven years ago) link
For those familiar with his entire solo career thus far (basically the last ten years), does this look like a good summation/intro?
https://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Power-Best-Johnny-Deluxe/dp/B0CJCC2457/ref=tmm_acd_title_1
― birdistheword, Friday, 3 November 2023 00:10 (ten months ago) link
Has anybody else heard his upcoming Healers album? Not bad at all. Of his post-Smiths work, I've only heard a smattering of Electronic, but I'd be surprised if any of it rates with this new one.― Curt (cgould), Thursday, 7 November 2002 02:47 (twenty years ago)
Wild noughties opinion right here!
I saw the Healers and feel a bit sad about having done so.
― meat and two vdgg (emsworth), Friday, 3 November 2023 03:22 (ten months ago) link
I still think that Healers album is his only good solo record
― beamish13, Friday, 3 November 2023 03:32 (ten months ago) link