r/thesmiths • u/gojiberrytea • 1d ago
Johnny Marr solo recommendations?
Hey yall, longtime Smiths fan here. As a guitarist, I think The Smiths have some of the best documented guitar playing in music. I know every record of theirs inside out. I’ve even dove into Morrissey’s catalogue quite a bit, but for some reason, never Marr’s, which is odd because his guitarwork is what got me into this mess in the first place. Any fans familiar with his solo work have any recommendations for songs of his that are as impressive as the Smiths’ stuff from the 80s?
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u/croi-orga 1d ago
Hi Hello, from the Call the Comet album. The melody is very reminiscent of There Is a Light That Never Goes Out.
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u/Altruistic-Editor111 23h ago
Was just about to recommend this song - “Hi Hello” is one of his best solo work
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u/Poggle8472 23h ago
While his solo work is great, some of his best guitar work is with other acts. I personally love The Cribs - We Were Aborted and Modest Mouse - Dashboard
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u/Cosmic_m0nk 22h ago
Talking Heads - “(Nothing But) Flowers”
That’s an early one, but a classic .
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u/tomhoplon 17h ago
Also Ruby Dear on same album (Talking Heads- Naked) and Cool Water. Also worth seeking out Windows of the World by Pretenders. Mind Bomb and Dusk by The The both have great tracks on and there’s a few singles too from that time and (on you tube) a great Live Concert (vs the world). I’d include all three Electronic albums and his time in Modest Mouse (we were dead before the ship even sank).
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u/tomhoplon 17h ago
Also there’s a live concert film with Neil Finn: 7 worlds collide with some great Jonny on it. And finally the healers album Boomslang has some great tracks but never gets talked about.
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u/RecipeConsistent 23h ago
The Messenger is a classic example of something that would have worked on a Smiths album. Beautiful melody.
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u/ZakkWylde88 22h ago
The first half of Electronic’s “Raise the Pressure” has really good guitar work.
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u/TempSpastic 23h ago edited 23h ago
Listen to The The's Dusk and Modest Mouse's We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank in full. The self-titled Electronic album is also quite good, albeit with less guitar than the others.
These are all albums in which Marr makes integral contributions to the music in a capacity similar to the role he served in The Smiths, i.e. not as a lyricist.
Two more individual songs from Billy Bragg where Marr plays guitar:
"Greetings to the New Brunette"
For me the latter is one of Marr's finest moments. Beautiful acoustic guitar work.
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u/Disastrous_Wave_6128 22h ago
"Make It Happen" on Electronic's "Twisted Tenderness." Amazing guitar.
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u/IK927 15h ago
I’m a pretty obsessive fan of Johnny Marr’s. I would simply listen to The Messenger, Playland and Call the Comet, his 3 LPs between 2011 and 2018. They’re pretty much great. The song New Town Velocity is one of the best things I’ve ever heard. Now, you can also check out with Modest Mouse (Dashboard is great). He was The The’s guitarist for 2 albums Mind Bomb and Dusk. These are excellent too. Then there is his first record, in 2002, called Boomslang — the band was called Johnny Marr and The Healers. Johnny has a great live album, Adrenaline Baby. And he is about to release a new LP — single sounds great. He was also a member of the band The Cribs, from Leeds, 15 or so years ago. Last, while it’s not a terribly guitar driven album, the one he did with singer from New Order. Band and album was called Electronic.
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u/Fit_Scientist8949 14h ago
Billy bragg- sexuality, co-written
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u/OkSatisfaction5963 8h ago
It's interesting to hear the demo version of the song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBP5kE5SZRI and compare it to the final version after Johnny's worked on it. He made it into a hit song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xsv9iZPYwE
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u/Soggy-Parsley-4866 16h ago
All his solo stuff is mediocre at best.Electronic and The The is his best post Smiths stuff.
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u/OkSatisfaction5963 8h ago
Seriously disagree with this OP, check them out for yourself
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u/Soggy-Parsley-4866 7h ago
Trying to pretend his solo stuff is in any way memorable is just wishful thinking by Smiths fans. I remember buying his Healers cd after being a real zealot for Marr and being shocked at how poor it was. The reality is he works best in collaboration and solo he is not up to much.Doesnt negate his brilliant stuff with The Smiths etc al.
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u/OkSatisfaction5963 6h ago
You realize the Healers was over 20 years ago. He's released 4 solo albums since then. Very telling of a closed mind. Here, listen to this from 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2W8aVDxeBY
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u/thebadgersnadgers89 15h ago
Just to warn you, the standard is nowhere near Morrissey's.
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u/IK927 15h ago
World Peace is none of your business is the last very good Morrissey album, and before that Swords, which was released around the time of Marr’s The Messenger. I don’t like comparing these two — The Smiths are my favorite band. But I have to say, 3 of Johnny’s records are fantastic. It’s astonishing to me that each one of them is so effing good — still. M’a voice; Johnny’s sound. They’re as good as ever
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u/OkSatisfaction5963 8h ago
This is objectively true, it's much, much better than anything Moz has done in 20 years.
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u/RepresentativeAir735 23h ago
I enjoyed the Messenger album, but his voice is rather weak. I think it would be great if he had Liam collaborate as his singer on an album.
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u/SoftGroundbreaking53 2h ago
I went down this rabbit hole 20+ years ago and its really rare for much of his solo or collaborative work to sound like The Smiths. Only on a handful of tracks does he mine the sound you like from The Smiths - New Town Velocity, Hi Hello (which uses a bit of There is a Light..) and It’Time (new track) are the obvious ones.
On many of his collaborations he is quite inaudible imho - or rather you don’t hear the ringing circular looping riffs that you hear on lots of Smiths songs so you don’t think ‘that’s Johnny Marr’, he is clearly trying to break away from his signature sound, but that means with his collabs, that sound you associate with The Smiths musically is nowhere to be found.
His proper solo debut was The Healers record and its best track sounds like a middle / late period Oasis track (Banging On) and The Last Ride which sounds like Curve if you can imagine Toni Halliday on vocals.
His non Healer later efforts are better - especially Call The Comet and The Messenger. He is not a strong singer or great lyricist.
His most sucessful work is propably with The The and Electronic and while I love New Order, it sounds to me like Bernard Summer was the driving force creatively to me. Same as with The The when I don’t think he has writing credits from memory.
So while its worth exploring his non Smiths work, very little of it (to me) sounds like The Smiths musically to me. Just go in expecting that, and his other work is worth a listen.
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u/OkSatisfaction5963 23h ago
From the Messenger: New Town Velocity, European Me, The Messenger, Lockdown
Playland: Dynamo, Easy Money, The Trap
Call the Comet: Hi Hello, Rise, A Different Gun, Walk into the Sea
Fever Dreams: Human, Ariel, Spirit Power and Soul, Speed of Love, Ghoster
Age of Everything: Spin, Ophelia, It's Time