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Johnny Marr, the former Smith and all-around vastly influential UK guitar wizard, is always up to something. He's collaborating with Damon Albarn, Grian Chatten, and Kae Tempest. He's telling UPS to find his guitars. He's the target of still more bitchy Morrissey barbs. He's popping up onstage with Franz Ferdinand, The The, Gorillaz, and his old buddies the Pet Shop Boys. Now, he's ready to announce a new album of his own.
Johnny Marr didn't start releasing solo albums until after he's become a fully certified legend, but he has enough of them that he came out with a best-of solo collection in 2023. This fall, Marr will follow 2022's Fever Dreams Pts 1-4 with a new LP called The Age Of Everything. Opening track "Spin" is a tight, jangly guitar-pop song. Marr's glimmering tone remains undefeated, and he sings with a nicely weary authority. I wonder when Marr figured out that he could sing and whether he suddenly regretted all the years that he spent dealing with pain-in-the-ass frontmen. In a press release, Marr says:
This is the record that’s been the most cathartic. The title came to me early in the process and became an inescapable idea. It seemed to sum up the way I think a lot of people are feeling. It’s all-encompassing, but it's not necessarily a negative statement. There’s a sense of overwhelm in the culture brought about by technology, but looking at it with a different light, there could also be a sense of possibility.
Below, check out Marr's "Spin" video and the tracklist for The Age Of Everything.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Spin"
02 "Beyond The Rain"
03 "It’s Time"
04 "How Come"
05 "Ophelia"
06 "That Feeling"
07 "In And Out Of Love"
08 "Just Once More"
09 "Fire With Fire"
10 "All In A Life"
The Age Of Everything is out 10/2 on New Voodoo Limited/BMG. Also, the Smiths' The Queen Is Dead turns 40 today! And now, the title is true!
English (US) · 