Originally written by Marc Burrows · 6 October 2014
Johnny Marr
Playland
Label: New Voodoo Release Date: 06/10/2014
Of all people in this murky world of indie rock, you want Johnny Marr to succeed. He always comes across as decent, he’s got a supernatural gift for attaching himself to cool projects - the Cribs, Modest Mouse, the Inception soundtrack, and frankly you can stick The Smiths under that heading too - he’s a well-liked, arch collaborator who knows who to work with, and fundamentally how to make them better. Even his first solo album, 2003’s Boomslang wasn’t really “solo”, released as a three piece of jamming musicians under the name Johnny Marr & The Healers. The man is clearly supernaturally likeable, though Morrissey’s autobiography moves a little past that, painting him as an almost obsessive people-pleaser, trying to maintain friends with all sides all the time. It seems to have annoyed Mozzer a bit, although you have to plough through the tedious courtroom drama section two thirds through his book to notice (which, really, I wouldn’t advise).
It was a great chunk of good will that greeted Marr’s proper solo debut, The Messenger on its 2013 release. It deserved its praise as well, a perfectly contained, spiky little number with Marr unafraid to sound like, well, Johnny Marr. Which is nice, because for years - probably up to the point he joined the Cribs - he made an effort not to. It was satisfyingly Smithsy guitar pop, and as a lyricist and vocalist Marr acquitted himself rather well. A year later (which is practically nothing in modern music terms) and we have its successor, Playland and like The Messenger you hit play hoping for the best. So it’s a shame that this time around, Johnny doesn’t quite deliver.
We’ll start with the good stuff, because there’s certainly some of that here. Lead single ‘Easy Money’ is a bit of a gem – all stabby riffs and nagging hooks, it’s got an instant bounce and a robotic groove that’s genuinely appealing. ‘25 Hours’ kicks off with a thunderous, mechanical sounding beat before it’s joined by one of those sparkling Marr riffs that seem to tumble out of his Fender Jaguar, while some synthy strings give it a certain Eighties sting. Marr’s voice is limited, but here he makes a virtue of his under-singing to create something quite urgent and tense. ‘Boys Get Straight’ has killer of a chorus, worthy of any of the acts Marr’s worked with over the years.
The problem here is certainly not a lack of talent, but there is a lack of ideas. There’s a definite through line between this and The Messenger, though Marr has obviously decided to differentiate his newer baby by toughening up the sound - Playland is slathered in aggressive synths and spiky riffs. They work well, but there’s just not enough to go around, stretching four or five strong ideas over 11 songs. When Marr does deviate from his darker colours you get something like ‘The Trap’, with its melodic bassline and less-than-substantial vocals sounding like a rather substandard New Order song. It’s just a bit bloodless. It’s never a bad record, Marr is too experienced, too skilful for that. He knows how proper British indie rock sounds - he basically wrote the blueprint - and those instincts are all brought to bear here. But it’s not a particularly satisfying or interesting record either. What’s clear is how badly Marr needs a foil, a counterpart, a collaborator, because on his own his ideas only seem to stretch so far, and so, sadly, does our good will.
• 5 Marc Burrows's Score
• 7 User Score