Johnny Marr has announced  Spirit Power: The Best Of Johnny Marr- a new collection which spotlights the breadth of musicality across the first ten years of the his solo career.

The project is set for release on 3 November via, BMG. Accompanying the announcement is the new anthemic single ‘Somewhere’.

“I’ve played a lot of arenas over the years, and in terms of songwriting, there’s nowhere to hide. For a song to work, it has to be a banger,” said Marr on the track.

“I know it’s almost uncool to think in those terms, but I grew up in a house where my parents listened to Motown, where you couldn’t get a song released if it wasn’t full of hooks.”

Personally curated by Johnny Marr, Spirit Power encompasses songs his acclaimed solo albums (2013’s The Messenger, 2014’s Playland, 2018’s Call The Comet, 2022 double album Fever Dreams Pts 1-4), single releases ‘Armatopia’, ‘The Priest’ (w/ Maxine Peake), two new songs, plus a cover of Depeche Mode’s ‘I Feel You’.

The Deluxe CD edition of Spirit Power will feature five previously unheard demos and rarities, ‘Hi Hello’ (Demo), ‘Somewhere’ (Demo), ‘The Answer’ (Crazy Face Version), ‘The Messenger’ (Demo), and ‘Speak Out Reach Out’ (Crazy Face Version).

“For me, the mission with these records was to make songs that you could listen to on the way to school, on the way to the gym, on the way back from work – you know, in the way that you had with, say, Blondie,” elaborated Marr.

The former Smiths man will also be publishing a new photography book on 17 October- titled Marr’s Guitars via Thames & Hudson.

Described by the man himself as a “guitar book for people who wouldn’t usually own a guitar book”- it features contributions from the likes of Noel Gallagher, Bernard Butler and Ed O’Brien, along with a foreword written by Hans Zimmer and personal reflections and insights from Marr.

Preorder Spirit Power: The Best Of Johnny Marr here. An exclusive limited double picture disc plus merchandise bundles will be available from the official Johnny Marr store here.