Album Review: Johnny Marr, Fever Dreams Pts 1-4

One of the most iconic ever UK guitarists thanks to his time in The Smiths, Johnny Marr has also had one hell of a solo career, working with a who’s who of alternative rock – it might be quicker to name the people he hasn’t collaborated with – also contributing to soundtracks for hit movies like Inception and No Time To Die.

He has delivered another hugely enjoyable listen in Fever Dreams Pts 1-4. An electro banger with echoes of both New Gold Dream-era Simple Minds and Marr’s own early ’90s supergroup Electronic, opener ‘Spirit Power & Soul’ nicely sets the tone, and thereafter there’s a variety of compelling detours into psychedelia, krautrock and dream-pop. The ’80s indie aesthetic Marr helped pioneer remains enormously influential, a notable recent example being MGMT’s ‘In The Afternoon’ – for me one of the greatest songs of the past five years – which blended elements of The Smiths, The Cure and Echo & The Bunnymen to unforgettable effect. Clearly, Marr believes no one does Johnny Marr better than JM himself, and so he unapologetically revisits some vintage sounds, most notably on the sublime ‘Ariel’, a close spiritual relative of the MGMT masterwork.

Whether it be the surging ‘Hideaway Girl’ or the moody ‘All These Days’, Fever Dreams Pts 1-4 is consistently irresistible.

8/10