It's like a jungle sometimes...

Johnny Marr's first official solo album The Message comes out on February 26. Hooray! While the title track is not, as I had momentarily hoped, a cover of Grandmaster Flash's "The Message," it sounds pretty damn good! I've always been somewhat perplexed by Marr's post-Smith's career choices. Though he's been involved with some cool stuff (The The, Electronic), his contributions to these projects have always been pretty subdued. Rarely has his amazingly distinct guitar sound taken center stage since Morrissey and Marr parted ways in 1987.

Marr has also played with bands that he's clearly overqualified for (Modest Mouse, The Cribs), though I suppose if it made him happy, that's what counts right? Sure. He also put together Johnny Marr + the Healers in the early 2000's. This was a band with Ringo Starr's son and some dude from Kula Shaker (remember them?). Their one full length Boomslang was overall disappointing and, like all his other post-Smiths work, his shimmery guitar work was mostly buried in generic-sounding Brit pop tunes. 

So I have some high hopes for The Message! It's only been like 25 years or so since Johnny Marr's blown our minds... maybe he's finally ready to do it again!