NME: “Johnny Marr gives his verdict on Blossoms and Rick Astley’s Smiths Covers Band” (September 17, 2021)

Not sure whether Johnny is keen on this or not, he seems pissed off that Blossoms never mentioned it to him when they met a few weeks ago - Well, I met The Blossoms a few weeks ago and they elected to not mention it. Nice.




NME article kindly supplied by @This Charming Bowie:


(2 separate discussions merged).


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He will (to some extent) be more interested in the film I expect. And he’ll probably have some limited publicity commitments with Hans Zimmer (premiers?), that same week.

I guess if he is really offended, an understandable reason would be that it’s in the same week that he’s likely to have James Bond related media work. And in the moment he wants to talk about Vic Flick, he now knows he’ll be asked about Rick Astley. Which clearly might be irritating.
I had no idea Johnny Marr was involved in the latest Bond theme and after listening to it five minutes ago I can understand why I have no idea cause there's two notes of guitar in the entire track. One in the middle and the last note. Good work if you can get it.
 
I had no idea Johnny Marr was involved in the latest Bond theme and after listening to it five minutes ago I can understand why I have no idea cause there's two notes of guitar in the entire track. One in the middle and the last note. Good work if you can get it.
It's more the soundtrack as a whole, not the Billie Eilish theme song. Here's the track listing:
  1. Gun Barrel
  2. Matera
  3. Message From An Old Friend
  4. Square Escape
  5. Someone Was Here
  6. Not What I Expected
  7. What Have You Done?
  8. Shouldn’t We Get To Know Each Other First
  9. Cuba Chase
  10. Back to MI6
  11. Good To Have You Back
  12. Lovely To See You Again
  13. Home
  14. Norway Chase
  15. Gearing Up
  16. Poison Garden
  17. The Factory
  18. I’ll Be Right Back
  19. Opening The Doors
  20. Final Ascent
  21. No Time To Die
I've put in the bold the ones that are *obviously* coded messages to Morrissey ;)
 
Don't they they will be soon forgotten Ketamine, 2 number 1 albums already, sold out the MEN for tomorrow night, a massive gig in their hometown next weekend and next year they are the main support for The Killers on their UK stadium tour, so quite a solid few years ahead of them in my opinion


Where are they playing in Stockport?
 
Would love it if Moz gave the seal of approval, just posted that pic of him and Rick to Central or something.

obvs Johnny has a bee in his (dyed) bonnet about something, which is fair. But I’ve seen people taking this all a bit serious, it’s a novelty gig or two isn’t it? Bit shit them charging like £40 for it but what can you do.
johnny has the nice guy persona especially compared to nasty Moz, but I do recall instances where he’s had a tongue on him.
I seem to remember an interview with Sleaford mods, one of whom is a big smiths fan and they said that Marr was somewhat snide about “making music with actual instruments” when they were all backstage due to a mention Marr got in one of their tunes.
 
I guess he's pissed off they didn't mention it to him but he should feel proud and happy about it and the two songs they've played so far sound great.

I'm not a Rick Astley fan, never was, but the guy is very nice, sings the songs very well and is a self-proclaimed Smiths fan so I believe those two gigs should be very good and quite special. Everyone should be celebrating and not complaining.

Had it been Morrissey who had said what JM has said, everyone would be bitching about it.
 
I had no idea Johnny Marr was involved in the latest Bond theme and after listening to it five minutes ago I can understand why I have no idea cause there's two notes of guitar in the entire track. One in the middle and the last note. Good work if you can get it.
I’ve discussed this with some Bond fans. He appears throughout the soundtrack (I gather) but yes, his contribution is small on everything I’ve heard. There is some suspicion that there might be a full Vick Flick style Marr contribution perhaps at the end of the film.

Otherwise it’s odd verging on comedic to have the James Bond music, ostensibly played by Johnny Marr, with Zimmer apparently deciding it would be basically be better without that ultra-famous guitar solo.
 
I guess he's pissed off they didn't mention it to him but he should feel proud and happy about it and the two songs they've played so far sound great.

I'm not a Rick Astley fan, never was, but the guy is very nice, sings the songs very well and is a self-proclaimed Smiths fan so I believe those two gigs should be very good and quite special. Everyone should be celebrating and not complaining.

Had it been Morrissey who had said what JM has said, everyone would be bitching about it.
Completely agree, Morrissey says anything negative about this and it’s all pile on.
 
Both Stockport and Old Trafford are classed as Greater Manchester, I think most people understood what i meant

Ah, ha, fair enough. I was taking it very literally, cause they do play Stockport here and there (and some of them still live here), like the gig they played at Edgeley Park a couple years ago, which, while I didn't go, I could here nicely from my house.
 
I’ve discussed this with some Bond fans. He appears throughout the soundtrack (I gather) but yes, his contribution is small on everything I’ve heard. There is some suspicion that there might be a full Vick Flick style Marr contribution perhaps at the end of the film.

Otherwise it’s odd verging on comedic to have the James Bond music, ostensibly played by Johnny Marr, with Zimmer apparently deciding it would be basically be better without that ultra-famous guitar solo.
I'm a Bond fan of the films where he's actually James Bond, not so much lately. I'd love to hear Johnny Marr interpret the actual Bond theme by Monty Norman but I doubt he got in that far. Marr's efforts are probably swallowed up by Zimmer's war torn horns.

Btw what is Vick Flick style?
 
It's more the soundtrack as a whole, not the Billie Eilish theme song. Here's the track listing:
  1. Gun Barrel
  2. Matera
  3. Message From An Old Friend
  4. Square Escape
  5. Someone Was Here
  6. Not What I Expected
  7. What Have You Done?
  8. Shouldn’t We Get To Know Each Other First
  9. Cuba Chase
  10. Back to MI6
  11. Good To Have You Back
  12. Lovely To See You Again
  13. Home
  14. Norway Chase
  15. Gearing Up
  16. Poison Garden
  17. The Factory
  18. I’ll Be Right Back
  19. Opening The Doors
  20. Final Ascent
  21. No Time To Die
I've put in the bold the ones that are *obviously* coded messages to Morrissey ;)
So Marr plays on all these tracks or just the bold ones?
 
Completely agree, Morrissey says anything negative about this and it’s all pile on.
Funny thing is, even though Morrissey hasn't responded (yet), people tend to still make it all about him.

Rick Astley singing The Smiths is good fun, but so many people on social media cannot seem to just take it for what it is, but turn it into a way to bash Morrissey. I am sure that much of the positive responses are based on people's dislike of Morrissey rather than admiration for Rick Astley. Even on Johnny Marr's Twitter people are bringing up Morrissey, instead of focusing on what Johnny has to say.

By the way, if I were Johnny I would be insulted by the people so enthusiastically suggesting that The Smiths should reform with Rick Astley on vocals. It could be labelled as snobbish, but I think that Johnny takes great pride in his art, cherishes what he and Morrissey created back in the day, and prefers to work with other musicians who take their artistry seriously. While the lines between what constitutes a true artist and an entertainer are blurry, I think that it would be difficult to dispute that Rick Astley is first and foremost a pleasant, commercial entertainer, who lacks the emotional depth and urgency that The Smiths brought. It's like preferring Bob Ross paintings over Vincent van Gogh's work, because Bob was such a sympathetic guy and van Gogh an alcoholic weirdo.
 
I'm a Bond fan of the films where he's actually James Bond, not so much lately. I'd love to hear Johnny Marr interpret the actual Bond theme by Monty Norman but I doubt he got in that far. Marr's efforts are probably swallowed up by Zimmer's war torn horns.

Btw what is Vick Flick style?
Vic Flick plays guitar on the original version of the theme—as it opens Dr. No. I think the same version was used for the first four (possibly five) films. That’s the Monty Norman bit.

More recently there seems to be a growing emphasis on the additional brass added by John Barry in his arrangement.

I too feel the Bond character is becoming less recognisable. Rather than compromising Bond, I think they should now do the films as period thrillers: when Tarantino wanted to make Casino Royale, he wanted to set it in the 50s.
 
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So Marr plays on all these tracks or just the bold ones?
I don’t think so, I suspect the bold is the music that has already been released through a ‘teaser’ version of the soundtrack. He’s on the main Eilish theme for sure, and (barely) the Gun Barrel music too.
 
Vick Flick plays guitar on the original version of the theme—as it opens Dr. No. I think the same version was used for the first four (possibly five) films. That’s the Monty Norman bit.

More recently there seems to be a growing emphasis on the additional brass added by John Barry in his arrangement.

I too feel the Bond character is becoming less recognisable. Rather than compromising Bond, I think they should now do the films as period thrillers: when Tarantino wanted to make Casino Royale, he wanted to set it in the 50s.
Ah I never knew the name of the guitarist. Thanks for that. Later versions of Monty's theme are just overworked and lack punch, much like Bond himself these days. Oh no we can't have men misbehaving on film now can we? Who the f*** wants to see Bond behave himself? I get chills how woke the new one is going to be with a rewrite by feminist fatale herself Phoebe Waller Bridge.

Tarantino's Bond would've been interesting but as soon as he got together with Brosnan for the pitch Barbara Broccoli said thanks very much for the idea now git! If you're read any of the novels he makes even Connery's Bond seem tame. I'm a Dalton Bond fan myself. He was the closest to the books to me.
 
Ah I never knew the name of the guitarist. Thanks for that. Later versions of Monty's theme are just overworked and lack punch, much like Bond himself these days. Oh no we can't have men misbehaving on film now can we? Who the f*** wants to see Bond behave himself? I get chills how woke the new one is going to be with a rewrite by feminist fatale herself Phoebe Waller Bridge.

Tarantino's Bond would've been interesting but as soon as he got together with Brosnan for the pitch Barbara Broccoli said thanks very much for the idea now git! If you're read any of the novels he makes even Connery's Bond seem tame. I'm a Dalton Bond fan myself. He was the closest to the books to me.
The Living Daylights is fantastic. Amongst the very best in the series for me.
 
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