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Mar 20, 2013This isn’t an album that’s going to light people up or satisfy those who are still suffering from The Smiths refusal to reunite. However, if you take The Messenger for what it most organically is, a British indie rock album, you won’t be disappointed.
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Feb 25, 2013One quick listen to The Messenger brings all his signatures rushing back--the intricate, intertwining arrangements, the insistent riffs finding a counterpoint in the elastic yet precise melodies, a romance with the past that doesn't negate the present.
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Alternative PressFeb 7, 2013The Messenger delivers. [Mar 2013, p.92]
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Nov 7, 2013The Messenger rediscovers what made the Smiths' albums great--an open-minded approach to tone and a feel that colors tunes for miles.
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Mar 5, 2013Marr has become a more assured singer, which is one of several ways this album improves on Boomslang.
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Feb 26, 2013The Messenger, his second solo album, is a bracing reminder of his talents as a sonic architect.
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Feb 21, 2013Marr’s vocals are indistinctive, although his song-writing abilities are clear. What does stand out is how fine a guitarist he has become.
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Feb 27, 2013It’s proof that Johnny Marr, nearly half a century old, can still unpack new skills and techniques from a hefty bag of guitar-drenched tricks.
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Entertainment WeeklyFeb 27, 2013His generically Oasis-y singing won't blow anyone away, but Marr's still a master at getting jangly new-wave energy and moody atmosphere out of his instrument. [1 Mar 2013, p.66]
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Mar 21, 2013The Messenger does not disappoint; it brims with angular riffage, swings with sexy insouciance.
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MojoFeb 7, 2013The Messenger duly wipes the slate clean and bursts with the same efflorescent skills that made Johnny Marr a guitar hero for the generation which had supposedly repudiated such a concept. [Mar 2013, p.90]
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Feb 26, 2013The Messenger isn’t just a summary of everything worthwhile in contemporary rock music, it’s an insightful and informed dissection of life in 2013 and all the futile iOS updates, cyberstalking conglomerates and financial travesties that clog up the spaces between us. In a world claiming to connect us all, it argues, we’re getting more and more dislocated.
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Feb 27, 2013It has some great guitar—satisfying our expectations on that front--and doesn’t offend. It’s a great record to throw on when DJing your parents’ Welcome To Spring community mixer.
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Feb 20, 2013The Messenger won't be included in the body of work that made Marr great, but it's a solid approximation of his strengths.
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Feb 25, 2013The Messenger isn’t groundbreaking or iconic in itself, but it’s thoroughly enjoyable music from a groundbreaking and iconic artist.
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Feb 25, 2013While lukewarm as a whole, The Messenger doesn't suck nearly enough to bruise Marr's status as a guitar deity on wheels.
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Feb 21, 2013The Messenger falls some way short of greatness, but is full of enjoyably spiky tunes.
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Feb 26, 2013Not that The Messenger solely ransacks the past, though: conversely, it's the clunkier, more ham-fisted retro fodder that constitute the main misfires, especially lyrically.... But when he pushes things forward, everything begins to glitter.
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UncutFeb 7, 2013The Messenger isn't an album that will blow any non-believer away. It is old fashioned, in many ways. [Mar 2013, p.65]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 18 out of 19
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Mixed: 0 out of 19
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Negative: 1 out of 19
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Jan 31, 2014
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Mar 21, 2016
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Apr 30, 2013