alt-j - Live at the Academy, Bristol - 10th May 2022
It’s often speculated that one needs to have a healthy ego to be a performer, and it’s undeniable that to get up on a stage and either articulate your feelings or show off what specific artistic talent you may have certainly requires confidence, if nothing else.
The very nature of stage performance ordinarily means you are elevated above the attendees, but with a raised platform adorning the stage, alt-J could be said to be overstating the point.
However, knowing them of old (as we now surely do after 10 years), it seems unlikely that the unassuming trio are pursuing a god complex and indeed, the platform ensures that even the shorter members of the crowd can see the three men and compliments impressive visuals.
Bristol’s Academy, with a capacity of 1,500 (the lack of an arena in this part of the world is either a benefit or a crutch, depending on your point of view), is likely to be one of the smaller venues on this spring tour, which works to their strength; the lightshow, set as it is around their platform, is dazzling and the backdrop images (burning embers, sharks, Matrix glitches) brightens the venue, although sadly their music, operating as it does in varying volumes, doesn’t always fill the room.
The Leeds band are one of those acts which bring out a mixed crowd of students, people that are there for a night out (and are generally having a catch-up) and the type of people who recognise one song from an advert.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2022/05/review-alt-j-live-bristol/
Arcade Fire - WE
Back in 2007, The Arcade Fire (Win Butler’s definitive article, not your reviewer’s) warned us: ‘I know a time is coming, all words will lose their meaning.’
Lifted from the suitably apocalyptic ‘Black Mirror’ from the Neon Bible album, those words are eerily relevant in the post-truth edge. But where do you go once you’ve predicted the future?
The answer, as has been the case for eight years and three albums, is simply to dance through the dystopian pain. Where 2013’s Reflektor had its moments, the Canadian/French act stumbled on Everything Now five years ago, their marketing plan of presenting themselves as a corporation crossing a line into over-irony, to say nothing of it being an inferior version of its predecessor.
On WE, the shining disco-balls are still present and correct, but they’ve been tempered and toned down to serve the songs rather than dominate them.
Honeyglaze - Honeyglaze
Speedy Wunderground and south London? How can it fail?
Are there any other independent labels with a better hit rate right now? Having represented black midi, Black Country, New Road, Jane Weaver, Squid and Stephen Fretwell (among many others) over the last few years, their newest album release is the latest band on south London’s (England’s creative hotbed) conveyor belt of talent.
Remarkably, Honeyglaze’s lead vocalist and guitarist, Anouska Sokolow, met her bandmates (Tim Curtis on bass and Yuri Shibuichi on drums) officially at their first ever rehearsal, three days prior to their first gig of many at the by-now-legendary venue The Windmill in Brixton.
The first lockdown only briefly knocked them off their stride, and following a live session recorded in a garage, Speedy Wunderground’s head honcho Dan Carey reached out to sign the trio. With prestigious support slots for Wet Leg in the calendar, everything would appear to be primed for Honeyglaze.
This debut should sustain the momentum with ease. It’s an album designed to reward patient listeners, brittle and understated at first but with bucketloads of charm.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2022/05/honeyglaze-debut-album-review/
Bloc Party - Alpha Games
After racing out of the traps with three albums in four years, Bloc Party left their competitors either for dead or flailing around, trying to catch up with their rapid movement through art-rock, post-punk (in old money), electronica and house-pop.
Yet when the original line-up took the time for a well-earned hiatus, the four-piece went through a turbulent period. The rhythm section left prior to the recording of 2016’s gospel-electro Hymns, which had its moments but felt incomplete, such as it was having only two full-time members present during recording.
Although Justin Harris (bass) and Louise Bartle (drums) were recruited for the supporting tour, it’s taken a further six years to hear the new line-up’s first collaborative efforts.
Pleasingly, Alpha Games is more of a refinement than an overhaul with a healthy balance between new sonic developments (as they were always wont to do) and recognition of what made the group so unique.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2022/04/review-bloc-party-alpha-games/
Scalping - Void
Anyone who has been lucky enough to see Scalping live over the last few years may have an idea of what to expect from their debut album Void. A sensory assault from start to finish, at their live shows the quartet batter the audience into submission with their thrilling, unique techno-rock.
Yet while it’s true to surmise that the album represents them well, it also demonstrates that there is much more to the Bristolians than meets the ear. The harsh aesthetics remain on the likes of gnarly, ear-splintering ‘Caller Unknown’, a piece of science-fiction heavy metal and the second track (following the disconcerting, tense opener ‘Blood Club’ which hints at what is to come via Isaac Jones’ cacophonic drums).
https://www.gigwise.com/reviews/3418339/album-review-scalping-void
Ride - Live at The Marble Factory, Bristol - 24th April
It bears repeating that Ride’s reformation must have been one of the most successful of the 1990s bands.
In all aspects they are going from strength to strength, likely to benefit from Andy Bells’ impressed prolificity (at last count he’s released approximately 50 new collections of music in the last two years) and in the live arena, which tonight’s gig emphatically proves.
Cut as they are from similarly-noise-epic cloth, bdrmm provide excellent support and warm things up nicely, from the uneasy ‘Push/Pull’ to the two-piece ‘Happy/(Un) Happy’, two songs on their debut album but here amalgamated into one.
The first half is snappy shoegaze where the second is all wrought vocals and brooding atmospherics before they close on the uplifting ‘A Reason To Celebrate’.
Their debut album Bedroom was one of the highlights of 2020 and with recent single, the bristling ‘Port’, having been subject to a whole remix EP (with the likes of Daniel Avery and Working Men’s Club offering their interpretations), the next phase of their career promises to be fascinating.
But while bdrmm have a bright future, their spiritual forebears Ride are tonight focusing on the past, both distant and recent. Playing their debut album Nowhere in full (plus associated tracks from their Fall EP), the ferocious hurdy-gurdy clatter of Seagull instantly transports the crowd to a better place (even though this tour was originally due to take place in 2020, etc etc) with both Mark Gardener and Andy Bell’s proffering soothing balms on lead vocals and guitars.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2022/04/review-ride-marble-factory-bristol/
Interview - Isaac Holman, Slaves and Baby Dave
Spring is here and with it comes the additional responsibility for house-owners of sorting out their garden.
For circa six months the greenery would likely have been neglected and, while to some weeding and trimming is an arduous task, it does have its benefits for both physical and mental wellbeing.
“You’re just back to basics. You’re keeping yourself busy and nurturing things, back to nature. There’s so many reasons why it’s good for you. It proper sorted me out. I keep thinking that I want to get back into it somehow and do the music. I think I’m going to work out a way to do both.”
So opines Isaac Holman, lead singer of punk-rock duo Slaves and the architect behind new project Baby Dave.
Shortly before the pandemic, Holman and Laurie Vincent decided, for a variety of intensely sad reasons, to put Slaves on ice for a period. Both had their reasons; in Holman’s case it was down to what amounted to a mental breakdown, a result of several years of the rock ‘n roll lifestyle.
“My life was crazy for a long time,” he tells us. “Apart from the touring and stuff I had no real structure. I wasn’t looking after myself, there was a bit of substance abuse going on. I just wasn’t looking after myself.”
“Bottling things up and doing stupid shit, just not feeling good about myself. I have OCD tendencies too. My whole life I’ve done weird things but never really acknowledged it.”
“When all this stuff (lockdowns) happened, it was the perfect storm and my OCD got really bad. I had this meltdown and it was completely debilitating. I definitely think my life in Slaves had a big role to play in me and my head.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2022/04/interview-baby-dave-isaac-holman/
Spiritualized - Everything Was Beautiful
While the lockdowns were awful for most, as someone who actively chooses self-isolation as a way of getting by in the world it was something of a balm for Jason Pierce.
Finally afforded the peace and quiet which would allow the noises and music in his head a chance to breathe, Pierce re-commenced word on some of the demos that didn’t make the cut from his last album, 2018’s And Nothing Hurt.
Everything Was Beautiful does work as a companion piece of sorts (as noted by the linking titles, which taken in reverse order are a quotation from Kurt Vonnegut’s 1969 novel Slaughterhouse Five) to the previous album, but only in the way that all Spiritualized albums refer to each other.
Indeed, this album opens with a reading of the title, this time from Pierce’s daughter Poppy, in the same style that his then-girlfriend Kate Radley read the name of 1997’s seminal Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space. The pharmaceutically-themed artwork can’t entirely be a coincidence either.
All the familiar Spiritualized sounds are here, but since Pierce has never been reluctant to throw the kitchen sink into his oceans of noise, such a statement is meaningless.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2022/04/review-spiritualized-everything/
Interview - Pillow Queens
Amidst the lockdowns of 2020, September saw the release of Pillow Queens’ debut album In Waiting through their own label.
A collection of songs linked by an underlying message of inclusivity and unity, it received a warm response with an 8/10 review in the NME, 5/5 from The Irish Times, and made it onto numerous End Of Year lists.
Despite the accolades it’s human nature to doubt or to suffer from imposter syndrome, and the four-piece were no different.
“There was no gigs happening, we produced our first album and it had gone down really well, but when you can’t play the songs live it’s like, ‘do people really like this?’,” Pamela Connolly, lead vocalist, guitarist and bassist told Live4ever when we met with them at South by Southwest 2022. “You don’t know.”
“We didn’t have the benefit of touring the album so we couldn’t see physically see people reacting to it,” lead guitarist Cathy McGuinness added. “Is it being well-received or not?”
Any doubt that In Waiting had captured people’s imaginations were soon cast aside as the group were approached by independent label Royal Mountain Records and the publishing arm of the legendary Sub Pop.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2022/04/live4ever-interview-pillow-queens/
Manic Street Preachers - Clwb Ifor Bach - 31st March 2022
In October 1990, Manic Street Preachers were due to play at Cardiff’s Clwb Ifor Bach but had to pull out, for the very good reason that they were signing their first record contract. Or least, so goes the legend, but Nicky Wire isn’t quite so sure. ‘It was either that we were signing to Heavenly which sounds familiar to me, or that I was having an operation on my neck because I had glandular fever,’ he told Huw Stephens on BBC6 Music shortly before the gig. ‘I’m not quite sure which one it was, but I’m glad we’re repaying the debt, finally after all these years.’
Forever Delayed indeed. 14 albums and 32 albums later, they’re back in the Welsh capital to write that wrong for a special (‘This is sacred ground.’) homecoming (ish, give or take 18 miles) show If they had sounded anywhere near as vital and alive as this (which is a fair assumption), it would have been some gig.
One would expect the atmosphere to be electric in a such a small venue before one of the country’s biggest and best bands take to the stage, and the 200 lucky punters in attendance crackle accordingly. Launching straight into ‘Motorcycle Emptiness’, the scene is ably set and the melancholic rocker sets a benchmark that would be impossible to sustain, were it not being followed by the series of musical explosions that is From Despair To Where.
The excitement largely comes from both the venue size and the unknown: having not performed since December, predicting the Manic’s setlist was difficult, but the band balance proceedings for this special occasion perfectly, like the masters of their craft they are. With the excellent The Ultra Vivid Lament barely six months old, it would have been understandable if they had wanted to showcase some of their newest material. But sixth album Know Your Enemy has just reached a significant milestone (21 years) and gets it’s chance in the limelight with no lack of crowd-pleasing hits comprising the rest of the set, alongside a few other surprises.
Time has been kind to Know Your Enemy. ‘His Last Painting’ grumbles and growls, James Dean Bradfield intricately immersing himself in his guitar, while the gloriously breezy The Year Of Purification (one of their countless ‘should have been a single’ offerings) glistens beautifully. The 2001 tracks bookmark the robotic shuffle/grenades of 1999 single ‘You Stole The Sun From My Heart’ and the regal ‘Still Snowing In Sapparo’ from last year.
Before introducing the latter, Nicky Wire (looking every bit as majestic as you would hope from 10 feet away) acknowledges the crowd and is in reminiscent mood, recalling previous shows in the Welsh capital, noting that their hottest gig was at the Astoria was also likely the last time they played the wiry (no pun intended) Methadone Pretty. Bradfield also engages in good camaraderie with the audience; when certain members throw in requests such as Faster or, amusingly, ‘I Killed The Zeitgeist’ (a Wire solo track), the singer jokingly responds, ‘We’re not a fucking human jukebox you know!’
The set highlights the responsibilities Bradfield carries on his shoulders. As well as lead vocals and guitar (and what a fabulous guitarist he is), he sings all lyrics on duets such as ‘Your Love Alone Is Not Enough’ (admittedly with some assistance from an eager and willing crowd), ‘The Secret He Had Missed’ and ‘Blank Diary Entry’, filling in for Nina Persson, Julia Cumming and Mark Lanegan respectively.
The recent passing of the latter is acknowledged by Bradfield, who voices his concern that his attempt to match the American legend’s gravitas may be found wanting yet it’s a more than noble effort. Also in tribute, drummer Sean Moore is adorned in a Taylor Hawkins T-shirt and pounds his skins relentlessly in such a vein that would have made the Foo Fighters man proud. A word too for keyboardist Nick Nasmyth, who always serves the song, adding subtlety and innocence to the likes of ‘You Stole The Sun From My Heart’ and grandiosity (‘A Design For Life’) as required.
Bradfield’s burden is briefly shared on ‘Spectators Of Suicide’ as Welsh musician Gwenno supplies elegance, poise and a reminder that, although it may be thankfully unremarkable these days, Manic Street Preachers have long been leading the charge for feminism in rock music. Elsewhere, ‘If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next’, their only No.1 single, resonates perhaps more than it ever has done.
Tonight’s show displays everything you want from a) a rock gig and b) Manic Street Preachers themselves, complete with whirlwind rotations from Bradfield and scissor kicks from Wire, despite his doubts earlier in the day; ‘The 53-year old back sinews are not quite what they were, so I think I’ll be alright!’
Jaunts down memory lane occur in Wire’s recollections, but also looks to the future with the newer material. As an extra treat for the lucky punters, the group also cover Madonna’s 1984 single ‘Borderline’ before a closing salvo of the mischievously arrogant ‘You Love Us’ and a cathartic ‘A Design For Life’, overexposure having done nothing to dent it’s power, along with a shout out to Richey Edwards: gone but never, ever, forgotten.
An emotional and devastatingly powerful way to start the weekend, the first show of the first ‘real life’ 6Music Festival for three years has commenced with one hell of a bang. Manic Street Preachers threw down the gauntlet with panache and style. IDLES, Little Simz, Johnny Marr et al had their work cut out for them.
Jack White - Fear Of The Dawn
In as much as one can be expected to muster up sympathy for a multi-million-selling, Grammy-award winning, household name rock star, it must be frustrating to be Jack White sometimes.
An artist in the truest sense, no matter which muses he follows he is and will always be best known for his guitar proficiency. The response to 2018’s Boarding House Reach (his last solo album) – which was garnished with synths and jazzy refrains – was tepid at best.
His belated response? Two albums released in the space of three months. While the second, Entering Heaven Alive, is promised to showcase his acoustic side, on Fear Of The Dawn, he lets rip in his own unique way.
The main takeaway from his fourth solo record is that he’s having fun again which, for a man who is always portrayed as cantankerous, is unique enough.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2022/04/review-jack-white-fear-of-dawn/
Brits & Pieces - Volume III
Labours of love can be thankless things.
To dedicate one’s heart and soul to a project, be it writing a book or re-organising the garden, takes time but the effort, and indeed the entire project, can often pass unheralded to all but the creator. It’s not why they do it, but some acknowledgement would be nice.
Therefore it was pleasing to see the first two Brits & Pieces compilations enter the UK Album Charts at 54 then 52 in late 2020/early 2021.
For the unaware, these CDs aspire to be the ‘Shine’ series for the 21st century, an initiative set up by one man (Marc Rossiter) and his Twitter account to promote new and unsigned music.
Why a labour of love? Because Rossiter ensures that all royalties go straight to the artists included which, in a music industry that’s been particularly starved of cash for the last two years, clearly signals that the venture is worthy of your time if nothing else.
Fortunately it’s not just the gesture that impresses. This new collection (Volume III, naturally) is stocked with a selection of tracks which illustrate the healthy status of British music.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2022/04/review-brits-and-pieces-iii/
2022 BBC 6 Music Festival - Cardiff
Credit: Jamie Simonds & the BBC
Having recently commemorated 20 years on air, BBC 6 Music, in keeping with their ethos of always looking forward, has already moved on to the next thing.
After a two-year break, the festival returns to live action with a maiden visit to Cardiff; the Great Hall, ordinarily the Student Union for Cardiff University, is the main hub for this year’s event, with Saturday’s trio of acts all previewing new material.
beabadoobee opens proceedings, although the Filipino-British songwriter largely plays things safe with only one track from forthcoming album Beatopia included in the set.
New single Talk sits comfortably within her diverse canon, as the songs included only have one common denominator: her lilting, near-angelic voice which masks a steely under-current.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2022/04/johnny-marr-wet-leg-6-music/
Crows - Beware Believers
Back in 2019, after their debut album Silver Tongues had received a warm response, with momentum behind them London rock outfit Crows immediately set to work on the follow-up.
You can assuredly guess the initial reason for the delay, but such is the way of the modern rock star that, without the capability to tour the record, there seemed little point in releasing a new album even as restrictions began to lift.
Now, with ‘normality’ returned (just ignore the spiralling COVID infections), and the light previously found at the end of the tunnel dazzling in its ubiquity, the time is nigh to unleash Beware Believers upon the world.
In my interview with them last month, the band spoke of strings and tweaks, but fans can rest assured that no rough edges have been smoothed away.
Opening track ‘Closer Stil'l’ starts fuzzily before bludgeoning the listener as frontman James Cox’s voice rises from the depths like Lucifer to deliver a sweet chorus above the hurricane roaring beneath him.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2022/03/review-crows-beware-believers/
Interview - Mattiel
Having spent over half a decade winning audiences over with her unique and powerful vocal style, the release of single ‘Jeff Goldblum’ late last year found fans of Mattiel checking their phones to ensure it was still the band they loved. The Atlantan’s fearless vocal acrobatics were nowhere to be heard, instead a smoother, subtler (but no less engaging) delivery filled their ears. Few could deny that the comparatively restrained style was required to suit a more sedate song.
"When Jonah sent me the ‘Jeff Goldblum’ structure, in my head I couldn't really see it any other way," Mattiel Brown explains to Gigwise. "I wanted to use those sharp syllables and the two-part harmony. That was immediate. I didn't even think about using my ‘normal’ voice, however you describe that. My full voice, I guess.
"Since then, we've played it for Stephen Colbert on his show. In that live version, I use my full voice and I think it sounds really cool both ways." And what of the subject matter? "That was just because I have a crush on Jeff Goldblum. That was really it! No deep philosophical meaning there really! It's really just about somebody who looks like Jeff Goldblum." Ask a silly question…
Peter Doherty and Frédéric Lo - The Fantasy Life Of Poetry and Crime
Question: When did we stop worrying about Peter Doherty? Answer: 2014.
Since their permanent reformation eight years ago, we have been led to believe that The Libertines have arrived at the happy ending their soap opera demanded.
The narrative suggests that they’ve sailed on the Good Ship Albion to Margate, where they joyfully fill the days in their hotel with antics and capers, generally having a Jolly Old Time.
Or so we must presume, as we haven’t had a crotchet of new music in seven years. The tours are all well and good lads, but we did not have you down as a nostalgia act.
Yet it seems we’ve taken our eye off the bigger problems: Doherty’s disarming honesty was always one his redeeming features, and time has not weathered it as he reveals frankly (in the PR for this album) that he has been clean for just over two years.
Great news to be sure, and we wish him all the best in his continued quest, but that’s still relatively recent and merely serves to highlight the very nature of addiction: it’s an ever-present thing.
‘You Can’t Keep It From Me Forever’, the best song on this new album, is Doherty distilled; one of the best things he’s put his name to (and there’s been many; his prolificity is another strength), it’s an incredibly catchy, upbeat indie pop song…about drugs.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2022/03/review-peter-doherty-and-frederic-lo/
Melt Yourself Down - Live at The JamJar, Bristol
With the release of their latest album Pray For Me I Don’t Fit In, Melt Yourself Down have stumbled across an inadvertent irony.
Their statement of declaring themselves as outsiders has been a rallying call for those who feel out of step with society, following a furrow that the likes of David Bowie and Pulp (among others) have ploughed: We Are Not Them.
The welcoming community spirit can be felt in the room tonight (March 15th), which the collective leave shaking throughout a succinct set.
Frontman Kushal Gaya wastes no time in closing the gap between band and audience; in amongst the crowd from the second song, he offers his microphone to punters or encourages them onstage towards the end. It may be Tuesday night, but Melt Yourself Down are here for a party.
Which is just as well because, although the music press struggle to pigeonhole them, it’s ultimately cathartic riot music with a bit of everything, albeit defined by the two saxophones played expertly by founder Pete Wareham, matched in every way by George Crowley.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2022/03/live-review-melt-yourself-down/
20 Years of 6Music
It was 20 years ago today….when Will Young sat atop the pop charts with ‘Anything Is Possible’, while those pop titans Shakira, Enrique Iglesias, Westlife and Nickelback brought up the metaphorical rear of the Top 5. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, his US counterpart George W Bush and the rest of the world were still reeling from the tragic events of 9/11, Arsenal were top of the football pyramids and the George Clooney-led caper Ocean’s Eleven was drawing in the crowds and the pounds in the cinema.
Meanwhile, on DAB radio, comedian and presenter Phill Jupitus cut the ribbon to unveil the BBC’s first new national music radio station in 32 years. A high-pitched guitar lick gave way to a frenetic explosion of drums, bass and power chords, as Ash’s ‘Burn Baby Burn’ heralded the arrival of BBC Radio 6 Music: a new, alternative, digital-only radio station.
You may not listen to 6 Music, but you know what it represents. The station is a refuge for those who sit outside the mainstream and a tonic for those who, frankly, can’t stand wasting their lives with perpetual adverts. A place for the mis-shapes to seek solace and shut out the outside world. The chances are that if you like any form of alternative music, be that folk, electronica, indie (or post-punk, as it’s now been rebranded), hip-hop, soul, dub or any of the innumerable genres that are represented outside pop, the first radio station to have played it will have been 6 Music. Like much of the BBC, it’s often taken for granted but is never dismissed and is widely recognised as the home of new music.
https://www.gigwise.com/features/3416385/20-years-on-air--happy-birthday-bbc-radio-6-music-
Interview - Pete Wareham, Melt Yourself Down
Where do I fit in?
It’s a profound question that everyone at some point in their lives asks themselves. We are tribal creatures, and society has always dictated that we must be part of something bigger, even if that’s just one side of an opinion.
It’s not a healthy attitude, and only now do we see that the recent deliberate attempts to set us against one another have been a distraction technique for more malevolent, despotic aims.
However, Vladimir Putin cannot claim credit for the original musing, which is a fundamental human question. As many of us did, Pete Wareham – founding member of Melt Yourself Down – asked it of himself in 2020:
“I think a lot of people had this thing in lockdown of sitting back and having a chance to reflect,” he says during an interview with Live4ever. “I was able to reconnect with all this sort of stuff and things that I had when I was a teenager that I’d lost touch with. Stuff that I was into that, I felt, was more authentically me than the other stuff I’ve been into. I was able to see the wood from the trees a little bit.”
As you may be aware (and if not, where have you been?), Melt Yourself Down released their fourth studio album Pray For Me I Don’t Fit In last week. Continuing their fusion of punk, jazz and,well, any genre you can name really, it feels like a watershed moment for the London-based outfit.
“The previous album took so long,” Wareham tells us. “It took us quite a few years to put it together, but this time round I wanted to just smash on. I was working a lot through lockdown as I’ve got a studio at home which I didn’t have for the previous album so I was able to work in a very focused way.”
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2022/03/l4e-interview-melt-yourself-down/
Johnny Marr - Fever Dreams Pts. 1-4
To get this out of the way; Johnny Fuckin Marr is one of the all-time greats.
This is without question; he’s lauded by his peers (of generations above and below), adored by his devoted fanbase and respected by the media.
He manages to straddle all three with equal grace and poise while also being one of the good guys. The Mancunian legend has even helped make James Bond songs cool again after a decade (admittedly, a timespan that only covered two songs) of cloying, overwrought hogwash.
So he’s a legend. We know this. Yet there has always been a nagging feeling that his solo career over the last decade (not counting 2003’s Boomslang album, under the moniker Johnny Marr + The Healers) has been indulged rather than revered in order to justify his live shows, peppered as they are with numbers by The Smiths and Electronic..
Fever Dreams Pts. 1-4 (released in two formats, one double album and four EPs – it’s all very confusing) should put that attitude to bed.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2022/02/review-johnny-marr-fever-1-4/