There's the fleeting feeling that these songs might be better with a stronger singer.
It rarely matters though. This is a resounding success.
While the first three songs are enjoyable monitor-straddlers, brashly grinding and strutting, they don't best suit Marr's wispy croon.
The single Hi Hello is shimmeringly brilliant, good enough to be a lost Smiths single, but it's from the fifth track onwards that the album becomes genuinely fascinating.
Trying to locate the common ground between Metal Guru and Blue Monday, there's a shoal of industrial-tinged, futuristic pop rockers exploring Marr's ideas of utopia that have all the mystery and wonder of the guitarist's best work, allied to a perky, playful escapism that's completely irresistible.
- Damien Morris/Guardian News and Media
