Johnny Marr's first album under his own solo name - The Messenger, released early last year - was big on indie-rock tunes but diminished by the guitar man's feeble turn at the microphone.
Singing still isn't his strong point, but it's a problem that's been partly addressed at the production desk and partly shrugged off as an irrelevance given the wall-to-wall exuberance of this follow-up.
Playland moves on from The Messenger, with several songs built over a more jagged, punk-styled rhythm section, the title track spinning around in a timeless whirlpool of rock'n'roll bluster, while lead single Easy Money slips in a disco-edged guitar and a ripper of a riff.
Marr sounds like a man half his age, putting pop songwriting rather than indie ego to the fore. So confident is he that he barely even hints at a Smiths-style riff (there might be the ghost of one in This Tension).
He has created himself anew several times since those glory days (Electronic, The Healers, Modest Mouse, The Cribs) but on solo duty refuses to play the retro card that would so easily guarantee packed houses on his upcoming tour.
Instead, this is modern guitar music for 2014, and his in-a-rut peers from the indie 1980s - even the Britpop 1990s - should take note.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article