Johnny Marr Shares ‘You Are The Magic (Union Mix)’: Listen
Johnny Marr has shared a previously unheard original extended mix of You Are The Magic , taken from the upcoming deluxe reissue of the 2003 Johnny Marr + the Healers album Boomslang.
In addition to the album’s 11 original songs, Boomslang (Deluxe) offers fans more new and unheard music from this period, adding seven previously unreleased recordings – All Out Attack, The Way That It Was, Get Me Wrong, A Woman Like You, a cover of Bob Dylan’s Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right, plus the extended mix of original album track Get Me Wrong (Instrumental Version), and You Are The Magic (Union Mix).
Some of the songs written for Boomslang were originally created as expansive jam versions, exploring different moods, before being edited down for the album’s first release. At eight minutes and 50 seconds, the original extended mix of You Are The Magic is a psychedelic snapshot of the first and only album by Johnny Marr + the Healers.
Reflecting on Boomslang, Marr said: “We holed ourselves up in our own otherworld and experimented with different ways to write, record and think; guitars and percussion all together in a room, and programming with new technology from the electronic scene. Everything was about discovery.
“Twenty years on, I’m pleased we created the music and this new release of Boomslang has given me the opportunity to revisit it and present some songs that we weren’t able to include the first time around. The Healers was something special that happened to me and I’m grateful that it did. A special group of people in a special moment in time.”
The former Smiths guitarist formed The Healers after becoming a member of The Pretenders, The The, Electronic, Neil Finn’s 7 Worlds Collide, and writing and performing with Pet Shop Boys, Bryan Ferry, Kirsty MacColl, Talking Heads, Beck and countless others.
The Healers provided a vital stepping stone for Marr’s next creative chapter. After touring America and releasing Boomslang, Johnny became a member of Modest Mouse, later leaving to join The Cribs, all before launching his current band in 2013. Marr’s prolific solo output has given rise to five UK Top 10 albums – The Messenger (2013), Playland (2014), Call The Comet (2018), Fever Dreams Pts 1-4 (2022) and Spirit Power: The Best Of Johnny Marr (2023) – a record that captured the full measure of this extraordinarily prolific period.