Boomslang is the first, and to date only album by Johnny Marr

Johnny Marr

Johnny Marr is an English musician and songwriter. Marr rose to fame in the 1980s as the guitarist in The Smiths, with whom he formed a prolific songwriting partnership with Morrissey. Marr has been a member of Electronic, The The, and Modest Mouse...

 + the Healers. It was released in 2003 through Artistdirect

ARTISTdirect

Founded in 1994, Artistdirect, Inc. is an online digital media entertainment company. It owns several websites including Artistdirect.com, UBL.com and the Artistdirect Network...

 and iMusic. The band consisted of drummer Zak Starkey

Zak Starkey

Zak Starkey is an English rock drummer. He is the son of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr and Starr's first wife Maureen Starkey Tigrett. He is also well known for his unofficial membership in the English rock band The Who, with whom he has performed and recorded since 1996. He is also the third...

 and former Kula Shaker

Kula Shaker

Kula Shaker are an English psychedelic rock band. Led by outspoken frontman Crispian Mills, the band came to prominence during the Post-Britpop era of the late 1990s. The band enjoyed great commercial success in the UK between 1996 and 1999, notching up a number of Top 10 hits on the UK Singles...

 bassist Alonza Bevan

Alonza Bevan

Alonza George Bevan is best known as the bassist for the English rock band, Kula Shaker.In between Kula Shaker splitting in 1999 and reforming in 2006, Bevan played in a number of groups including Johnny Marr's band, The Healers.- References :...

 with Marr handling guitars and lead vocals. The literal definition of the word "boomslang" is "a venomous, tree-dwelling snake... of tropical and southern Africa". The expression "I got boomslang..." in South Africa means to get caught up in something (like a boomslang snake hanging from a tree.) For example, "I was about to leave work when I got boomslang by a customer who needed something, and had to stay late."

The 2001 single "The Last Ride" – and its B-sides "Need It" and "Long Gone" – were included in the tracklisting. "Down On the Corner" was also released as a single, promoted by an appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn

The Late Late Show (CBS TV series)

The Late Late Show is an American late-night television talk and variety show on CBS hosted by Craig Ferguson since 2005. It immediately follows Late Show with David Letterman and is produced by Letterman's Worldwide Pants Incorporated...

in February 2003.

Reaction

Boomslang received a mixed critical reaction. Uncut

UNCUT (magazine)

Uncut magazine, trademarked as UNCUT, is a monthly publication based in London. It is available across the English-speaking world, and focuses on music, but also includes film and books sections...

, Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

and PopMatters

PopMatters

PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...

 gave the album positive reviews, while Q

Q (magazine)

Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...

and Mojo

Mojo (magazine)

MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...

published more lukewarm reactions.

In Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

, Pat Blashill wrote that the album "shimmers with elements of T. Rex and traces of the Stone Roses – it's got all the atmosphere of a great rock record, but not the guts of one".

Track listing

1. "The Last Ride" – 4:28
2. "Caught Up" – 4:27
3. "Down On the Corner" – 4:25
4. "Need It" – 5:47
5. "You Are the Magic" – 7:09
6. "InBetweens" – 3:39
7. "Another Day" – 4:58
8. "Headland" – 1:34
9. "Long Gone" – 4:39
10. "Something to Shout About" – 4:22
11. "Bangin' On" – 5:06

• All tracks written by Johnny Marr except "InBetweens"; written by Zak Starkey, Alonza Bevan, Adam Gray and Johnny Marr.