Morrissey - Ringleader of the Tormentors
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Free Music Notes for Ringleader of the Tormentors
Free Music Review: Okay songs, terrible sound
Hit: 2 Stars
For the first time in his career, Morrissey actually sounds - stale. Sure, he's been boring, he's been misguided, he's put down a few musical abominations (I simply refuse to think his intention for the track "Meat Is Murder" is to be so hamfisted (no pun intended) that it is actually becomes a comical parody of The Smiths, but that is what it was), but he has never sounded stale. Even Kill Uncle, which aside from a few bright spots was Morrissey trying and failing to be a rockabilly singer, wasn't stale. It was a failed attempt, but it wasn't what we gotten before.
Here, though, Ringleader of the Tormentors, everything is plain tired and stale. For most of the album, it seems as if Morrissey is just running through the same old notes, and his songwriters are just giving him subpar compositions.
Lyrically speaking, Morrissey's biggest failing is that sometimes he can forget to actually make a point to his songs. Some of his worst songs just seem to ramble on without actually saying anything, and here, he does it that more often than not. Take "Life Is A Pigsty", I understand that the song is about being tired, but does the song have to be so tiring. There are moments of beauty contained within, but it seems like the song could have worked better if he actually cut it down to 4 or 5 minutes.
His singles this time around are also some of the weaker Morrissey singles we've seen. "You Have Killed Me" somehow works really well, despite lyrically being about as obtuse as Morrissey has ever been. It helps that the overall meaning of the song can be easily understood even if you don't know who Accetone is. Also, "As I live and breathe, you have killed me" is a wonderful Morrissey chorus of old. But then on the "Youngest Was The Most Love" and "In The Future When All's Well", he stumbles around, stabbing for a meaning, making songs that are enjoyable, but not really all that notable or rememberable. Until I had gotten the single, I had actually forgotten how "In The Future When All's Well" went.
Which also implies that I have not listened to this album very often. And for good reason, Morrissey doesn't givge me a reason to put this on. He just seems to be going through the motion, recording an album because it is demanded of him. Making an album that is an enjoyable listen, but has no impact on the listener. And that's something Morrissey has never done.
Also, everybody involved in the actual sound of this CD should be ashamed. The mastering job on this CD is incredibly subpar. The mix is just very muddy, with everything being equaled in the mix, nothing being put to the front of our attention.
It really sounds lifeless and stale. The bass and the guitars are mixed so evenly in the mix that don't have their own place at all, and the drums are burried, with snare lacking that pop, just sounding flat and dull (granted, it's not surprising, looking at the wave form, for instance, You Have Killed Me clips first about 3 seconds into it, and clips constantly and often after that).
Also, I detest the slight reverb that is put on every thing in this album. It gives the album a cheap lo-fi vibe, not an album that Ennio Morricone orchestrated strings on one track for.
It really hurts the album and does decrease the impact the album has.
Overall, this is one of Morrissey's weakest LPs. If You Are The Quarry is the glorious comeback, this album is Morrissey falling into the dull middle-age that Morrissey had often decried in years past. 'Tis a shame.
Free Music Review: To me, a work of art!!
Hit: 5 Stars
`Ringleaders of the tormentors' is the follow up to 2004's brilliant `You are the quarry. It's a more classical (hence the cover photo) and complex effort than that was. The songs are not as immediate, but once they grab you, there's no letting go.
Opening is the middle-eastern orchestrated cut `I will see you in far off places', followed by the lush hymnal (complete with organ) `Dear God please help me' (string arrangement by cinematic guru Ennio Morricone).
`Lead off single `You have killed me' is a catchy upbeat pop/rock song with literate poetic lyrics. Similar are `The youngest was the most loved' with a children's chorus and the Smiths-like `I just want to see the boy happy.
Moving to the other tracks, `In the future when all's well' is upbeat, there is the rather dark but upbeat `The father who must be killed' (a step child that kills her abusive step father and herself), the moody, drenched `Life is a pigsty' (rain storm effects, dripping piano, soothing vocals, midway change in tempo), the ballads `I'll never be anyone's hero now' and the Smiths-like `To me you are a work of art' (Chorus - to me you are a work of art/and I would give you my heart/that's if I had one), `On the streets I ran' (beautiful sunny song, vivid story telling), and `At last I am born' (cutting strings announce a gentle marching beat, children's chorus and cryptic/poetic lyrics).
I know loads of people have knocked Morrissey's last 2 CDs as not living up to his past glories, but I love them both, and they are a hundred times better than most chart fare.
Free Music Review: reviews have killed me...
Hit: 4 Stars
I'm fascinated by the level of critics I read for this album. It's like talking about a Disney movie: an album, it 's good because it's fast, upbeat but with variety and variations!!!! Then Ringleader is one note all along.... Maybe but what a note! Our new Casanova like a novelist send us his brand new sexual emotions. I will not try to compare with previous albums. I'd only say that it's the dark answer to You're the quarry which was so soft and pop I almost didn't recognize Morrissey. Ringleader feels like the first ever ego centered progressive rock album! Because this charming album gains in the fact that it's old Morrissey talking. Sure there are mistakes and Smithslike tunes (Youngest(...) sounds almost like a parody) but I must have listen to Life is a Pigsty at least 30 times in a week... No tunes like that on the Quarry album. In fact it reminds me the beautiful instrospection of This woman's work by Kate Bush. That's really talented artists: they don't try to redo their hits and effects for fans, they just turn around their music and express what they feel at the moment. If he sounds in love and at the end of his life (at 47!) that's good because he's not pretending to be cool and young in a caricature of an 80's icon all mysterious and dark! In fact it's a bit like if you made a full album of November spawned a Monster (a Morrissey genious tune for the neophite), isn't that tempting?Free Music Review: Senselessness is torment enough
Hit: 3 Stars
Everyone knows that Morrissey has been around for some years. The thing that makes his latest album Ringleader of the Tormentors different from his previous works is that his subject matter slowly changed from weepy, apologetic stuff to...um, what IS he talking about any more?
Now, I know that he has always utilized subtle metaphors in his songs, but here things are a little TOO hard to figure out. This is obvious once you listen to songs like "Dear God Please Help Me", "In the Future When All's Well" and especially "Life Is a Pigsty". The only songs I really CAN understand are a little too dark, like "You Have Killed Me" and "The Father Who Must Be Killed" (and it's not because of the titles; really listen to the lyrics to understand what I mean).
But one song I can totally do without is "On the Streets I Ran", which ends with him asking God to spare the stillborn and the newborn, but to spare him. Now, I've heard of metaphors, but that's just awful. The best song on the album, though, is the first track, "I Will See You In Far Off Places" (a favorite among other reviewers as well). The rest of the album is only good for very, VERY big Morrissey fans, so if you're not one, you'll probably want to leave it alone.
Anthony Rupert
Free Music Review: This album slowly grows on you!
Hit: 5 Stars
Initially the first four tracks of the album may overwhelm the rest of the songs, making the album appear rather weak. However after you listen to the album for more than a handful of times the gap is bridged and there is a nice flow between the songs and it sounds like a cohesive unit. There is a way to speed up this process: Listen to tracks #5 and beyond separately for a few times, so they don't get overwhelmed by the first four :-)
If you like Morrissey/The Smiths you will find a lot of the things you like (in terms of music and lyrics) in here.
As far as which bundle to get, if you must have the bonus features of the CD/DVD set (which I think do not justify the additional cost), then go for that. Otherwise just get the audio CD like I did. You can instead earmark those funds towards the purchase "Who put the M in Manchester" or "Live at Earls court" :-)