Morrissey - Ringleader of the Tormentors
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Free Music Notes for Ringleader of the Tormentors
Free Music Review: will please long-time fans and may just convert a few...
Hit: 4 Stars
it must not be easy being morrissey. few people will ever wield the mozfather's potent influnce and no matter the occassional slip ups, morrissey's secured his place on the mt. rushmore of 'indie/alternative'rock. this is a mixed blessing, of course. he can release records that sell well, sell-out live shows night after night, and keep his name in the news (most recently boycotting canada to protest the seal hunt). but it makes one wonder if morrissey's popularity and iconic stature somehow quash his enormous songwriting ability. some fans will unfortunately (and unfairly) compare it to any number of smiths' albums, and more will probably compare it to any number of moz solo offerings. some will find it bland. some will find it exhilirating. for me, the album is somewhere in the middle of either extreme.
coming on the heals of 'you are the quarry, morrissey'(the career rejuvenator so many critics correctly called it), 'ringleaders of the tormentors' is a slight departure from the new milennial morrissey. 'ringleaders' is much ballsier record than its predecessor, and the album's better for it. the problem with 'you are the quarry' was the similarity of so many of the songs. despite some noteworthy singles, much of the album sounded painfully similar in tone and style and were unfortunately instantly forgettable.
'ringleaders,' however, starts out with the muscular 'i will see you in far-off places.' it's a song that probably would've fit nicely on 'your arsenal.' the nuanced middle-eastern inspired guitar is a nice touch. mozzer sounds much more confident and lets his trademark vocals work within the song instead of trying to upstage it. 'you have killed me,' the first single, is a distinctly morrissey song with a distinctly morrissey melody. it's a nice song, but the not the knock-out punch you'd hope to hear from a lead single. 'the future's all well' is a suprisingly upbeat song that lets us know mozzer may not be the mope too many assume he is. 'i'll never be anybody's hero now' may be an all-too-clever poke at his own celebrity and stardom. 'to me you are a work of art' and 'the youngest was the most loved' are other highlights, the latter with the line, 'there is no such thing in life as normal. 'morrissey's band has always been a bit underrated and underappreciated. on 'ringleaders' they sound more like a part of the band instead of backing players shoving the ego into the spotlight.
in the end what makes 'ringleaders' work as well is done is the variety of the songs. after all, any good album is about the songs and 'ringleaders' sees some of morrissey's best melodies and music since 'vauxhall.' highly recommened.
Free Music Review: Little Gloria, Happy At Last.
Hit: 4 Stars
I beg to differ with all these reviewers who seem to think "Quarry" was some kind of high point for the Moz. It was adequate but meandering, a definite step up from "Malajusted," which put me off my old compadre for a few years. If you're like me, though, and think "Vauxhall" was his last superior album, you won't be disappointed. And, frankly, when I first heard "In the Future When All's Well" on the local college radio station, I thought I was hearing some B-side Smiths song I had somehow missed the first time around. His incomparable tenor sounded that fresh, the music that catchy and Marr-esque - complete with a raucous guitar solo bridge. Alain Whyte showed us on the great "Arsenal" that he was capable of such moments.
The significant development here for inveterate Mozzer-heads (which these detractors seem to miss completely - have you ever heard of a *metaphor*??) is that his age-old themes of anguished, impossible love (and lust), of endless frustration and the self-flagellating cataloguing of personal inadequacies, has been supplanted by an almost begrudging joy and exuberance...even self-acceptance. This is a whole new identity for the emperor of moroseness, hence the song "You Have Killed Me." What exactly happened to the "old closet queen" (as Boy George called him) in Rome, we'll never know, but he gives us a pretty good idea in "Dear God Please Help Me." The song also helps to explain why this ex-Catholic boy was so evasive for so many years about his sexuality, or apparent lack thereof. Now we know that "he motion(ed) to me, with his hand on my knee,'" and my beloved old bugger could no longer enlist divine intervention to fight his natural feelings. "The heart feels free,'" he croons at the end, and God bless him! Anyone who loves Morrissey the way I do will be uncorking the champagne and drinking a toast listening to "At Last I Am Born:"
At last I am born
living the one, true, free life
born
I once thought that I
had numerous reasons to cry
and I did - but I don't anymore
because I am born, born, born...
At last I am born
it took me a long, long time
but now I am born
I once was a mess
of guilt because of the flesh
it's remarkable what you can learn
once you are born, born, born
This ain't your mother's Morrisey. The repressed depressive has died and been reborn. Mazel Tov, Stephen Patrick! There's hope for all of us.
Free Music Review: Lead Mentor Returns
Hit: 4 Stars
Although as head lyricist for The Smiths he was always ready to have a go at the monarchy and British heads of state (the title of The Smiths' 1986 album came down to a toss-up between The Queen Is Dead and Margaret On The Guillotine), Stephen Patrick Morrissey has generally stayed away from the sort of political hyperbole that fellow 1980s indie stalwarts U2, Billy Bragg and R.E.M. mine. Unlikely as it may seem, Morrissey's latest album Ringleader Of The Tormentors opens with the gifted poet turning away from his regular lyrical chronicles of introspective pain and instead making a number of oblique references to the War On Terror.
I Will See You In Far Off Places not only confirms Morrissey's ongoing love of long titles (Ringleader Of The Tormentors gathers together 71 words over 12 track titles) but also adds Middle Eastern strings and lyrics that reference suicide bombers, US occupation and the futile attempts at global reconciliation. The overwhelming aura of Ringleader Of The Tormentors isn't of Mozz arriving late to a Bono songwriting lecture though, with the once celibate celeb intriguingly using his latest album to shirk his `no sex please' policy in grand style. On Dear God, Please Help Me Morrissey croons the line `now I'm spreading your legs with mine in between' while maestro Ennio Morricone provides easy listening backing closer to The Righteous Brothers than the Italian's renowned western soundtracks. Elsewhere Morrissey retains a focus on his regular obsessions, noting his mortality on In The Future When All's Well and I Just Want To See The Boy Happy while acclaimed producer Tony Visconti adds all manner of random sounds to the mix, including a chink of metal on the awesome and lengthy Life Is A Pigsty, a military drumbeat on the otherworldly finale At Last I Am Born and a children's choir on the potential single The Youngest Was The Most Loved.
It might not have the comeback charm of You Are The Quarry or the definition of The Smiths' classic records, but with new bands such as Arctic Monkeys leaning heavily on Morrissey's knack with words, this album proves he's still a lead mentor.
Free Music Review: Better, But, Still In Agony!
Hit: 4 Stars
The early reviews are really scary. I think I've had enough time, i.e. listen in car, in dark with complete solitude, with head phones, and going back and listening to older material, to digest ROTT, so as to give a fair and hopefully intelligent review. Upon initial listening Moz does seem to splat out "filler". Yet, with further listening I relize, what's going on. Moz hits us with something old and something new, while giving us a poetic glimpse into his distraught conscience and tormented soul, (nothing new), but interlaced is a self-exposed, retrospective, that by the end, we( the listeners) come to find a better adjusted and perhaps happier,(new) Moz. So, what! He reflects, he figures out he's been lucky, non-the-wiser, but thankful. Well, we end up with some of Moz's most creative material, that's what! No longer dogged by confusion, frustration and anger, we get variety and precision. This is not the stuff of "filler" or I'm old, but I need more bucks fodder. Tight arrangement, so tight, it may not sound right (to some) and a variety of back-up instruments, sound effects, and dare I say choir vocals, is what the more than casual listener will get. For those that think Moz's voice isn't up to snuff, go back and actually listen (don't rely on a bias, diluted memory), to his earlier stuff. He may have lost some range or maybe he's more refined and not as emotional, but he's dead on or I'm going deaf. Is it his best material? Probably not. If you aren't a Moz fan this album won't make you one. If you are a fan you'll rejoice to a bit more mature, reflective, and poetic Moz, that still can find solace in misery. It's only been two years (short time for Moz) since his last album and I think the stakes are a bit higher this time out. The album reflects that in it's arrangement and lyrical solidity. More importantly, Moz is still Moz! Not some aging half baked shell from the 80's. He still has the fire, and likes to see it burn!Free Music Review: (Español) 4 estrellas solo para compensar.
Hit: 4 Stars
"Ringleader Of The Tormentors" es como ultimamente se graban muchos; un album inconsistente... ROTT es por momentos terriblemnte aburrido y por momentos conmovedor hasta las lagrimas. La caracteristica de este album (la cual han comentado de varios modos en las otras criticas pero sin atinar la razon) es la mala calidad de produccion... precio el cual pagan los que por libertad, ponen su musica en las manos de sellos discograficos independientes. Es verdad que en "You are the quarry" Morrisey sonaba joven, bello, vivo!!!, sin embargo aunque esto no sucede con ROTT ya que el sonido general es realmente oscuro, alejado, como grabado en una lata...sin embargo y sin intencion de causar polemica, lejos de los efectos, ecualizados, mezcla, etc... ROTT en la escencia musical es infinitamente mas conmovedor, directo y genuino que el tan bien estimado YATQ, y por lo tanto me parece menos mediocre que el mismo. En el sentido literario, Morrisey sigue punzante, tan joven y tan viejo, insultando y acariciando la obra de su inmutable Dios. La estructura musical en algunos tracks personalmente me sorprendio, sobre todo en el incicivo uso de cuerdas (caracteristico de este album), con intervalos bien cuidados y movimientos ritmicos que acompañan a la banda de un modo natural, evitando con esto sonar como esos aferrados y pateticos intentos orquestales de algunas bandas que juegan al Mozart, y repito en el sentido exsclusivamente musical. Efectivamente el carisma de ROTT desde la produccion hasta la portada del cd, es casi nulo... sin embargo hay que escuchar a un cansado "Mozz" agitar sus viejas para decir... BUT THE HEART FEELS FREE, FEELS FREE!! para sentirse comprendido y no tan solo una vez mas.
Mejores Cortes; "Life Is A Pigsty", "In The Future When Alls Well", "Dear God Please Help Me".