Ringleader of the Tormentors (CD)
Morrissey's new opus, Ringleader of the Tormentors, is a savagely alive record and not just the next musical step from 2003's You Are The Quarry. In many ways it is a new sonic beginning. From the opening track, "I Will See You In Far Off Places" which utilizes sounds that will surely make the most ardent fan stop in their tracks through the pomp and circumstance of the first single "You Have Killed Me" and culminating with the final refrain of the epic "At Last I Am Born," Ringleader of the Tormentors not only takes the best aspects of the most classic Morrissey recordings but infuses them with the influence that only a production from legendary producer Tony Visconti can create.
| Tracklisting | |
| Disk | 1 | |
| 1 | I Will See You In Far Off Places |
| 2 | Dear God, Please Help Me |
| 3 | You Have Killed Me |
| 4 | The Youngest Was The Most Loved |
| 5 | In The Future When All's Well |
| 6 | The Father Who Must Be Killed |
| 7 | Life Is A Pigsty |
| 8 | I'll Never Be Anybody's Hero |
| 9 | On The Streets I Ran |
| 10 | To Me You Are A Work Of Art |
| 11 | I Just Want To See The Boy Happy |
| 12 | At Last I Am Born |
| hobart frolley
- bellmore, NY, usa |
| Another amazing album from the OG of emo. Recently Moz turned down $4 million to do a single Smiths reunion concert, and it's obvious why while listening to his latest offering. Thomas Wolfe said "you can't go home again", and now miles from The Smiths, Morrissey is still wallowing in a sea of angst and misery, but continues to grow in the depth and beauty of his "permanent malais" proving himself to be the pop star he always claimed to be. | |
| Michael Britten
- Keansburg, NJ, USA |
| Morrissey has always been as much myth as he is man, self-consciously or not, and Ringleader of the Tormentors plays out much like a glam-infused retelling of his past career. Former T.Rex and Bowie collaborator Tony Visconti's production heralds in the usual array of moodiness and mixed sentiments, but matches it in power, rather than fold under the trademark weight of Morrissey's withering words. Lead single "You Have Killed Me" meshes details of Morrissey's newly-kindred city of Rome with the usual raised-eyebrow questioning of his sexual history, and orientation; all that aside, it is an effective mid-energy, mid-quality rock song (which is to say, it stands strong among a crowd, but of Morrissey's own, nothing special). Early on, it is, too, the most "Morrissey-sounding" song Ringleader delivers. Some very Eastern strings open "I Will See You In Far Off Places" and the album, throwing the listener away from both the Roman grounding the other tracks tend to cling to, and the entirety of Morrissey's past catalogue. Follow-up "Dear God Please Help Me", as well, would rather trade in the standard Stephen Patrick camouflage for Morricone movements: the near-six minute ballad has all the elements of a confessional being occupied -- distant organ in the background, and a powerful emotional tone carried by way of a string section -- and the surprisingly honest words that usually accompany such a setting. It is then quite appropriate that Ringleader of the Tormentors closes as it does with "At Last I Am Born". If the album itself is a microcosm of Morrissey's musical career and life, with prior tracks conversely making peace with and challenging everything we've come to think about the man, its finale is release: Morrissey is free of the hang-ups he's harbored over the years -- and the hang-ups you've had about him, too. Rejoined by children's voices, Morrissey takes first steps, out of his own shadow and into a new light. Ringleader of the Tormentors is wholly Morrissey, though Morrissey today; jangle comes packaged standard, but framing it are treks into both new sonic and personal territory. And if Moz has the good grace to forgive us all for killing him even after going through all this trouble, the least we can do is stand and applaud. | |
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