Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another solid effort from Mr Moz, 16 April 2006
The expectations awaiting each new Morrissey album are such that disappointment seems almost inevitable when the records actually come out, although it's testament to the man's talents that even when they're not the masterpiece hoped for they're usually at least as good as most of what's about at the time.
ROTT is perhaps not consistent enough to be a masterpiece, but is good throughout and contains some real gems. The epic drama and dark intensity of 'Life is a Pigsty' has been rightly judged by many as the highlight, but there are plenty of other strong tracks backing it up. My favourite is probably next single 'The youngest was the most loved', which is carried along by a sense of urgency that makes it sound more like the Smiths than anything he's done for ages, particularly the yodelly bit at the end.
For some reason ROTT is not as immediate as most of his solo work and has taken quite a few plays for me to form an opinion of it, so I would say to anyone not enamoured on their first listen to give it more time. For me, 'Vauxhall and I' remains his best solo album, but ROTT is definitely a grower, and gets closer to this peak than most of his more recent material
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Give it time..., 19 April 2006
While 'You Are The Quarry' was a decent enough record I never bought the media hysteria that surrounded it: far from being Morrissey's best ever record there was no way it was in the same league as his solo peak era pair of 'Your Arsenal' and 'Vauxhaul And I', and much as I'd love it to 'Ringleader of the Tormentors' doesn't quite reach these dizzy heights either. While not quite amongst his best however 'Ringleaders' is certainly a very good Morrissey album, and probably slightly better than 'You Are The Quarry', although this may not be readily apparent on first listen. Where 'Quarry' was stacked with very immediate and direct pop songs 'Ringleader' goes for the more obscure path, the result being that this is very much a 'grower' - an album that may leave you cold on first listen but will subsequently reveal itself to be musically rich on later listens.
It's not all perfect: opener 'I Will See You In Far-off Places' is more notable for it's middle-Eastern mood and Morrissey's yodelling than for any real interesting music or lyrics, lead-off single 'You Have Killed me' borders on the bland, 'The Youngest Was The Most Loved' is a mediocre song saved by the masterstroke addition of a children's choir; and 'The Father Who Must be Killed' is hamstrung by it's leaden verses. Note: none of these songs are awful - they are just rather mediocre compared to the albums highlights.
Better are the up-tempo breathless live sounding rock of 'On The Streets I Ran' and 'I Just Want To See The Boy Happy', the almost Beatles-esque pop of 'In The Future When All's Well' and the musically rich 'At Last I Am Born'. Morrissey is at his peak here with the slower ballads: 'To Me You Are A Work Of Art' and 'I'll Never Be Anybody's Hero Now' are both moving pieces, with the latter featuring one of Morrissey's most audacious vocal performances as he moves from falsetto to bass within the space of one line.
Standing above all as the albums twin highlights for me are the two 'epics': 'Dear God Please Help me' and 'Life Is A Pigsty'. 'Dear God Please Help Me' was already the subject of much pre-release media attention due to such explicit lyrics as "there are explosive kegs between my legs" but it is actually a very sombre and moving ballad with some gorgeous string backing courtesy of Ennio Morricone. 'Life is a Pigsty' however sounds literally like no other Morrissey song I've heard before, but perhaps comes closest to being a sort of modern day epic in the 'That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore'-mode, with the song building from it's menacing yet quiet opening into a hard-hitting finale.
Lyrically this album has been cast by the media as 'Morrissey finds sex, love and happiness', but while some tracks can be seen in this light there are just as many that reveal the old misery guts we all know and love of old ("I'll never be anybody's lover now - it hurts because it's true" etc), and to be honest the feelings of contentment uttered on 'At Last I Am Born' are really no different to those on 'Now my Heart is Full' - except of course the journalists weren't listening then.
'Ringleader of the Tormentors' is slightly inconsistent, and it lacks the knockout punch that a track like 'First of the Gang to Die' would have provided, but this is still a very interesting album that will reward repeat listens. Not his best - but still very good.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Morrissey - Ringleader of the Tormentors, 26 April 2006
Some artists can do no wrong. Morrissey is not one of them. Johnny Marr might have been, but not Morrissey, and that's why his solo career has been so patchy. To my mind, Morrissey (indeed, The Smiths when he was with them too) has always been more of a singles man than an albums one (with Your Arsenal and Vauxhall & I being slight exceptions, and even the latter, in my opinion, has a few ropey self-indulgent moments). Which is what makes Ringleader of the Tormentors so special: spurred on by Visconti, Morrissey has actually produced a proper album, rather than three or four great songs interspersed with a few mediocre ones, such as on the last album, You Are the Quarry (with Irish Blood English Heart, First of the Gang to Die, Let Me Kiss You and I Like You all being great, but the rest just serviceable). This is a different story.
Like all great albums, this requires a few listens before you appreciate it. It did me. Had to listen through a couple of times, pick a few songs at random to listen to, before I thought "hang on a minute, this album is actually great!" Morrissey's wit-tempered-morbidity is in fine fettle, as good as ever, but what sets this album apart from his others is the music. The arrangements are muscular, they're layered and much, much richer than ever before. THAT's what makes this album so good. The richness of the music, the orchestration, the variety of instrumenatation, all mean this album reveals more the more you listen to it, and so has far greater longevity in the old record collection than some of his albums. Some of Visconti's input is inspired: the kid's choir chanting in the background in both "The Youngest was The Most Loved" and "The Father Who Must Be Killed" are absolutely inspired, and make me break out in a grin, despite the homicidal nature of both songs. It's absolute genius.
Ringleader of the Tormentors is a rich, varied album (musically and lyrically). Opening with the Middle-Eastern tinged "I Will See You in Far Off Places", it moves through the elegant strings and shocking sentiment of "Dear God, Please Help Me" through the rollicking "Youngest Was The Most Loved" and "Father Who Must Be Killed" to the epic 7-minute wonder that is "Life Is A Pigsty" and closes with the wonderfully uplifting "At Last I Am Born", which vies with "Vauxhall & I"'s "Speedway" for the crown of Morrissey's best album closer.
Obviously, that's not to say it's flawless. The second half of the album is not as good as the first, and lacks a standout track. Indeed, a couple don't really distinguish themselves and one should probably have been cut out to stop the last half from dragging ever so slightly. None of the individual songs here are as immediately catching as the first 3 singles from "You Are the Quarry" (but being more musically complex, they probably wouldn't be). Other than that, it's a great album. Morrissey's lyrics are as good as ever (though I can't say I get all the fuss about Morrissey suddenly being interested in sex. Surely Morrissey has been referring to sex - obliquely or otherwise - for years and years? ("Handsome Devil"?)
Anyway, as I say, none of the tracks are as immediate as any from the last album, but overall and as a whole this a better, more rounded, more listenable album. It takes a listen or two, but it is almost certainly the best of his solo career.
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