Morrissey CD Review
Morrissey
Ringleader Of The Tormentors
(Attack/Sanctuary)
Surrounding himself with some pop royalty (spaghetti western architect Ennio Morricone; T. Rex producer Tony Visconti) can’t save Stephen Morrissey’s wonderfully titled Ringleader Of The Tormentors from being an un-storied entry to the Smiths/Morrissey catalog.
Despite the media blitz accompanying his 2004 comeback You Are The Quarry and hot-on-its-heels *Live At Earls Court*, Morrissey never stopped being the lanky, melancholy tart hailed as genius by some and coldly reviled by the rest. Ringleader finds him still fully capable of stripping the teeth from an otherwise aggressive rocker (“I Just Want To See The Boy Happy”) while retaining the power to knock you off your stool with a lyric like “I used to chase affection withdrawn/but now I just sit back and yawn” and beat you to the punch.
His preoccupation with death doesn’t always jive with these cabaret melodies, and the influences of Morricone (strings on “Please God Help Me”) and Visconti are never really clear, other than the gravity their names lend the sales sticker. When Morrissey isn’t beating you within inches of life with his grand verbosity, he’s most effective because he’s actually singing. The aforementioned “Please God” and “Life Is A Pigsty” make the most of open spaces to draw out genuine tenderness. Who knows? Maybe there’s an album of standards in his future, but as it stands he’s mired in being Morrissey.
— Kevin Keegan
Click here to download the video for “You Have Killed Me.”
‘Ringleaders’ is another great addition to the catalogue if you ask me. Well on a par with ‘You are the Quarry’ it’s at least worth a listen. I think sometimes we judge the man too harshly based on previous works whereas, in perspective, I don’t think this album is as bad as people make out.