Morrissey - Ringleader Of The Tormentors
I'm not going to lie to you, I fucking hate Morrissey. Just look at the album artwork to the left. Is there anyone here who doesn't find his melodramatic pose to be, well, ridiculous? Then there's his inability to talk to the press without making statements on political subjects that he clearly knows precious little about and thus coming off as a pompous wanker and then such statements actually making it on to his records. Oh and let's not forget the Morrissey live show in which he plays in front of a huge brightly lit "Morrissey" sign (because I thought he was Jay-Z and was very confused when the Jigga man started playing "Irish Blood"). There's also the fact that I've enjoyed very little of his output since he went solo and I'd started really questioning his relevance after sitting through his last album.So if I hate the man so much, why am I posting about his new record? Well, it's really undeniably solid. Yeah, it has elements of everything I hate about him as I'd expect but bar the occasional shut-up-you-morbid-bastard moment, most of my problems with the man are easy to overlook just because this record really is packed with good tunes. "You Have Killed Me" which I can't post as it's the new single, could easily have fit on to one of The Smiths better records with it's catchy as hell chorus and occasional moments of surprisingly powerful lyrics (I entered nothing/and nothing entered me). It's also good to see that he's called in the children's chorus to sing fairly disturbed lines just like "Hang The DJ" and the diverse use of instruments to fit the lyrical content on album opener "I Will See You In Far Off Places".
I guess this all coming from me is a pretty good sign of the album's quality. A guy who finds the man absolutely repellent still managed to really dig this record and even consider it as nearly on a par with his glorious earlier work. If he can keep making records this good he can make stupid statements about England not having enough room for immigrants all he wants.
Morrissey - I Will See You In Far Off Places
Morrissey - In The Future When All's Well
Buy Ringleader Of The Tormentors from Amazon
posted by Eugene at 2:59 AM
5 Comments:
nice, I agree with most of what you said about his new album. the songs are great. though personally, I prefer the brooding sad Moz. haha. I remember Spin interviewed him recently, with him proclaiming he got laid. I guess thats what did it. haha.
I saw him at SxSW and the show was pretty amazing. Bombastic percussion and also Moz' over-the-top stage theatrics. He changed shirts at least 4 times ;-)
Mike, eww dude, I read that too but I did a pretty good job of blocking the mental image out.
Wendy, yeah I just felt like ranting, especially after his little "lets block out Canade" trick. His live show is entertaining but you've just gotta laugh at how silly the whole thing is.
While we're commenting, I'd like to agree that I think Morrisey is an absolute tosser and I am inclined to hate him and The Smiths purely based on this reasoning.
However, The Smiths did make far too many great records to hold much against them, and I will make sure to try and listen to this album all the way through at some point because it sounds interesting.
Still, though. He's a knob.
The album cover is absolutely tongue-in-cheek, and a parody of classical music covers. A shame you didn't get it, because it's pretty funny.
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