Customer Reviews

Ringleader Of The Tormentors (Deluxe Edition CD & DVD)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Out less than one week, people are already slamming it.

I've had an advance copy for about 2 months before it was released and you have to let masterpieces like "Life Is A Pigsty"
work their way into your psyche slowly.

This is Morrissey at his most tongue in cheek so of course the Morrisserian humor in "At Last I am Born" or "On The Streets I Ran" will go over some people's heads. That's why we love the Moz, right?

Ringleader flows and is a truly consistent work of art.

This album ranks up there with Quarry and Vauxhall.

Why should you care about the latest release from Morrissey? I was asking myself the same question after his ten year absence from the music scene. Then he released "You are the Quarry" a couple of years ago and got my attention. Surprisingly, "YATQ" was a socially and musically relevant piece of art, not the graspings of an 80's has-been one might expect. I couldn't wait to hear what he did next.

Finally we can all hear his latest effort, the near-perfect "Ringleader of the Tormentors." Morrissey combines his lyrical mastery of all things morose with his keen pop sensibilites. I can't think of another artist who could make this work in quite the same way.

My favorite track, "Dear God Please Help Me," revisits his ongoing battle with celibacy with lines like "There are explosive kegs between my legs." The orchestration by film scoring great Ennio Morricone helps to create a dark and moving track. Morrissey has alluded to his struggle with celibacy before (in songs like "I Have Forgiven Jesus" from his last album), but this level of candor is something new. In fact, the lyrical content of the entire album feels less guarded than than his earlier work.

Other standout tracks are "You Have Killed Me," "In the Future When All's Well," "The Father Who Must Be Killed," and "To Me You Are a Work of Art." These tracks deftly mix his signature somber style with clever pop hooks. The only tracks that don't work for me are "Life is a Pigsty" (over seven minutes of meandering) and "At Last I Am Born" (like something from a spaghetti western soundtrack). But hey, ten out of twelve is damn good.

About the DVD, skip it, just order the album-only version. The video content is short and not very interesting. I was hoping for an interview, but all we get is Morrissey lip-synching a couple of tunes. The album deserves five stars, but the lackluster DVD knocks it down to four for me.

Happy listening!

The album is great but don't buy this 'bonus' album. It does not contain "footage "The Youngest Was The Most Loved." And the only video on the DVD is "You Have Killed Me." The other two items (a whopping three items total on the DVD) are a behind the scenes of "You Have Killed Me" and behind the scenes of "In the Future When All is Well." There's not even the video of "In the Future When All is Well." And the behind the scenes footage aren't interviews or anything, they are just snippets of videos clips with the music playing in the background. Don't spend the extra money on this DVD, it's not worth it. But the regular CD is!

The new Moz album "Ringleader..." is really quite good. Although the CD starts in bombastic fashion with the Zeppelinesque "I will see you in Far off Places", the order of the songs that follow could've been better, but who cares really. Just put it on shuffle and enjoy. Not mentioning the 3 singles by name, "I'll never be Anybody's Hero Now" is the sleeper hit for true Moz fans that will remain a favourite Moz tune for me. "Life is a Pigsty" is his latest epic, and "Streets where I Ran" rocks out with classic lines like "Take people from Pittsburgh, Pennsylavania- Just spare me." He still kept his sense of humour after all this time. Brilliant.

At last Morrissey is back... older-but just as prophetic as ever. He still has what it takes -shades of the old days with The Smiths and Morrisey's own inimitable style with a hint of maturity are the trademark of this album.

The ever talented Morrissey returns again after last year's triumphant You are the Quarry with some truly great songs.Not every song is a classic but the ones that are like "In the future when all's well" and the catchy "You have killed me "are terrific.The surprises include legendary film composer Ennio Morricone lending beautiful strings to the haunting Dear God Please Help Me" and the kiddy choir on "The youngest was the most loved".Some of the songs on the albums second half are predictable and I still prefer last year's You are the Quarry but even a less than completely brillant Morrissey cd is better than a lot of other music out there.The bonus DVD is extremely short with only one actual video and is I'm sorry to say a disappointment.The single release of You have killed me however is a musthave because it includes 3 new great songs including I Knew I Was Next which could've been a hit single by itself.

Explosive kegs of lyrical wonder and sonic production that bring the listener into the rarefied and enriching realm of the masterful Morrissey.

As we saw in Oklahoma when the great songwriter and performer delivered many of these masterpieces for the first time, Rome has been good to him, indeed. The songs open up great vistas of thought and musings on the vagaries of life. The voice is strong and Visconti's influence gives this one the same epic grandeur achieved on Bowie's Heathen. There is even a unique element of sweetness and kindness on this one that I have not heard in his previous releases.

Morrissey has gotten better and better with age and maturity. This work is certainly one of the best releases of 2006 and demonstrates unequivocally that there is profound hope for the world of pop music that is done on the artist's terms...in this case an artist who consistently aspires to the highest levels of artistic merit, unfettered by silly commercial concerns.

Long live Morrissey, the great Tormentor! You brought the house down at Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa!!!

Longstanding fans will not be disappointed, this is a well cut and colored release from our lord Morrissey. I can definitely feel the influence of America on Moz through this work - it's hard to describe and it goes beyond the blatant references to the USA - it's something in the subject and tone of The Father Who Must Be Killed for example - but it makes me happy because all those years there were nuances in the older work that I'm sure I didn't get since he was UK based. How many times have I ever said the phrase in my head "In The Future When All's Well?" I just can't count, and now I don't need to `cause there's a SONG. I love, love, LOVE the album art and disc art as well! Life is short, buy this and enjoy it NOW.

Ringleader Of The Tormentors (Deluxe Edition CD & DVD)~ Morrissey is a very good album that features the amazing vocal skills of Morrissey. In fact, I come to think of such great artists such as Elvis and Sinatra when listening to his immense tallent. His lyrics can be a bit obtuse at times and har to understand but most of the time they hit the mark right on. This CD was done in a very witty manner to make in look like LP's of the past and gives it an olde tymey feel. The photographs are great and font in the book-let is easy on the eye. I would definitely recommend this album and I give it well deserved 4 stars out of 5.

Morrissey's last disc, "You are the Quarry", was a brilliant piece of work where almost every other song sounded like it could be a single. This new cd is the flip side of the coin. There is hardly a song here that screams single. This new cd is, despite Morrissey being in love, a sonically dark work without any instantly engaging choruses. A fairly strong set of songs nonetheless.