Hello, O great void of internet dwellers! I have decided to begin a blog – about music and my opinions on it. Today, my attention was focused mostly on Morrissey (as you may come to realize, I have a slight obsession with the man. And by slight, I mean massive). His new album is called “Ringleader of the Tormentors”, and I have had it in my possession for about a mere two weeks now. The things I have gathered so far are these:
1) he is having a LOT of fun with elaborate instrumentation -children’s choirs, piano, strings, gongs, sound effects, the like…
2) the lyrics are as biting, bizarre, honest and vivid as usual, but seem to have taken a slight poetic downfall from previous works. But what the lack in poetically, they make up for with their truly wonderful storytelling (“The Father Who Must Be Killed”).
3) he has, indeed, seemed to have had some sort of sexual awakening (“Dear God, Please Help Me”). He handles it delicately and desperately, but it is still undeniable. Morrissey, poster boy of celibacy, is no longer a stranger to love.
Most Smithsy Song: “The Youngest Was the Most Loved” (*croons* There is NOO suuuuuch…thing in liiife as NORMalllllll…young love! young a-looove! Young a-looove oh loooove…)
Most Non-sensical Lyrics: “On the Streets I Ran” (I love the mood created, but when you take apart the lines, you start to lose all sense of understanding)
Most Orchestrated: “Life is a Pigsty” (the title sounds like chiche-d Morrissey misery, but it’s a really fabulous song)
Song to Shock the Fans: “In the Future When All’s Well”. While retaining a distinct undertone of sarcasm, you cannot deny this song’s optimism.
So once you’re prepared for the sexual, the happy and the hopelessly depressing aspects of this album, I recommend anyone who has loved Morrissey in the past to try him again (I’ve heard this is his last time around touring). Anything that he has lost over the years, he has gained back with a venegence. And as he says in Life is a Pigsty – “I am the same….underneath…but this you, you surely knew”
Tags: morrissey moz smiths new old ringleader of the tormento
November 22, 2007 at 12:37 am
I just saw Morrissey live–at The Orpheum in Boston, and he was awesome! The best concert I’ve ever seen. I hope he makes albums for twenty more years. (And someone please inform Springsteen that he should hang it up.)