 | | Morrissey - Ringleader of the Tormentors |
Old Stephen Patrick is as acidic as ever on Ringleader Of The Tormentors, chastising, amongst other things, US foreign policies, religion and his own desires – the surprise is that he’s talking about sex, yet inevitably, it disgusts him. Indeed, in the poignant Dear God, Please Help Me, he’s wondering on the "explosive kegs" between his legs. It seems the years of chastity haven’t been easy to bear. Under the producing hand of David Bowie’s long-time collaborator, Tony Visconti, discordant guitars and shattering glass mix with choirs of children, underscoring tales of familial abuse, twisted love and desperate lust. It sounds simultaneously like his most and least Smiths-like solo album. Great sweeps of guitar echo the Meat Is Murder period and there are nods to the likes of Shoplifters Of The World Unite in the jagged turns of the opening salvo, I Will See You In Far Off Places, yet lead single You Have Killed Me jangles with the best of his solo pomp. It all peaks with the majestic Life Is A Pigsty, a tune that Suede's Brett Anderson would have died to have written. Weighing in at over seven minutes, it sweeps across several acts of self-loathing, rain-soaked despair and piano-led kitchen sink dramatics. If the last album, You Are The Quarry, was the bequiffed one easing back into music, Ringleader is the sound of him truly hitting his stride. Like that other Mancunian maverick Ian Brown, the further Morrissey gets from his launch-pad group, the better he gets. Don’t be expecting that reunion tour any time soon.
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