Another ROTT Preview

D

Danny

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Bigmouth strikes again! On April 4 Morrissey will release his eighth solo album, Ringleader of the Tormentors, on Attack-Sanctuary. That's good news for fans who have been waiting with bated breath since the release of 2004's triumphant comeback album, You Are The Quarry. Don't be jealous but, at a listening party Thursday in New York, CMJ got a sneak preview of the album and we can tell you that it's excellent! Mozzer—whose eighteen-year solo career is now more than four times as long as his brief but brilliant tenure in the Smiths—has outdone himself this time by enlisting Tony Visconti, the legend behind some of T. Rex's and David Bowie's best albums, as his producer. Recording in Rome (a city he is clearly infatuated with), Moz has written an album that feels mature and cinematic in scope, especially on tracks like "Dear God Please Help Me," whose sweeping string arrangement was written by veteran Italian soundtrack icon Ennio Morricone, and the more-than-seven-minute suite "Life Is A Pigsty," which recalls Radiohead's "Paranoid Android." At 46, Morrissey's trademark croon is limber as he snakes around difficult vocal lines, evoking Bowie and stars of 1940's MGM musicals as he sings of mortality, lost love and, surprisingly, optimism about the future. Now if you can just wait until April!




http://www.cmj.com/articles/display_article.php?id=8047214
 
The early reviews from Sanctuary's listening rooms are suspicious.

They all read like Sanctuary's press releases. And it's very suspicious that none of the listening-session reviewers so far that I have seen have had any negative comments. Maybe I missed some. I mean, I really liked You Are The Quarry a lot, but I still find aspects to nitpick about.

Why not just send out review copies to all pubications, instead of setting up this authoritarian-style listening theater deal where only the select people of Sanctuary's choice are invited? Also, I think for thoughtful reviews it's important for someone to have a copy of the album and be able to listen to it as many times as they like.

I don't doubt it will be a good album. And I'm glad that the Cleveland boy in the band, Mikey, has apparently made a substantial impact on the sound.

So why is Sanctuary afraid to give up some control over how people will react to it before release? I know one reason is they're worried the album will leak on the internet. But can't they send out release copies with copy protection technology then? Or wait till closer to the release date before anyone can hear it?

Sorry...while I'm confident the album will be interesting and good...this Sanctuary listening room stuff feels like a record company scheme to control pre-release critical opinion.
 
Re: The early reviews from Sanctuary's listening rooms are suspicious.

It's because of the leaking issue. If they release the CD to anyone, it will be all over the internet within days. Times have changed.
 
Re: The early reviews from Sanctuary's listening rooms are suspicious.

> It's because of the leaking issue. If they release the CD to anyone, it
> will be all over the internet within days. Times have changed.

I think they're using that as an excuse to exert greater control over the pre-release press coverage. And it can cause a backlash when people hear a thousand times how an album is one of the all-time great masterpieces before it comes out. When you finally get the album home for yourself, if you're not having multiple orgasms while playing it you're gonna be like, "Is that all there is?" That happened with "You Are The Quarry," I believe. I mean I really do like that album a lot. But I think people heard so much hype about it beforehand, and then it turned out to be, you know...just a solid Morrissey album...which is a great thing, except when you've been told for months that it's gonna make your head spin every which way but loose over its genius.

Anyway. so whatever...let the hand-picked few who attended the Sanctuary-controlled listening sessions return the favor by turning themselves into press release writers. I should just stop reading anymore about the album and just let it speak for itself when it comes out.
 
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