Fiona Dodwell: "Ringleader in Reflection: A Look Back at Morrissey’s 2006 Album, Ringleader of The Tormentors" (March 31, 2021)

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Ringleader in Reflection: A Look Back at Morrissey’s 2006 Album, Ringleader of The Tormentors





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Regards,
FWD.

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joe frady said:
My name is Joe, and í approve of this message.

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I'd hope the hair would be worth more than two pennies - both his and mine.
 
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Radis Noir said:
If any of you are feeling a little down at the moment, do give this article a read. It's hilarious!
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I love Ringleader.... and I truly hope this girl will find another hobby soon.

This part made me laugh:

"The record was brimming full of Morrissey’s unique lyrical take on the world, as well as with his booming, rich, baritone. His voice has always captivated his audience, and it’s not hard to see why on this record. His powerful vocals were the driving force of the tracks, with his voice beautifully bringing to life some of the treasures of the album, (...)"

If I wanted to write something even more redundant, i would be lost.
 
jfhwebv4t said:
Well said.
I'd love to see examples from the deriders here as to exactly why they think her writing is so bad in this recent piece. Perhaps they could copy and paste a portion they think awful and rewrite it to show us how they think it could be improved. That I'd love to see. I'd have to assume if her articles were constantly criticising Morrissey rather than complimenting him, then they'd heap praise upon her rather than piling on like back seat drivers afraid to take the wheel themselves.

marred.
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Couldn't agree more. It's just because the haters resent her being supportive and that Mozza has her work shared on his platforms

I N E V E R see writing criticism of the endless shit printed about Mozza thats negative
 
Oh my said:
I love Ringleader.... and I truly hope this girl will find another hobby soon.

This part made me laugh:

"The record was brimming full of Morrissey’s unique lyrical take on the world, as well as with his booming, rich, baritone. His voice has always captivated his audience, and it’s not hard to see why on this record. His powerful vocals were the driving force of the tracks, with his voice beautifully bringing to life some of the treasures of the album, (...)"

If I wanted to write something even more redundant, i would be lost.
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It takes 'purple prose' to a whole new level.
 
Emotional Guide Dog said:
That said, I've never quite forgiven anyone involved in Dear God Please Help Me for inviting Ennio Morricone to score it then chucking most of his work in the bin.
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I KNOW! You could barely tell he went anywhere near that song. HOW did they let that happen? It reminds me when some bands bring an orchestra with them on stage (I'm thinking of New Order and Gary Numan) and you can barely hear them in the mix. Imagine how great a Moz album/concert would be with a proper orchestra that you can actually hear.
 
joe frady said:
Once more unto the breach Anaesthesine? All hail. We're really missing you round here. And you're not even gone?

Indeed, agreed, them ROTT daze was lovely. í never knew you were at the final showdown at the Palladium? Me too. We should have met. í was likely one of the motherless balcony birds. í do remember gliding and swooping all the way back to my hotel along Oxford Street.

For what it's worth, the last time that í saw Morrissey was at the same venue, nearly 3 years ago now, and í would say that it reached tantalisingly close to the heights of sublimity of 2006. His Mother was in the Royal Box, Kevin Cummins in the balcony front row {capturing the stage invasions on his iPhone} and Morrissey was in complete command of his voice, his body and our minds. As í zoomed across the city to catch the Sleeper Train back up North {the ROTT tour was probably the last time í could afford hotels; 2006, when money was still actually worth something real}, í do recall thinking to myself, 'if this ended up being the last evah Morrissey concert that í attended, then í could cry a happy man'. This holds true.

Be Well.

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I do still swoop by this site from time to time (if only to keep an eye on the drama). For me Morrissey has become something of a maddening riddle without any apparent answer. How? Why?

The 2006 Palladium was unlike any other show I've seen. It was... majestic. Perhaps we bumped into each other in the lobby; I was the blonde (natural thank you very much) with the snakes wrapped around her finger.

: )
 
ACTON said:
I KNOW! You could barely tell he went anywhere near that song. HOW did they let that happen? It reminds me when some bands bring an orchestra with them on stage (I'm thinking of New Order and Gary Numan) and you can barely hear them in the mix. Imagine how great a Moz album/concert would be with a proper orchestra that you can actually hear.
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I read somewhere (it might have been here) that a lot of it was quite flowery and didn't really work. But at least put it on a b-side!
 
Gregor Samsa said:
Haha, I’d say it’s completely the opposite. Surely the hard, confrontational sound of YOR is more Slaughter and the Dogs (to use your comparison) than Quarry and ROTT? I love YOR, but to call it wistful seems absurd.
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I suppose I feel Morrissey is becoming more defined by a yearning more than anger on Refusal? The very title refers to a complex reflection on his anger, as much as any anger itself.

And the better (in my opinion) but rejected sleeve art explicitly contextualises Morrissey in that Latin tradition that blessed the world with songs such as ‘Yesterday I Heard the Rain’. This, to me, is the territory Morrissey is obviously aiming at on the album; that mood shoots through it. It would be more successfully realised in World Peace, and it had been suggested in its two predecessors. But with Refusal I felt it was a fully formed sense of direction. I’d not really experienced that amount of coherence in a Morrissey album for 13 years.

For me, It’s Not Your Birthday and Carol are the album’s defining songs, and they feel representative of the LP. In as much as Dear God and Killed Me are the best songs on Ringleader they could be said to define that LP for me—but they are not good representations of the Ringleader album.

After the disappointment of Ringleader and (in truth) the first single from Refusal, I heard the full album and felt incredibly optimistic again. When I heard World Peace I felt fully vindicated.
 
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ACTON said:
I KNOW! You could barely tell he went anywhere near that song. HOW did they let that happen? It reminds me when some bands bring an orchestra with them on stage (I'm thinking of New Order and Gary Numan) and you can barely hear them in the mix. Imagine how great a Moz album/concert would be with a proper orchestra that you can actually hear.
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The song, as it is, pales everything else on the LP. I really think a richer more orchestral version of that song would’ve been received as more of a problem than a blessing.
 
Hovis Lesley said:
The song, as it is, pales everything else on the LP. I really think a richer more orchestral version of that song would’ve been received as more of a problem than a blessing.
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Maybe. But Morricone brings such emotion to his own songs. I can't help but feel his input was slightly sidelined for Dear God. Moz will never get a chance to work with him again.
 
ACTON said:
Maybe. But Morricone brings such emotion to his own songs. I can't help but feel his input was slightly sidelined for Dear God. Moz will never get a chance to work with him again.
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I wonder if Morricone himself was hurt by it? I read an interview with him 5 or 6 years ago. Asked about working with Morrissey, his pointed reply was along the lines of “I don’t remember it”. I assume Morricone wasn’t actually having a ‘senior moment’.
 
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File this 'review' in the Comedy aisle.

A completely delusional woman.

It's just another OK record in his amusing 35 year parody karaoke 🎤 tribute act to his Smiths era self. Like all his solo records it's fun for a while then it is forgotten. Nothing wrong with that album, it's just one of thousands of inconsequential records disgorged by the corporate music business machine that year and every year since.

I think his last album was a bit better but nobody was reviewing that when it appeared and I'd guess the only review of it in 15 years will be similar frothing nonsense from this fanzine prose groupie. Simply dreadful prose, almost as banal as Morrissey's attempts at 'writing' beyond trite rhyming couplets.

I'm looking forward to the next 'Der Spiegel' interview.

'At this point in his career, Morrissey had more than proved his weight as a solo artist (his output even exceeding the glory days of The Smiths).' Fiona Dreadful

Nurse! The screens!

🙄

BB
 
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