Ringleader Of The Tormentors

Ringleader Of The Tormentors – Morrissey

Year Released: 2006

Label: Sanctuary

Year Bought: 2006

Released in 2006, 'Ringleader of the Tormentors' in many ways represents the apex of the Morrissey resurgence that began two years earlier with 'You Are The Quarry'.

Whereas that album peaked at number 2 in the album chart (although it did spawn 4 top ten singles), its successor gave Morrissey his first number 1 album since 1994's 'Vauxhall and I'.

'Ringleaders...' raised some eyebrows at the time as Morrissey sang explicitly about something he had previously made a virtue of not discussing. His sex life. "There are exploding kegs between my legs," he sings on 'Dear God Please Help Me' – a tune that swells and grows to a climax with strings written by Ennio Morricone. "Now I'm spreading your legs with mine in between," he later adds.

Perhaps this new found desire of the flesh was due to this album being recorded in Italy, and references to the country season the album, from the sound of an ambulance siren at the beginning of 'The Youngest Was The Most Loved' to the name-checking of a slew of Italian figures in 'You Have Killed Me'.

Produced by Tony Visconti, the album has a more muscular quality than 'You Are The Quarry', and in some ways feels more urgent and focused.

Opening track 'I Will See You In Far-Off Places' slips and slides all over the place with an almost Eastern feel to its brass line.

'I Just Want To See The Boy Happy' is a sub 3-minute punch of an indie tune and album closer 'At Last I Am Born' contains an absolutely quintessential Morrissey lyric: "I once thought that I had numerous reasons to cry, and I did but I don't anymore."

I haven't listened to this album for years, and I remember it being more patchy than it actually is. The 7min+ album centrepiece 'Life Is A Pigsty' sucks a lot of the energy out of the record, and 'To Me You Are A Work Of Art' – while still having some good bits – feels like filler.

But the standard of the rest is really pretty good, and shows that when Morrissey wanted to, he really could make records as good as he thought he could.

8/10

Comments

Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand

Year Released: 2004 Label: Domino Year Bought: 2004 January 2004. I'd just quit uni. Was back at the family home in Bishop's Stortford. The place I'd been so desperate to get away from, and I was back and already bored. And then things got a bit less boring. I remember this so clearly. I was having a shower and the radio was on, and on came 'Take Me Out'. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. At first I thought it must be an old tune that had passed me by, but no, it was announced as a new song by a band called Franz Ferdinand. It sounded glorious. It sounded interesting. After the staleness of the post-Britpop years, and beigeness of Coldplay, Travis et al, there was actually a British band doing something interesting. I loved it, and when the album came out the next month, I gobbled it up with glee. Listening back now, and I still love it. The hushed opening of 'Jacqueline', the sleaze of 'The Dark of the Matinee', the homoeroticism of 'M...

The Bends - Radiohead

Year Released: 1995 Label: Parlophone Year Bought: 2000 Some records I'm going back to for the first time in a while. Others, like 'The Bends', are still in my regular rotation. What to say about this album? The crashing piano chords of opening track 'Planet Telex' give an immediate indication that this is not the same band that made 'Pablo Honey'. The album is a quantum leap from that record, which – while it has its fans, including me – is by-and-large the sound of just another guitar band. 'The Bends' is different. From the slowing-down-time intro of the title track, to the how-high-can-you-go guitars on 'Just', the album constantly delights. 'Fake Plastic Trees' is a magisterial effort, while 'Black Star' contains one of the great opening lines: "I get home from work and you're still standing in your dressing gown, well, what am I to do?" The recording process for this record was inspired by seeing Jeff Buck...

NME Awards 2004 - Various Artists

Released: 2004 Label: NME When I bought: 2004 In ye olde days before streaming, and even YouTube, it wasn't possible to hear within a matter of moments pretty much every song ever released. Therefore, compilations like this by the NME actually had a degree of value. Take 'Paperbag Writer' by Radiohead, a b-side from 'There There', the lead single from 2003's Hail to the Thief. I bought the album but not the single, so I'd never heard this tune. It's a brilliant track, with its electronic shuffle beat and muffled vocals making it sound like a left over from Kid A, or the starting point for Thom Yorke's debut solo album which would be released the following year. Likewise, 'See You Soon' by Coldplay. A true delight from a 1999 EP, with delicate guitar playing, scarce production, and honest vocal delivery. It's a reminder that once upon a time Chris Martin et al were able to operate with that oft-neglected trait: restraint. As a snapshot o...

All The Records I've Ever Owned

Search This Blog