Historians Note…
The title of Morrissey’s new album Ringleader of the Tormentors proves his capacity to pinpoint his own legacy. The forefather lauded to the rafters by varied artists (Radiohead, OutKast, Fall Out Boy, The Killers, Oasis) is in a category of his own. Critics simplify his post-Smith years and dismissively accuse him of not changing. In truth the solo canon has been ebb and flow in directions from indie, pop/music hall, glam, rockabilly, and progressive rock. These explorations were just out of step with the trends of the time. He wouldn’t be Morrissey if he weren’t a leader and agitator. In this respect, not much changes.After the accessible revival album You are the Quarry, Morrissey surprisingly made an album less so, returning to his 70s glam inspirations by enlisting producer Tony Visconti of T. Rex and David Bowie fame and Italian composer Ennio Morricone. Morrissey uses a clever duality of forces: strings and guitars, candor with coyness, pathos and humor. The lyrics, his forte, stylistically have changed, are less masked in metaphor and poetry. They are now straightforward and raw. The themes are hefty. The haunting Middle Eastern sound of “I Will See You In Far Off Places” dabbles in politics with Morrissey pondering the cosmology of war. Tales of tragedy, death and love are all subtopics of the greater one of acceptance. Novice listeners mistake melancholia and archness for depression. Morrissey’s viewpoint is more honest and complicated than that trite conclusion. Each album has been a trajectory of acceptance of the self. This album culminates in the maturation of that goal.
The strength of this album is in the authentic vocal achievement. Singers today are often whiny and juvenile vocally, a pronounced difference appears when you hear Mozzer soar from the raucous glam-a-billy “In The Future When All’s Well,” to the epic and beautiful highlight track “Life is a Pigsty.” The crooning is unnerving and vulnerable, spectacular and imperfect, much like the man.
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