Morrissey Central RINGLEADER DELUXE ! (July 17, 2020)


Morrissey’s third UK number 1 album ‘Ringleader of the Tormentors’ will be issued this year by BMG for the first time.The album is presently being ‘rebooted’ by producer Tony Visconti and will feature more sections by Ennio Morricone and his orchestra from the 2005 sessions in Rome, plus a photographic booklet.The original album featured four UK hit singles, ‘You Have Killed Me’ (Number 3), ‘The Youngest Was The Most Loved’(Number 14), ‘In The Future When All’s Well’ (Number 17), ‘I Just Want To See The Boy Happy’ (Number 16).

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This is exciting news. Ringleader was the first Morrissey album that I didn't love straight away but in retrospect that's probably because I listened to that godawful-quality leak that came out about two weeks prior to the album's release.

I have since come to like it quite a bit although as a collection of tracks from start to finish I seldom play it. I do really love quite a few of the individual songs, though. I think this album is a classic example of one that could have been vastly improved by supplanting a b-side or two in place of some of the tracks that made the final cut.

Anyway blah blah blah. Looking forward to the new edition.
Just dropping tracks 8-12 entirely would improve Ringleader.
 
I think the only album he really dislikes is Kill Uncle. (Viva Hate seems to be a difficult topic, too.)

"My pride is with Low In High School, World Peace Is None Of Your Business, Years Of Refusal, Ringleader Of the Tormentors, You Are The Quarry, Swords, Southpaw Grammar, Your Arsenal, Vauxhall and I … they are me, whereas The Smiths was a great but simplistic time. I cannot imagine my life without those solo albums, yes, and even Maladjusted ! I love them so much."

He still plays Maldjusted songs regularly, unlike the Kill Uncle material.

Wish Uncle would get entirely remixed
by Visconti. Tweaked to be aggressive.
 
“Vauxhall & I” could use some more tracks added for its future reissue

“Sunny”, “A Swallow On My Neck” & “I’d Love To” would be perfect candidates, since they were all recorded for the album but got demoted to B-Sides...
 
Terrible album, great tour. This was really the beginning of the end of Morrissey's lyrical ability. I remember not really being able to connect with a single song on this record and that feeling hasn't changed much with the albums that have followed.

We all had our hopes up for this one, as the morale was sky-high after Quarry and there was a tremendous amount of hype in the press re: the participation of Morricone, Visconti and so on. Probably could have made a decent EP, but as a full-length there's almost nothing there.
 
Delete the opener. Please, I never liked it in the first place. Sounds like Bin Laden on a gigantic Spider, stomping through the desert.
 
Wish Uncle would get entirely remixed
by Visconti. Tweaked to be aggressive.
I really want him to revisit Kill Uncle. Songs like Sing Your Life, Harsh Truth Of The Camera Eye, Driving Your Girlfriend Home and There's A Place In Hell For Me And My Friends would make great additions to future setlists.
 
Delete the opener. Please, I never liked it in the first place. Sounds like Bin Laden on a gigantic Spider, stomping through the desert.
Love that Arab-sounding opener. Was great live too! Especially the part 'and if the USA doesn't bomb you!' Wonderful. The only track on side 1 I never liked was The Father Who Must Be Killed.
Side 2 is apart from Pigsty a bit too meh for me. Lots of filler.
 
“Vauxhall & I” could use some more tracks added for its future reissue

“Sunny”, “A Swallow On My Neck” & “I’d Love To” would be perfect candidates, since they were all recorded for the album but got demoted to B-Sides...
Vauxhall and Arsenal are both perfect the way they are imo, thankfully the track list was left intact on the re-designed editions. I wouldn't have minded a bonus disk with the b-sides though.

But they're not planning on reissuing either of them again according to the announcement.
 
Delete the opener. Please, I never liked it in the first place. Sounds like Bin Laden on a gigantic Spider, stomping through the desert.
One of the worst. I couldn't believe my ears the first time I heard this sub-System of a Down nu-metal heap of shit. Embarrassing.
 
One of the worst. I couldn't believe my ears the first time I heard this sub-System of a Down nu-metal heap of shit. Embarrassing.
I'm really not too fond of Ringleader for multiple reasons but I do love I Will See You In Far-Off Places. It was the first song besides You Have Killed Me and Life Is A Pigsty that actually grew on me.
 
I'm really not too fond of Ringleader for multiple reasons but I do love I Will See You In Far-Off Places. It was the first song besides You Have Killed Me and Life Is A Pigsty that actually grew on me.
All I can think of is the dread that would overcome me when I saw Mikey reach for the accordion, like "well, I know where I'll be for the next six minutes."
 
Vauxhall and Arsenal are both perfect the way they are imo, thankfully the track list was left intact on the re-designed editions. I wouldn't have minded a bonus disk with the b-sides though.

But they're not planning on reissuing either of them again according to the announcement.

Shallow & I’d Love To fits perfectly with Vauxhall since their obviously about his than boyfriend Jake Walters, which they were dating during the Vauxhall & Southpaw eras
 
Terrible album, great tour. This was really the beginning of the end of Morrissey's lyrical ability. I remember not really being able to connect with a single song on this record and that feeling hasn't changed much with the albums that have followed.

We all had our hopes up for this one, as the morale was sky-high after Quarry and there was a tremendous amount of hype in the press re: the participation of Morricone, Visconti and so on. Probably could have made a decent EP, but as a full-length there's almost nothing there.

I liked it after a few plays - it's when he starts to get really morose though. The sex song is deceptive, that album is truly miserable, & even the thought of a violent death doesn't thrill him any more.** Which is probably when he started brooding too much on the news.

I didn't notice the swipe at Bush in the booklet. It was a sign.

**Artistically - he might have been cockahoop in real life.
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I liked it after a few plays - it's when he starts to get really morose though. The sex song is deceptive, that album is truly miserable, & even the thought of a violent death doesn't thrill him any more. Which is probably when he started brooding too much on the news.

I didn't notice the swipe at Bush in the booklet. It was a sign.
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He was a run-of-the-mill center-left boomer back then. He hated Bush, wore a "Jon Stewart For President" shirt, put his support behind Obama / Hillary, et cetera. For the record, I thought that was just as cringeworthy then.
 
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Shallow & I’d Love To fits perfectly with Vauxhall since their obviously about his than boyfriend Jake Walters
"Whatever Happens I Love You"...

Of course they fit the era but they don't need to be shoehorned into the perfect track list. Swallow was always intended as a b-side and I'd Love To was always a bit meh to me, compared to the other songs on Vauxhall.

Sunny was recorded later, during the Boxers sessions.

They're all lovely songs but "why meddle with a masterpiece"?
 
Though great as a b-side, maybe it didn’t fit with the theme of the album...

 

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