BookishBoy
Well-Known Member
Today's song is this Morrissey/Tobias composition from the Ringleader of the Tormentors album.
What do we think?
We all know where Moz is....I think this is slightly sub-standard vocally (Moz seems to struggle in places), but the track is one of my favourites from this album.
I love the drum work on this (Matt Chamberlain), which is especially interesting & effective at the beginning, coming in with a single drum beat at irregular, almost off-beat intervals. Day's bass is divine, love the way it pounds & dominates throughout the track. Some really nice jangly guitar too. There's a mixture of decent & naff lyrics (croak, joke, Which isn't very nice), some Moz humour, along with some honesty & acceptance maybe especially in "Turned sickness into popular song" & then "Turned sickness into unpopular song". Quite clever.
Best lyric for me, as it's in typical Moz style:
"Oh, dear God when will I
Be where I should be?"
Wonderful.
Always thought if you reorder some of the songs on ROTT there’s almost a narrative arc of fleeing America and finding solace on the streets of Rome.I always think of the song by song progression of Ringleader as scenes in a film. And to this track’s credit, I can imagine the main character darting down the streets, running from something. However, aside from some propulsion in the drums and guitar, the dynamic-less production kills any kind of epic momentum the song tries to build: every instrument sounds distanced from one another, even the vocals - which, admittedly, are pretty good. The chorus is great, but seems like an echo of “In the Future When All’s Well” rather than a distinct melody. The Pink Floyd “Echoes”-esque organ tries to enliven the stodgy arrangement, but is also dulled by the production. The lyrics work well with the album’s themes, and, along with the vocals, are probably the best things about this song. On the whole: something that could have been great ends up as something batting at average.
5/10