Bigmouth strikes again! On April 4 Morrissey will release his eighth solo album, Ringleader of the Tormentors, on Attack-Sanctuary. That's good news for fans who have been waiting with bated breath since the release of 2004's triumphant comeback album, You Are The Quarry. Don't be jealous but, at a listening party Thursday in New York, CMJ got a sneak preview of the album and we can tell you that it's excellent! Mozzer—whose eighteen-year solo career is now more than four times as long as his brief but brilliant tenure in the Smiths—has outdone himself this time by enlisting Tony Visconti, the legend behind some of T. Rex's and David Bowie's best albums, as his producer. Recording in Rome (a city he is clearly infatuated with), Moz has written an album that feels mature and cinematic in scope, especially on tracks like "Dear God Please Help Me," whose sweeping string arrangement was written by veteran Italian soundtrack icon Ennio Morricone, and the more-than-seven-minute suite "Life Is A Pigsty," which recalls Radiohead's "Paranoid Android." At 46, Morrissey's trademark croon is limber as he snakes around difficult vocal lines, evoking Bowie and stars of 1940's MGM musicals as he sings of mortality, lost love and, surprisingly, optimism about the future. Now if you can just wait until April! Tracklist For Ringleader Of The Tormentors: 01. I Will See You In Far-Off Places 02. Dear God Please Help Me 03. You Have Killed Me 04. The Youngest Was The Most Loved 05. In The Future When All's Well 06. The Father Who Must Be Killed 07. Life Is A Pigsty 08. I'll Never Be Anybody's Hero Now 09. On The Streets I Ran 10. To Me You Are A Work Of Art 11. I Just Want To See The Boy Happy 12. At Last I Am Born www.sanctuaryrecords.com
