ROTT...Your Final Verdict?

Lost · Dec 19, 2006

Ok we've been promised a new album soon and so ROTT will soon be part of his back catologue.
We've all had chance to assess it properly now so where does it fit into his body of work?
Here's my conclusion:

I've been through the whole spectrum of emotions about ROTT. I adored it initially...then I cooled on it ..then i wondered if i actually hated it!!
Now i'm out the other side and i just feel a bit indifferent about it.
I've realised that the problem with the album is that it's not really an album at all. The tracks are far too diverse stylistically. It's a mish mash. It's like the tracks don't really belong together. There is no real cohesion to it like there was with the emotionally charged YATQ.
I also feel there is such such a wide contrast of quality on the album. A real mixture of very strong and very weak tracks.
For example, I think tracks like the twee, wishy washy, 'In The Future' and the awfully monotonous 'At Last I Am Born' are utterly dreadful and are high up there with the worst Moz has ever done.
However, there are thankfully some true heavyweights like 'Pigsty', 'Dear God' and 'I Will See You'.
I'm not at all sure the collaboration with Visconti was a good thing. He was great with Bowie in the seventies but, er...that was the seventies!

Rating....His worst solo album

Worm · Dec 19, 2006

Still think it's good, but a lot of the initial affection I had for it has gone. I'm far more fascinated by the lyrical turns he took than in listening to the songs themselves. I think there are albums that sort of fill out and complete an artist's canon of work, lesser but still interesting records that merit judicious sampling rather than total admiration. ROTT is one of them. While I wouldn't say it's a great album, I think the overall picture Morrissey is giving us would be much poorer without it.

"Kill Uncle" and "Maladjusted" are worse in my opinion, but every other album is better.

Lost · Dec 19, 2006

Worm said:
Still think it's good, but a lot of the initial affection I had for it has gone. I'm far more fascinated by the lyrical turns he took than in listening to the songs themselves. I think there are albums that sort of fill out and complete an artist's canon of work, lesser but still interesting records that merit judicious sampling rather than total admiration. ROTT is one of them. While I wouldn't say it's a great album, I think the overall picture Morrissey is giving us would be much poorer without it.

"Kill Uncle" and "Maladjusted" are worse in my opinion, but every other album is better.

Some very good points there that i'd have to agree with.
(although I rate 'Kill Uncle' much more highly than you)

Worm · Dec 19, 2006

I rate most of the songs on "Kill Uncle" VERY highly, actually-- let's just say "Kill Uncle" isn't even a ghost of a whisper of a rumor as good as "1991 Tour".

Slightly_Afraid · Dec 19, 2006

Generally, I agree with those views above...Its a rag-bag of great, GREAT songs and some really iffy, sub-par ones.

Pigsty, You Have Killed Me, Anybody's Hero and Dear God are up there with the best of any Morrissey album, but At Last I Am Born, Boy Happy and The Youngest...are really, dreadfully average.

I dunno...Track for track, Quarry leaves it in the dirt, but somehow the production and the overall sound make Ringleader work better as an actual album. If he'd ditched the crap songs and put on Ganglord and If You Don't Like Me...It would have been better.

I'd say that its better than Kill Uncle and probably a slight better than Maladjusted, and quite close to Viva Hate (another album with great songs and average ones thrown in the mix), but is not a shade on Vauxhall, Arsenal or Southpaw.

spleenhead · Dec 19, 2006

At first I really loved some of it and now I like other parts more. For example, "I'll never be..." and "On the streets.." weren't favourites but now I like them very much. But when I bought it I was so excited about it that I wouldn't say that there was a sense of anti-climax exactly but maybe I wanted myself to like it that after 10-15 listens I secretly knew I was a little bored of it. However I do like it but only listen to it occasionally. I abandoned Quarry ages and ages ago but the excellent b-sides warrant regular listening so it's grown on me. At first I thought ROTT was better than Quarry song for song without the great hits like Irish Blood and First of the Gang but now I rate Quarry more highly in every way...

ROTT is Moz's worst album except Kill Uncle and Maladjusted -- saying that, though, I love them all..

bagface · Dec 19, 2006

if there was such a thing as a worst morrissey cd ringleader wouldn't even be close to it

i love it. the only mediocre track to me is the father who must be killed, which still isn't that bad. personally i love all of his cds and ringleader is just as awesome as the others.

imogen11 · Dec 19, 2006

I adore Morrissey, but I hate this album.
Still, I have faith - Anyone able to offer a bit more info regarding what he said about a new album on Xfm? Haven't heard the interview myself.

floodzonex · Dec 19, 2006

Parts are amazingly average
I Will See You...
At Last I Am Born

Parts are pretty good
You Have Killed Me
On The Streets...

Parts are great
To Me You Are...

To me it's about on par with Maladjusted, Kill Uncle and Quarry
All have classics, just not as many as the other records

imogen11 · Dec 19, 2006

imogen11 said:
I adore Morrissey, but I hate this album.
Still, I have faith - Anyone able to offer a bit more info regarding what he said about a new album on Xfm? Haven't heard the interview myself.

Apologies! Just saw the other thread relating to this.

mozmal · Dec 19, 2006

Dear God Please Help Me is for me the best song by far on the album. Unfortunately, there are too many very average songs to make this a great Moz album. Quarry, for me is infinitely superior.

Kickstand · Dec 19, 2006

I like Ringleader of The Tormentors a lot. It's a vast improvement on 'Maladjusted' and 'You are the Quarry'. I also like it because it's different, the reason why I hold Morrissey (not just Steven but the band) and The Smiths in such high regard is that every album is unique and different, there aren't many artists who can keep re-inventing themselves as it were and Morrissey is one them.

I love 'I will see you in far off places', 'You have killed me', In The Future when all is well', The Father who must be killed, I'll never be anybody's hero now' and 'At Last I am Born'. They are my favourites, but I like the rest.

duchess · Dec 19, 2006

I love it. took me a while to appreciate it fully, but I think it's fantastic - feels "big".

Danny · Dec 19, 2006

Don't really get the sudden love for Quarry. Parts of that album are terrible. I don't recall people liking it that much before ROTT came out.

Still rate ROTT as one of his greatest. Probably on a par with Vauxhall.

Poco Innocente · Dec 19, 2006

Danny said:
Don't really get the sudden love for Quarry. Parts of that album are terrible. I don't recall people liking it that much before ROTT came out.

Still rate ROTT as one of his greatest. Probably on a par with Vauxhall.

It isn't a sudden love, far from it

sonof77 · Dec 19, 2006

I listened to ROTT constantly on it's release and now can't listen to it at all. Perhaps it may grab me again soon but it is not one of his albums I have instantly loved. Every other album I still play at least once a month.

half a person · Dec 19, 2006

I like it, the only one I'd say I don't really like is 'On the Streets...' the lyrics, the vocals and the music just don't grab me on that one, but the rest of it I do like, not so much as others like Your Arsenal or Viva Hate, but I do like it. It's also his only his only album that I can sing along to, it's in a good key for me

(sorry, sorry, I used to have singing lessons

)

Bluebirds · Dec 19, 2006

Well I'm listening to it now on my I-pod (ok Discman!!!) and well yes I still think its his third best LP. Sonically superior to Quarry and "I've been shifting gears all of my life...."

mspendl828 · Dec 19, 2006

I think it's f***ing great.

nightcrawler · Dec 19, 2006

ROTT is an okay album. I like all of the songs, some of them are up with his best work (You Have Killed Me, Dear God, The Youngest..., On The Streets I Ran), but I don´t like the production very much.

I prefer the cleaner production of YATQ by far as well as the songs on YATQ, which is one of my favourite Morrissey-albums. But let´s not forget that he had some years to gather new songs for YATQ (the excellent b-sides proove that).

My favourite albums are (in that order)
You Are The Quarry
Vauxhall & I
Southpaw Grammar
Your Arsenal
Bona Drag
Viva Hate

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