ROTT v. YATQ

Which is better, ROTT or YATQ?

  • ROTT

    Votes: 44 62.9%
  • YATQ

    Votes: 18 25.7%
  • cant decide

    Votes: 8 11.4%

  • Total voters
    70

chrisarclark

Boycott Moz
while these are two very different albums (at least when confining comparisons to The World Of Morrissey), they must inevitably be compared for several reasons. they are consecutive albums. they are the only two albums to be released on Attack, in this decade, in Morrissey's forties. they are the first two albums to be released after a nearly seven year long silence. its very possible that these two albums are the only albums that many new fans know/own.

so then, which is it? Ringleader Of The Tormentors of You Are The Quarry?
 
I find Quarry to be more consistent and has less songs that I find to be sub-par but Ringleader has a couple show stoppers in Pigsty and Far Off Places. I know some people don't like the latter but its a fairly unique song in that its in Phrygian which you don't get too often. Funny how the two show stoppers for me are Alain Whyte songs and I was really looking forward to Jesse's songs. I do like the singles though so its not like Jesse laid an egg.

I think its easier to like the current one more because you haven't worn it out yet.

The past couple weeks the one I've been listening to the most is Maladjusted. I probably shelved it for 2 or 3 years so its sort of fresh.
 
No contest actually.
Ringleader simply blows away Quarry )
 
bored said:
I think its easier to like the current one more because you haven't worn it out yet.

this isa good point- not only is it easier cos ROTT isnt as yet wornout, theres all the hype of the release and new tour surrounding it now that can sway opinions.

that said, ROTT squashes YATQ like a grape. even when iwas still in love with YATQ, ithink ialways knew in the back of my mind somewhere that it wasnt true.

ROTT is a truly great album- ijuste wish icould bring myself to listen to it.
 
As a whole, ROTT is a better body of work in my opinion. But it's somewhat anti-climactic for me. None of the songs punched me in the face the way the YATQ singles did. It's very much a grower album, but not because it's inaccessible. It's just, by and large, a very pleasing set of Moz songs for me. Alternately, I'd imagine that YATQ was tailor-made to be catchy. Still, besides the singles (and possibly America Is Not the World and All the Lazy Dykes), there's not much on YATQ that I still enjoy, as long as we're not talking b-sides.

Looking solely at the lyrics, I'd say ROTT. He's still saying "can I" where he used to say "may I", but his newfound blunt writing style works a lot better on the playful songs on ROTT.
 
I find it hard to choose a favourite at the moment. I listened to Quarry in its entirety the other night, and it sounded great.

Initially, I was somewhat disappointed in Ringleader ("Dear God PLease Help me" and "Life is a Pigsty" aside) but, as ever with Moz, repeated listens and a few shows forever engrained the words and music on my soul.

All in all, the last two years have been marvellous. Two great studio album and a phenomenal live release in Earls Court...I mean, his voice on "Last Night I Dreamt" is just awesome..and that version of "How Soon is Now?"...well, words fail me.
 
ROTT at the moment still blows me away and obviously its newer and fresher, so it gets my vote.

But as I get more used to it, maybe I'll go back to being more of a a Quarry lover.
 
Rott?

You are the Quarry is a fantastic album imho, ROTT is also a great album and a very personal Morrissey album, but it dosent live up to YATQ's standards. i have voted YATQ because 'Come Back to Camden' 'First of the Gang to die' and 'You know i couldnt last' are some of Morrissey's strongest songs of his solo career. my only highlight from ROTT is life is a pigsty, other than that it dosent stand up to YATQ.
 
Try running both albums on random in iTunes, I've been listening to this almost exclusively for a week or so. You soon realise your skipping one or two on ROTT for stronger YATQ tracks - I did this unconsciously. It's still too early to make a choice though. :)
 
I prefer Quarry by a short head but I think my decision might be influenced by the fact I have just bought the deluxe version for the b sides and think they are great.So perhaps it`s not a fair comparison.

Maybe when I have the deluxe version of ROTT in my hands I will be in a better postion to decide which I ultimately prefer.
 
RoTT

i did like RoTT much quicker and after repeated listens, that much more.................I will usually listen to it straight for a week or so then put it down for a week and see how it holds up then............:(
 
I like "You Are The Quarry" a lot more. The songwriting is stronger, it's more fun, and "Ringleader of the Tormenters" needed more truly great songs. I respect "Ringleader" for showing that Morrissey - after enjoying the commercial success and comeback of "Quarry" (which that album - chock full of singles - was designed to do) - doesn't just wanna put out "You Are The Quarry Part 2" but wants to move in new directions. Hopefully it'll be the next album when he finally smacks it out of the park like I believe he's still capable of doing. But whenever all the planets align again, it's good to hear that he's still striving for greatness and still has more ammunition than he can spend, which is evident on "Ringleader". Yet it's been so long since he had a completely wonderful album from first track to last that I think people are forgetting what it's like.
 
Maradona said:
Initially, I was somewhat disappointed in Ringleader ("Dear God PLease Help me" and "Life is a Pigsty" aside) but, as ever with Moz, repeated listens and a few shows forever engrained the words and music on my soul.

All in all, the last two years have been marvellous. Two great studio album and a phenomenal live release in Earls Court...I mean, his voice on "Last Night I Dreamt" is just awesome..and that version of "How Soon is Now?"...well, words fail me.

I like Earls Court less and less as time goes by. People around here were right that Sanctuary screwed that up, editting out most of the between-song banter and not getting the sound as good as it should've been.

Beathoven Was Deaf is so much better, don't you think? Some of the bootlegs are better, too.

As far as "Ringleader," every time I listen to it immediately after listening to another Morrissey or Smiths album (with the exception of "Kill Uncle") I feel it's not quite good enough. For example, I listened to "Your Arsenal" recently. That to me is an example of a masterpiece (as is "Vauxhall"). Not every song on "Arsenal" is a great song when taken as an individual track (although some, like "We'll Let You Know," are absolutely fantastic, and all the songs are good). But it's an example of where the whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts, and when you play the whole thing it becomes this fascinating statement that fits so well with the time and place it came from.
 
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