Musically, Morrissey falters

For ''Ringleader of the Tormentors," out today on Attack/Sanctuary, there's no need to rummage through Morrissey's back catalog of solo albums or his work with the Smiths for comparison's sake. It's closest in spirit and theme to 2004's ''You Are the Quarry," with one glaring exception: The music itself is pretty lousy this time out.

With Tony Visconti producing, Morrissey has essentially made a thoughtful and probing album for adult-contemporary radio. Not that there's anything wrong with that. It's just a little disappointing given the dynamics of ''You Are the Quarry," which successfully melded his criticisms with equally cutting accompaniment.

Lyrically, ''Ringleader" is a whip-smart collection of songs that take aim at war, politics, unrequited love, and even self-image. It does more than that, actually: It points fingers and even holds people responsible for their actions.

Like ''Quarry," whose opening salvo asserted, ''America, your head's too big," the new album starts on a decidedly critical note of the United States. ''I Will See You in Far Off Places" is a biting missive whose motif is fully realized with just three lines: ''If your god bestows protection upon you/ And if the USA doesn't bomb you/ I believe I will see you somewhere safe." But that faux-Middle Eastern accompaniment -- replete with (gulp) the bang of a gong -- sounds cheap and cliched.

''Dear God, Please Help Me," with introspective strings courtesy of Ennio Morricone, is classic Morrissey, right down to the sex-as-power metaphor. The lyric ''There are explosive kegs between my legs" really isn't that removed from ''Most people keep their brains between their legs" from ''Such a Little Thing Makes Such a Big Difference" on 1990's ''Bona Drag."

If you didn't know that Jeb Bush is younger than his brother George, you could easily guess that ''The Youngest Was the Most Loved" is about the president. ''The youngest was the most loved/ The youngest was the cherub/ We kept him from the world's glare/ And he turned into a killer," Morrissey sings. Again, the arrangement is underwhelming, and we'll try really hard to forgive that inexplicable children's choir caterwauling on the chorus.

Beginning with its title, ''Life Is a Pigsty" is an art-rock lesson in didactic drivel. And why on earth is there a snippet of thunderstorm sound effects competing with a bass drum and clanging cym-bals?

''To Me You Are a Work of Art," his stab at a genuine love song, fares surprisingly well, lobbing a self-deprecating zinger that only vintage Moz (or maybe Stephin Merritt) could deliver: ''To me you are a work of art/ And I would give you my heart/ That's if I had one." Unfortunately, that's about all there is to the song before it wraps up with two minutes of wonky solos.

''You Are the Quarry" at least had the musical chops to turn the bark into a real bite. Without that spark between the words and instruments, a lot of ''Ringleader" feels like a humdrum lecture from your parents, the kind where you know they're right, yet you can't help but just nod and roll your eyes behind their backs.

Fifty minutes later, the album comes to a liberating close with ''At Last I Am Born," with Morrissey proclaiming just that. It's too bad the same can't be said of this album.