Not even Steven Patrick Morrissey can maintain an immunity to pre-release buzz. The initial recording session, with Jeff Saltzman in Rome, had to be scrapped, and the backup was Tony Visconti, of Bowie and Bolan fame. Visconti, in turn, gleefully tipped the inclusion of Ennio Morricone and an Italian children’s choir. Add the songwriting and third-guitar contributions of Jesse Tobias (erstwhile Frusciante replacement and Jagged Little Pill touring guitarist), and the stage was set for more than a dutiful follow-up. Unfortunately, the more apt leadoff (“In the Future When All’s Well”) was ignored in favor of “I Will See You In Far Off Places,” which works a rumbling Eastern mode to less effect than Alanis’ post-Jagged prime.

As for Ennio, his contribution is slotted second. “Dear God, Please Help Me” plays like a sacrelicious Righteous Brothers tune, the singer tremulously spreading his legs, ponderous organ cast aside for “Ebb Tide” strings. The tunes with the choir form a triptych of childhood; the guests are served well only on “The Father Who Must Be Killed.” Here, upon the kid-friendliest melody and low-end that boxes the speakers, they merely echo their employer. “At Last I Am Born” rides in on a municipal orchestra, Morrissey astride Jobriath’s comet tail, muttering into echo, pausing for fake castanets. Further touches are unnecessary. Likewise the night-spattered “The Youngest Was the Most Loved,” a cross between Blue Öyster Cult and Dave Matthews Band’s “Crush”. The addition of keening youths sends the track off the “Dear God” cliff.

If not quite a return to his more rockin’ days, Ringleader offers major sonic density. Bassist Gary Day — an on-and-off collaborator since Your Arsenal — tries his best to dispel the rain EFX on the vaguely psychedelic “Life Is a Pigsty” with thudding accompaniment. Morrissey tries to keep up with the twin-guitar chime and “Uninvited”-style passages of the Tobias co-write “On the Streets I Ran”. Day puts over “To Me You Are a Work of Art,” his boss’s newest entry into the love-song sweepstakes. Offering himself to abandon, Moz turns a potential joke song (“and I would give you my heart/that’s if I had one”) into a playful communiqué, hammered home by one violin.

His first LP to crack fifty minutes, Ringleader benefits from committed performances and a general lack of chips on shoulders. Lead single “You Have Killed Me” — tying his chart best with a third-place showing — is the best example. Sly references to keys, entering and being entered are waved away with a gobsmacked chorus and bridge, and further buried with the earnest declaration of forgiveness. If sometimes Morrissey’s instincts betrayed him, well, it wouldn’t be the first time.