Like most kids, I rode many musical bandwagons. As a pre-teen I, for some odd reason or another, loved John Denver. Some of you will recall that I later spent large chunks of time as a Prince fan, a Journey fan, and even a brief stint as a Michael Jackson fan. None of my bouts with fandom, though, were as fanatic or as encompassing as my disaffected youth love of The Smiths.

I've never really recaptured my youthful enthusiasm for most of those acts. However, I now find myself completely entralled with the cult of Morrissey. Maybe it's my recurring dark moods. Maybe it's the rough and tumble Northeast. Perhaps it's just that his new release, "You Are The Quarry," is pretty damn good. Whatever it is I find myself constantly re-listening to "The Queen is Dead" and "Meat Is Murder" between visiting "Quarry." Don't worry. I think I'll draw the line at revisiting my dyed black crew cut.

Here are some artifacts for your Mozzing pleasure -

"Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" - Hamburg 5/4/1984 (right click, save target as)

Ah. The whining falsetto of young Morrissey. One of my favorites when I was so very, very sad. Also contains a brief bit of the beloved football chant at the end.

"Rubber Ring" - Harlem 5/8/2004 (right click, save target as)

A fan favorite never performed live by The Smiths. Alas, not from the show Ken and I attended. However, the old boy really does still have some of the energy I thought he lost long ago. This version will do nothing, though, to settle the old arguments regarding what he's saying. No "rubber ring," no "smother me."

"The First Of The Gang To Die" - Later with Jules Holland 5/25/2004 (WARNING - 71 MEG ZIPPED VIDEO FILE UP THIS WEEKEND ONLY)

The centerpiece of "Quarry," methinks. If nothing else it's certainly the lost brother of "Last of The International Playboys." Contains all the proper elements of a good Morrissey song: weird visuals, macabre storytelling, soaring vocals, a great riff, some weird sing-song bits and is catchy as hell.

** For some weird reason MT blows up when I try to put this link in as an href. Weird. Any ideas? At any rate, if you want the video it's at http://www.mikewolf.net/MP3/gang.ZIP. Please be courteous with my bandwidth and download it rather than stream it.**