Art Of The Moz

1. T'Rex - Ride A White Swan
2. Sandie Shaw - Heaven Knows I'm Missing Him Now
3. The Lucksmiths - There Is A Boy Who Never Goes Out
4. Cilla Black - Work Is A Four Letter Word
5. Twinkle - Tommy
6. Raymonde - No-one Can Hold A Candle To You
7. Sparks - Something For The Girl With Everything
8. Suede - My Insatiable One
9. New York Dolls - Lonely Planet Boy
10. Patti Smith - Redondo Beach
11. Shakespeare's Sister - You're History
12. Soho - Hippychick
13. Reparata - Shoes
14. Nancy Sinatra - The Last Of The Secret Agents
15. The Cookies - I Want A Boy For My Birthday
16. Del Shannon - The Answer to Everything
17. Elvis Presley - His Latest Flame
18. Victoria Wood - Fourteen Again
19. Momus - Maf
20. Ludus - My Cherry Is In Sherry
21. Gene - I Can't Help Myself
22. Billy Fury - I'll Never Quite Get Over You
23. Diana Dors - So Little Time
24. Bradford - Skin Storm
25. The Thrills - Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
26. Dream Academy - Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
27. Billy Bragg - Never Had No One Ever
28. Audrey Hepburn - Moon River

No, not a mix about mosquitos. Morrissey! And The Smiths of course, the finest band ever to hail from my gloomy hometown city..

Every track here is in some way connected to Morrissey. Firstly, his love of sixties girl groups and singers is well documented. During their first gig, at The Ritz, Manchester in October 1982 they finished their set with a cover of The Cookies ‘I Want A Boy For My Birthday’. They covered the Cilla track ‘Work Is A Four Letter Word’ late on in their brief career. The Smiths also covered Twinkle’s ‘Golden Lights’, widely regarded as their weakest track – find the original here

Included are some of Morrissey’s favourite acts – Sparks, Raymonde and Ludus to name but 3. As a solo artist he covered 8,10,24 and 28 amongst others. Don't plagiarise or take "on loan"> Well, actually, that has been a common occurance in the Career of Moz. His track ‘Certain People I Know’ bears more than a passing resemblance to the T’Rex opener. The Smiths ‘A Rush And A Push’ a mirror image of ‘Shoes’ by Reparata ( thanks Moe for that one).

Lyrically ‘Last Night I Dreamt’ is influenced by the Billy Fury track featured here ( Morrissey based his early image on the ‘50s icon ). ‘There is A Light’ owes a debt, lyrically, to the New York Dolls ‘Lonely Planet Boy’. The Dolls connections don’t stop there of course – their track Trash a live Morrissey favourite. He was also the President of the NYD Fanclub many moons ago….

The Bacarach penned ‘The Answer To Everything’ featured here handed Johnny Marr the melancholic tone on ‘Please Please Please’. Then there’s Victoria Wood – Northern Comedienne who makes her AotM debut here – ‘Fourteen Again’ a huge influence, lyrically, on ‘Rusholme Ruffians’, musically, the Elvis track 'His Latest Flame' most definitely the blueprint…

Add to all this, Momus, whose character ‘Maf’ plans to kill Morrissey, but is thwarted by Didsbury Police, the ‘How Soon Is Now’ sampling Soho track, some nice Smiths covers (25-27), and Gene. Upon releasing their debut single in 1994, they were heralded as the NEW Smiths. They weren’t. But the track featured here was one of their best..

So, there you go, a mix that should delight Morrissey, fans of, and hopefully one that stands alone as a fine mix for non believers. Why don’t you find out for yourselves…