Now available as a download from Merge, with physical CD coming in February. Open up those wallets, people - this is one that's important.

By Blurt Staff

If you've picked up the latest issue of BLURT you've seen our tribute to New Zealand legend Chris Knox, he of the mighty Tall Dwarfs, in which members of the Bats, the Clean and others offer their anecdotes and observations on Knox, felled earlier this year by a stroke. It's also got commentary provided by Knox himself to writer Jud Cost, who interviewed the man a few years ago. Cost also disclosed some of the details behind the forthcoming Knox tribute album, titled Stroke - Songs For Chris Knox that came out last month in New Zealand and arrives Stateside in February via the Merge label.

Merge, in fact, is already offering the album in download form at their website, where you can also pre-order it.

Fans can cheer the news, posted recently at Knox's blog, of his gradual-but-steady recovery along with a tracklisting for the 2-CD album, which is stuffed to the gills with a who's who of NZ and American indie rockers ranging from the Verlaines, the Chills and David Kilgour to Portastatic, Jay Reatard and Yo La Tengo. Full tracklisting is below.

And if the tracklisting don't sway ya - at Knox's official blog you can hear samples of most of the songs currently streaming. Go here and prepare to have the socks charmed off ya. (There's also a link you can use to order it from NZ in case you can't wait until Feb.) This is a tribute with meat on its bones, and it's for a good cause too, kids. Stroke, like the Sweet Relief (Victoria Williams) and Inner Flame (Rainer Ptacek) tributes before it, represents the music community rallying together for one of their own.

Tracklisting:

CD1 (Yellow Disc):

01 Jay Reatard: "Pull Down the Shades"
02 The Checks: "Rebel"
03 The Bleeding Allstars: "Ain't It Nice"
04 Peter Gutteridge: "Don't Catch Fire"
05 The Chills: "Luck or Loveliness"
06 David Kilgour: "Nothing's Going to Happen"
07 The Crying Wolfs: "All My Hollowness to You"
08 Stephin Merritt: "Beauty"
09 Portastatic: "Nostalgia's No Excuse"
10 The Mint Chicks: "Crush"
11 Jay & Sam Clarkson: "I've Left Memories Behind"
12 Sky Green Leopards: "Burning Blue"
13 Shayne Carter: "The Slide"
14 Pumice: "Grand Mal"
15 Hamish Kilgour: "Knoxed Out" *

CD2 (Black Disc):

01 Boh Runga: "Not Given Lightly"
02 Red&Zeke ft. Bill Doss and Neil Cleary: "Bodies"
03 Bill Callahan: "Lapse"
04 Genghis Smith: "Growth Spurt"
05 Yo La Tengo: "Coloured"
06 A.C. Newman: "Dunno Much About Life But I Know How to Breathe"
07 Alec Bathgate: "Glide"
08 Don McGlashan: "Inside Story
10 Lambchop: "What Goes Up"
11 The Mountain Goats: "Brave"
12 The Tokey Tones (and Friends): "Round These Walls"
13 The Bats: "Just Do It"
14 Will Oldham: "My Only Friend"
15 The Finn Family: "It's Love"
16 Jordan Luck: "Becoming Something Other"
17 The Verlaines: "Driftwood"
18 Lou Barlow: "Song of the Tall Poppy"
19 The Nothing: "Napping in Lapland" *
20 Tall Dwarfs: "Sunday Song" *

* bonus tracks

Free MP3 of the song available too - from Chomp album, reissued.

By Blurt Staff

Fresh off the DFA re-release of their legendary sophomore record Chomp - reviewed here at the BLURT site - PYLON has unearthed the original video for their single "Beep." Shot by the band and their crew on Super-8 and VHS in the early '80s, the video is a trippy is a glimpse into the Chomp-era Pylon on the road. 

"It captures pretty much what we were about at that point in time," said frontwoman Vanessa Hay. "We were a playful, irreverent bunch of artists who also happened to be musicians."  

Check out the video below, and nab an MP3 of the song while you're at it: "Beep"

Originally conceived as "video postcards" from Pylon's travels around the country, the music video for "Beep" documents the band as they traveled the US in the early '80s, stopping at skeevy hotels between shows, performing at venues large and small (including a Manhattan rooftop), and even paying a visit to the Reagan-era White House. Edited together by Pylon's Michael Lachowski, the video saw the light of day exactly once, when it aired on MTV's "120 Minutes." After showing up on MTV, the video was forgotten until it was re-discovered earlier this year, and is now available for public consumption. 

You can read a Pylon feature, "Everything Is Cool," featuring an exclusive interview with vocalist Hay at BLURT here.

[Photo Credit: Laura Levine]

Pylon - Beep from DFA Records on Vimeo.

Deluxe edition of Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space isn't available in the US but we still have a sneak peek at it for you.

By Fred Mills

While yours truly previously declared, in a review of Spiritualized's 2008 album Songs In A&E, that "the 21^st century hasn't been especially kind to Jason Pierce thus far" - citing myriad illnesses, band woes and creativity blockages the band's frontman had been going through, that album still signaled a clear, welcome return to form for the songwriter. I also noted that A&E, in all its sonic majesty juxtaposed with sinewy rawk, represented the studio effort that should have followed 1997's masterwork Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space.

Now fans get an opportunity for a reappraisal of that earlier record via a choice deluxe reissue, which as previously announced in this space comes in three formats: a super-limited Collector's Edition featuring twelve 3-inch mini CDs and two bonus discs; a Special Edition featuring the original album on one CD plus the two bonus discs (that is not as limited but will still be deleted eventually); and a standard, unlimited one-CD version. You can read more about the details, along with the complete tracklistings, here.

At the moment there does not appear to be a U.S. release scheduled, but in the UK it hit stores on November 30 and BLURT is lucky enough to have obtained a copy of the Special Edition. Watch our website for a full review later this week, but in the meantime, we thought we'd offer up a few initial impressions, preview-wise. View the artwork below as well.

Ø      The three discs and liner notes come housed in an outer 6" x 6" x ¾" box decorated with black and silver art that roughly corresponds with the white and blue art of the original release (instead of the front legend reading "1 tablet 70 min" it now says "3 tablets 180 min").

Ø      The album proper - presumably remastered from the original tapes, although no notations in the liner notes specifically say this - is additionally housed in a foil/blister packet similar to how the 1997 UK release was packaged. This means, of course, that if you're a totally obsessed collector, you'll automatically devalue the album if you crack open the packet. Sob! No bonus tracks on the album, but...

Ø      Discs 2 and 3 amount to a full 110 minutes' worth of bonus material, 18 tracks on Disc 2 (a/k/a Spiritualized SP 50) and 17 tracks on Disc 3 (Spiritualized SP 60). There range from a 7-song "suite" of sorts composed of the title track (including a gorgeous a cappella rendering of the "Can't Help Falling In Love" theme, the band sounding like a gospel choir backing Pierce's fragile lead vocal) and a pair of wild demo takes of "Come Together" (in different keys, no less); to a tingly recording of just the strings arrangement for "Broken Heart" that segues into the "vocal harmony/Angel Corpus Christi" version of the song and a spooky demo for "Cop Shoot Cop" that's immediately followed by a track labeled "Dr. John ‘The National Anthem'" (which is indeed The Night Tripper himself tinkling the ivories against the backdrop of noise that, on the original album, eventually grew so fearsome that it obscured his contribution to the track). Via the assorted demos and isolated backing tracks you begin to get a fly-on-wall perspective of what exactly went into the making of the whole record.

Ø      Those two bonus discs, incidentally, are pressed on solid black CDs, and they are housed in their own mini-LP styled gatefold jacket with track annotations.

Ø      The liner notes come as a fold-out insert and more or less duplicate the liners from the '97 release, although added to the myriad "instructions" and "precautions" related to taking a "dose" of Spiritualized is a short section outlining how the three "tablets" should be "stored." Hint: in a dry, safe place "where children cannot see or reach them." Pay attention, parents!

To be... continued...

Iconic indie guitarist had been praised as this generation's John Fahey and much more.

By Fred Mills

Philly-based guitarist Jack Rose, who came to fame in the ‘90s on the Amerindie underground via his work with ambient/drone/noise outfit Pelt, passed away on Saturday, Dec. 5. The apparent cause of his death was a heart attack, according to the Philadelphia Daily News. He was 38.

Word quickly spread over the weekend of Rose's passing, with music websites such as Arthur and Pitchfork.com singing his praises (Arthur posted a number of videos as well). Pitchfork additionally reported that Cory Rayborn of the Three Lobed label, for whom Rose recorded a number of solo records, issued a statement, saying, "Jack was a warm, caring person and was always a pleasure to be around. His larger than life spirit will truly, truly be missed even moreso than his inspired musical ability. Our deepest sorrow goes out to his wife."

In the 2000s Rose further elevated his profile and reputation as a steel string auteur via albums for Three Lobed, Eclipse, VHF, Tequila Sunrise and others, typically issuing records on vinyl and limited-edition CDRs. He frequently garnered glowing comparisons to guitarists such as John Fahey, Peter Walker and Robbie Basho, excelling in everything from folk, ragas, ragtime and country blues while demonstrating a strong maverick, experimental streak. He also worked with a who's-who of indiedom, including members of Charlambides, Cul de Sac and Borbetomagus. Rose was sometimes lumped in with the freak-folk movement - due, no doubt, to his appearance on Devendra Banhart's 2004 f-f compilation Golden Apples of the Sun - but as anyone who owns one of his records or saw him play can attest, Rose was a true American classicist for whom labels or strict genre was meaningless.

At the time of his death the Thrill Jockey label had already announced his signing to the label and plans to release Luck in the Valley on Feb. 23.

Rose will be greatly missed and we extend our condolences to his friends and family.

You lookin' at me, Frodo? Rumors swirl. We report.

By Fred Mills

If you're Tom Waits, it ain't enough to celebrate your 60^th birthday; the musical legend was born on this day in 1949, and we at BLURT would like say, "Happy birthday, Tom!" (You can read our review of his recent album Glitter and Doom Live here.) And for most folks, just blowing out the candles would suffice. But not Tom.

Waits is easing into his 60^th year to the rumors that he's under serious consideration for a major role in Peter Jackson's upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit. The director's apparently already holding auditions for various parts, and while no specifics have emerged from the Jackson camp, other actors reportedly in the possible mix include Daniel Radcliffe, Martin Freeman, James McAvoy and David Tennant. The only confirmed roles thus far have ben for Ian McKellen, Hugo Weaving and Andy Serkis.

Waits, of course, has appeared in many films over the years, sometimes in main roles and sometimes more cameo-based. They include Down By Law, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mystery Men, Short Cuts, Myster Train and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

Filming for The Hobbit  scheduled to begin sometime in the middle of 2010. Tom, drop us a line and keep us posted...

Let's take a look at what we know about those ace remasters, shall we?

By Fred Mills

Beatles completists have begun to queue in anticipation of tomorrow's (Dec. 8) release of the remastered Beatles back catalog in digital format, as an Apple-shaped USB device, although there's a good chance that if you didn't preorder it you're out of luck for now: the limited edition (30,000 units worldwide) is currently showing as being on back order at most online retailers, such as Amazon, which indicates customers can "sign up to be notified" when it becomes available.

So we thought this was a good opportunity to revisit those remasters via Blurt editor A.D. Amorosi's September overview, which is republished below. Happy holiday shopping!

Meanwhile, it was reported late last week that a small, maverick minded website called BlueBeat.com has been selling Beatles MP3s despite the fact that Apple has not licensed individual tracks for sale on iTunes, Amazon or other digital music portals. As a result, EMI has filed for copyright infringement against BlueBeat's partent company, Media Rights Technologies. Read the background story here.

**

THE BEATLES REMASTERS

BY A.D. AMOROSI

The Beatles thing is a lot to get through if you let it; the televised network interviews you knew would come (who knew Mary Hart was so close to them in the day?); the utter creepiness of the The Beatles: Rock Band video game (what happened to Ringo's nose?) and its ad campaign (a digitally enhanced furriness added to Lennon's beard that you'd never expect); the rush of good feelings warranted and unwarranted.

There's the technology of engineers at EMI's Abbey Road Studios sitting down for four years with vintage studio equipment, 24 bit 192 kHz resolution via a Prism A-D converters and the ideas behind what would stay (bum notes, microphone vocal pops) and what would be cleaned up (bad edits) so to keep the original dynamics of the original analog recordings.  

After that though, the 12 Beatles albums in stereo, the Magical Mystery Tour LP and the Past Masters Vol. I and II combined as one title (along with each CD's enhanced content (save on Past Masters) featuring documentaries, photos and related album art; all compiled onto a single DVD if you purchase the stereo box), is what I sat down with.

Before that, though, is where the process starts- remembering as much of the music as you could before THE BOX.

The crackle and pop of vinyl albums and singles, the din of lousily mastered first pressing CDs: I checked these things for myself. At that point in the listening (months ago, when THE BOX became, finally, THE REALITY) is where the joy started: this is how we know these songs for however long we've been here. And radio - don't forget AM (if you're over 30) and FM. And television. It keeps going. It does. You can't avoid that you know "Norwegian Wood," "Every Little Thing," or "Helter Skelter" beyond the past week or so.

These songs were the personal soundtrack to sex, violence, laughs and so many more occurrences, you'd had to have felt them a first time (or hundred) to feel them anew now.

That said, there's not one aspect - save for the real time memories connected with the originals - of hearing every new track from every new CD from the heavy kinda-Velcro-ed BOX that isn't a more dubious, depth defying sonic experience.

From Please Please Me, not only does Lennon's infamous first-take-last take on "Twist and Shout" reveal every polyp scratching breath; the entirety of the production now feels as urgent and teen-incendiary as it was in 1963 (not that I'd know), from the kick of "I Saw Her Standing There" to the bossa's bounce of "P.S. I Love You." The same can be said of the covers-laden With The Beatles for sure, but the punch-and-rush away of a re-mastered "I Wanna Be Your Man" and it descending chords' crunch can't be overstated.

A Hard Day's Night, truly my first fave of the Fab Four, pulled me in in a fashion I can't quite comprehend. "I Should Have Known Better"'s newly heard Lennon seems more pulsating than the past, his voice more yearning for me to get to him.  Meanwhile, the folk-ish "I'll Cry Instead" portrays a rougher past (musically, personally) than Merseybeat might have and the heavy blues in McCartney's voice on "Can't Buy Me Love" isn't so far away anymore; not something you knew would happen because you have the later albums in hands.

The transition and sophistication of songwriting, singing and playing - to say nothing of arranging - can be more richly realized in re-hearing Help and Rubber Soul. Though the previous effort pops while Paul does "The Night Before" and "Another Girl," - a deepness in his voice that rumbles more at present - the latter CD reveals the leaping harmonies of "You Won't See Me," the rhythmic heft of "Drive My Car" and Harrison's Byrds-ian jangle for if "If I Needed Someone" finally to its fullest effect. "Taxman" sounds greasier and more galling. Starr's sticks on "Good Day Sunshine" seem to tap dance. There's a riff-and-rhythm roughness to "I Want To Tell You" only vaguely hinted at on the original. The brass on "Got to Get You into My Life" has balls and "Tomorrow Never Knows" is as succulent a stoner symphony as you knew it could be.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour?

You can sense the Mellotron-tracked whistle and innovation that went into "Strawberry Fields Forever" - the jazz of its drumming, the lope of its bass. It's sexier than I remember it. So is the ballad-that-bloops "The Fool on the Hill." Though its carnival environ comes first, this hilly goofball has needs and a plaintive Paul's yearning ache comes across greater with this master. Even the nasty "I Am The Walrus" sounds more kitten-ish than nasty now.

Is THE BOX getting me horny after this many hours listening?

Sgt. Pepper, for all its magic, always sounded as if had thudded on CD; flat-lined in its hope for the grandeur. Yet, from the slap of its title song to the bludgeoning slam and echoing hollow of "A Day in the Life" and all the sinewy orchestration in between: I could write as much as I have already on the innovation of this remaster. Leave it at this: Sgt. Pepper sounds fresh, new, now. If Justin Timberlake or MGMT or King of Leon or Maxwell or Calvin Harris did these songs it wouldn't sound newer.

The Beatles - or rather The White Album - was my true test. Would one of my five favorite rock albums of all time prove better than the vinyl version (the CDs are trebly, terrible and thin, so...)? The answer is yes. But not as effortlessly as Sgt. Pepper. Every voice sounds realer here - the high squeaking Lennon on "Dear Prudence" and his more ruminatively insular "Julia"; the playful yodel-y Paul of "I Will" and his screechy deep "Back in the U.S.S.R"; the glistening nasal Harrison of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." This master shows and sounds off the Beatles' solo vocal prowess like nothing else. No wonder these guys went off on their own. They could make a goldmine.

The same can be heard within the silken degrees of Abbey Road and the more natural parts of Let It Be. The shunt-dun-din-delin-din of "Come Together"'s guitar is the glue that binds its bass line to the voice. You may think the Lennon-McCartney vocal teaming is great. But it's here that you feel the harmony, get what being a band is all about without having to see it in a video game. "Here Comes The Sun" is fresh and airy, as is the rush of harmonies of "You Never Give Me Your Money." Let It Be? Paul's hopeful haunted vocals throughout and his interplay with the piano is rich and effortless. This is the blues I mentioned earlier - "I've Got a Feeling" - with a crushing guitar ascension that could've made these guys into Cream before Cream barely got of the ground if they'd bothered. You finally hear the progression from 1963 to 1969. You get why he pushed for this recording even if bringing in Spector (not his idea) made these songs unnecessarily sweeter.

The Past Masters' mish-mash finally, in this realm, sounds connected with the background voices on the dear and playful "Love Me Do" - it's nearly worth buying the entire box for, were these CDs not sold separately. 

Worth every penny just for re-lightening the memory banks.

Worth double for making bright the darkness cast upon the reed-thin original CDs.

Worth triple for anyone who never got what the Beatles meant to their generation and every one that followed.

Exclusive photos from the Cat's Cradle, Carrboro NC, November 30, 2009.

By Blurt Staff

Having read Blurt editor Andy Tennille's in-depth interview with David Rawlings - go here - you'll no doubt be wanting your visual fix as well. Tennille also photographed  the Dave Rawlings Machine last week at the Cat's Cradle, and below we present some of his choice images. Yes, that is the lovely Gillian Welch appearing in several of them. Enjoy!

Hotly tipped indie band to drop new album next March on FatCat.

By Blurt Staff

From the insistent synth buzz that rings throughout album opener, "Things," to the mechanical onslaught that introduces the six-minute centerpiece, "Skip The Youth," Frightened Rabbit's The Winter Of Mixed Drinks, due March 9 on FatCat Records, is the band's exploration into new sonic and thematic terrain. Recorded by Scott Hutchison (vocals/guitar), brother Grant Hutchison (drums), Billy Kennedy (guitar) and Andy Monaghan (guitar/bass/keys), the Scottish lads are now bolstered by fifth member Gordon Skene (formerly of Make Model), who has joined the band to facilitate this new material and flesh out the older tunes live.

The fivesome, who are currently breaking in their new member as they crisscross Scotland on tour, will conclude the year with a hometown headlining show in Glasgow following a handful of dates opening for Modest Mouse in the UK and Ireland. They will return to the U.S. for SXSW in March followed by a headline tour and festival appearances.

The follow-up to their sophomore album, The Midnight Organ Fight, The Winter Of Mixed Drinks comes after nearly two years of incessant touring of both Europe and the States. In April of 2009, frontman Scott Hutchison sought isolation and decamped to the beautiful seaside town of Crail on Scotland's Fife coastline to decompress and write the new record. There, he conjured up lead single, "Swim Until You Can't See Land" which set the course for the theme of the album and inspires the nautical imagery that permeates the album. "'Swim Until You Can't See Land'  takes up where we left off and is central to the new record," reveals Scott.

Produced and mixed once again by Peter Katis at Tarquin Studios in Connecticut, and recorded by Stuart Hamilton at Castlesound Studios in Scotland, The Winter Of Mixed Drinks sees the band transistioning from jangly indie-folk to a more expansive sound. The 11-song collection, filled with stunning string arrangements (courtesy of labelmate Hauschka), majestic keys and glitchy electronics, is a more ambitious and confident album than its predecessor.

"Most importantly, I'm happier with this record," proclaims Scott. "Sonically, it's closer than ever to the way I've always wanted Frightened Rabbit to sound."

Whereas the heartbreaking dissolution of Scott's longstanding relationship was detailed on the previous album, he took a different approach to the song writing for the follow-up. "I guess there's still a main protagonist in there but I feel like I'm telling a story this time, as opposed to exposing my innards to the listener," says Scott. Thoughout the album he ruminates on mortality, celebrates recpatured freedom and explores the idea conveyed in "Swim Until You Can't See Land: "It's all about losing your mind in order to reset the mind and the body - forget what's gone before and wash it out."

Track Listing:

1. Things
2. Swim Until You Can't See Land
3. The Loneliness And The Scream
4. The Wrestle
5. Skip The Youth
6. Nothing Like You
7. Man/Bag of Sand
8. Foot Shooter
9. Not Miserable
10. Living In Colour
11. Yes, I Would

Postal Service effectively brings the hammer down on the producer's annual program to distribute gifs to the needy.

By Fred Mills

The lights of Christmas dimmed just a bit over the last few days as word got out that due to a shift in policy by the US Postal Service regarding kids' letters to Santa, famed Chicago producer (and Shellac frontman) Steve Albini might not be able to distribute gifts to needy children as he's done in the past.

According to a Chicago Tribune report Albini, along with his wife, had in years previous taken clothing, cash and toys around the Chicago area at Christmastime, having tapped funds raised through a charity. The figure cited in the report was "more than $100,000" - that's not just reindeer food. Albini would obtain letters to Santa - not specifically children's, but from families asking for help - from the USPS and determine which families were the neediest.

Albini told a reporter, "There's so much money that it can literally save a family's entire year." He and his wife would personally deliver the items on Christmas day, surprising the recipients "with no strings attached."

What's now happened, however, is that the USPS has changed its policy as regards issues of privacy, meaning that they black out names and addresses on the Santa-bound letters, and although Albini stressed that he had "only used letters written by adults" and not children "looking for computer games or a new scooter," the policy will be enforced despite his protestations.

"Try to imagine how desperate you'd have to be to write a letter to an anonymous Santa asking for help. That's how desperate people are," Albini said. "I hope the post office can be made to see how much damage they're doing and change their policy."

Just the same, the postal service decided to "err on the side of caution" in the wake of a sex offender in Maryland obtaining a letter written to Santa by a young girl last year. Albini subsequently contacted his U.S. Representative Danny Davis but Davis opted to side with the postal officials, saying "Better to be safe than sorry, that what my momma used to tell us. You can't be too protective."

As a result, the Albinis are exploring other options, including working with the local Jane Addams Hull House Association about determining who some of the neediest families are. The JAHHA is reportedly soliciting letters starting today and will work with the Albinis so that they will "have the same experience they used to have with the post office."

Read the entire, disappointing storey here.

(Thanks to Pitchfork and the Daily Swarm for the news tip.)

75 minutes and home in bed before the 11:00 news: Mozzer keeps it short and sweet before and adoring audience November 30 at the Roseland, Portland, OR.

By Tim Hinely

On the video screen before Mozzer's start time the venue played some vintage - and appropriate - video clips: New York Dolls, Lou Reed, Alain Delon. Then the singer and his crew burst onstage at exactly 9 PM.

Morrissey made quite a splash for his first Portland concert in 7 years. He and the band arrived in matching outfits and immediately ripped into the Smiths' first album classic "This Charming Man." It definitely lacked the nuance of the original, a bit more rawk, but still a pleasant surprise nonetheless. (As for other Smiths songs they played "Cemetery Gates,"  "Ask" and "How Soon is Now," the latter of which found the singer ripping his shirt off at the end and running offstage.) The solo material sounded just as good as Morrissey launched into razor-sharp versions of "Ganglord," "If You Don't Like Me, Don't Look at Me," "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris" and the classic "The World is Full of Crashing Bores."  The band was especially tight (although the bass player really didn't need to grimace after every note), with guitarists Jesse Tobias, who has played with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Boz Boorer, Morrissey's longtime sideman, engaging the crowd with tasty licks. Mozzer himself interacted with the sold-out crowd quite a bit, responding to one girl's plea of I love you! with "Oh...it'll pass - trust me," and taking a small gift bag from another female, smiling and appearing to listen to it before looking inside. (Is there a bomb in there?)

The adulation for Morrissey hasn't waned a bit over the years, and in fact has gotten much stronger. This was proven over and over again tonight with the fans' over-the-top reactions to nearly every move he made. The band ended the set with a ripping version of "First of the Gang to Die" (from 2004's You Are the Quarry) and then left the stage a mere 75 minutes after they came on. The entire crowd was hoping, stomping for an encore, but there would be none. Morrissey & Co. came, saw and conquered, leaving us all wanting more.