Combining rows in a table(again)

I've seen a number of questions on combining rows, but not one
exactly like this. I have a solution, but I'd like to know
if there are other ways.
I'd like to select and combine rows from a table. Here's a simplified
version of the table:
tab1
key date status
1 1/1/06 stat1
1 1/2/06 stat2
1 1/3/06 stat3
1 1/4/06 stat4
2 1/1/06 stat1
2 1/2/06 stat2

And the desired results:
key date status prevstatus
1 1/1/06 stat1 null
1 1/2/06 stat2 stat1
1 1/3/06 stat3 stat2
1 1/4/06 stat4 stat3
2 1/1/06 stat1 null
2 1/2/06 stat2 stat1

Here's the simplified version of the solution:
select
a.*,b.status prevstatus
from
tab1 a
left join
tab1 b
on a.key = b.key and
b.date =
(select max(date) from tab1 c
where
a.key = c.key and
a.date > c.date
)

Is there a better way?Your resultset doesn't make much sense. Can you explain it?|||Your resultset doesn't make much sense. Can you explain it?It's a "PeopleSoft" join.

No gams, I'm pretty sure that is optimal for the case you've presented.

-PatP|||Yes.
The idea is to get a row and the most recent previous status. The first row in a set will have no previous status.|||It's a "PeopleSoft" join.

No gams, I'm pretty sure that is optimal for the case you've presented.

-PatP
Does that make me a "PeopleSoft" joiner? What is a "PeopleSoft" join?|||The "PeopleSoft join" was a reference for Brett's information. Brett is quite familiar with the glories of PeopleSoft.

PeopleSoft is an ERP package. The PeopleSoft packages use a data representation that often needs to reference the "prior" row based on a presumed sequence.

-PatP