Angry Robot's latest review reminds me of the advice given in the booklet of each Pulp CD - "please do not read the lyrics while listening to this album."

Meanwhile, PopMatters tries the old contrariness trick when talking about the remastered The The's Infected and Mind Bomb. "what matters most," the reviewer claims, "is how the music stands the test of time". I dunno. I had to go and grep my CD list to remember if I'd ever got around to buying a copy of Mind Bomb on CD. Looks like I did. I went to the gig they did supporting this album, at Festival Hall. Inexplicably, support was by Gondwanaland (remember the dude with the hook for an arm, who played didgeridoo ? It slotted nicely into the whole "ambient" thing I was also into at the time). My friend Steve came along ostensibly because it was the first time Johnny Marr had come to Australia - I can still remember the Smiths fan (with Morrissey hairdo and the Queen is Dead t-shirt) slowly dancing alone. I also remember when the guy in Second Spin handed me the new The The singles compilation a month or two ago - he said "yeah. great stuff, but I just can't stand The Beat(en) Generation." Actually, I didn't mind that song (as an angsty 16-year old in 1989, it's the kind of thing that appealed to me, I suppose). Armageddon Days (are here again) always made me wince, though I knew his heart was in the right place. The Violence of Truth was better. As for the more relationshippy songs, I think Gravitate to me is still the one that sticks in my head, with the Sinead O'Connor duet coming second.

As far as Infected goes, though, I infinitely prefer the reworking of the title track that turned up on Solitude, called (dis)infected. It's been slowed down a little, and the extra guitars groan around like some kind of swamp thing. With the benefit of some hindsight, Matt Johnson took an already sexual song and pumped in the Viagra. Nevertheless, I'm reluctant to stick my boot into the original album for its supposed "dreary '80s dance-pop leanings". I appreciate its context.