Love bites

"How different, how sad it is editing these words, first written just a few weeks ago; the shock of Pete Shelley's death still there. The pain will linger on but the music - oh, that music - will never die. And it's not being sentimental to say it's never sounded better ... The songs come at you in rapid succession, bathing you in pleasure: Real World, Ever Fallen In Love, Operator's Manual, Nostalgia, pure pop wrapped in pure punk minimalism; then the melody takes a back seat to the frantic thrash of Just Lust (written with band manager Richard Boon) and its memorable retort to Malcolm McLaren: "If passion is a fashion, then emotion is a curse"".

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