Tom, ain’t that right?

MOJO 288 was a terrific issue, with really enjoyable reads on Bowie, Otis, Taj Mahal and the great Evie Sands plus a fascinating interview with Chris Hillman, but am I the only one who now feels overwhelmed and pained by the amount of great artists who are leaving us every month? I don’t think I’m strong enough for it all at the moment. And Tom Petty as I write this! It’s all getting a bit too much. Also, whilst I enjoyed John Harris’ five-star review of The Queen Is Dead in the same issue, can I say, as a huge Smiths fan from the time, that that band never made a truly great LP.

The debut has real production issues, Meat Is Murder is weakened by the title track and a version of Barbarism Begins At Home that was never as strong as the live version, and Strangeways suffers from an incredibly weak second side – but can any LP with Frankly Mister Shankly and Vicar In A Tutu on it truly be considered a “masterpiece”? However, I truly appreciated his decision to talk about the extra tracks and alternate versions in detail as this is what we fans base outré purchases on. We already have an opinion on the album but please tell us what the extra stuff is like. Not all of your reviewers do this. If this sounds like griping, it isn’t. It’s me engaging with a magazine that I have been reading since the late ’90s. As the great Van once said, it’s too late to stop now. Tom Eastwood, via e-mail