10 Great Comebacks

Some artists go under the radar for years after being dumped by a fickle record label or are victims of current trends. Some of the artists listed below also had their own personal battles to deal with, but came out at the other end with these killer comeback albums. Craig Stephen presents ten of the finest comebacks …

Tina Turner - Private Dancer (1984)

How low did she go?

After the breakdown of Ike and Tina - both the act and the marriage - Turner became something of a nostalgia act, playing in small venues and Vegas-style cabaret shows to pay off her debts. She’d released two solo albums under her own name since leaving Ike and that last one was in 1979. Love Explosion was a disco-tinged funk album which was not even released in the United States. There followed five years of dead air.

What happened next?

Turner was in her 40s but in an era of Madonna copyists and other young female artists, a major record label took a chance on her. The end result was Private Dancer. It was a team effort with eight producers including Martyn Ware of Heaven 17 credited, and Mark Knopfler and Jeff Beck also on board. There are several covers but Turner’s vocal talents stand out and several singles from it became mega worldwide hits. Commercial radio continues to pound their listeners with ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’ to this day.

Morrissey - You Are The Quarry (2004)

How bad was his shit?

Dropped by his record label following 1997′s dismal Maladjusted, Morrissey retreated to the Hollywood Hills, where he would become a bit of a recluse. His devoted fans sat twiddling their thumbs but no one else seemed to be bothered if Morrissey released another record.

What happened?

In 2002 Morrissey went on a world tour parading new songs and a year later signed with Sanctuary. A single, ‘Irish Blood, English Heart’, heralded a beefier sound and the album was along the same lines. Sales of You Are The Quarry on both sides of the Atlantic were excellent and critics generally gave it a thumbs up. The missing years had been dispensed with; Morrissey was a rock star again.

Johnny Cash - American Recordings (1993)

Where are we at?

Like many stars of the 60s and 70s, such as Dylan, Johnny Cash was rejected and neglected in the 1980s. Columbia dropped him and his next label, Mercury, didn’t care much. Health problems, drug issues … yep those too.

Yeah … so?

Cash was offered a deal by producer and American Recordings head Rick Rubin. His label specialised in rap and metal so this was a bizarre sideways move. The recordings were just Cash and a guitar but the critics loved it. The NME said it was "uplifting and life affirming because the message is taught through adversity, ill luck and fighting for survival". In the end of year best album reviews, American Recordings was up there with the best pop, rock, rap and metal albums around, including being rated No.4 in the British monthly Mojo’s annual round-up.

 Elvis Presley - The Comeback Special (1968)

Down the toilet?

By mid-1968, Presley was at a personal and professional low point. He had gained weight, his musical career had been taken over by a series of mediocre movies, and pop music had changed with all the ‘super’ bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Doors. He had been left behind.

What did he do next?

Collaborating with NBC Television, and sidelining his conservative and controlling manager, Colonel Tom Parker, The King appeared on his own show, Singer Presents …. Elvis, but more commonly known as The ’68 Comeback Special. It was a one-hour concert that aired in early December. This was the old Elvis, the leather-jacket wearing rocker and he played hits and new songs. The watching public loved it and the following year Presley released singles such as ‘In The Ghetto’ and ‘Suspicious Minds’ and he was back as pop star rather than a bad actor. 

David Bowie - Black Tie/White Noise (1993)

The lowdown:

Bowie’s solo career had slipped with the disappointing Never Let Me Down in 1987. His next move was surprising: a four-piece called Tin Machine was his attempt at being part of a band again. The self-titled debut was reasonably well received but Tin Machine II is generally considered a poor cousin and received some rather abrasive reviews. The band split due to personal issues.

The comeback:

Bowie’s first solo album in six years was presaged by the brilliant single ‘Jump They Say’ about the tragic life of his brother Terry. Bowie was in Los Angeles at the time of the 1992 riots and Black Tie/White Noise is about that and a plea for racial unity. It isn’t one of his best post-80s albums but it kick started a more productive period.

The House of Love - Days Run Away (2005)

Where were they at?

When guitarist Terry Bickers famously spat the dummy mid-tour in 1989, the band was left without its talisman. By 1993 the band had run itself into the ground and Audience With The Mind, was by far the poorest of the four albums they recorded to that point. They split soon after and didn’t lay a glove on the world for more than a decade.

What happened next?

The troubles of the past seemingly resolved and with Bickers back in the gang, the House of Love got its groove back with the result being this excellent collection. The Guardian was happy with the result. “Their sound is back to its subtle best, all Velvet Underground rhythms and guitars swooping over gentle melodies.”

Dexy’s - One Day I’m Going to Soar (2012)

Dexy’s Midnight Runners’ main man Kevin Rowland was suffering from financial problems, drug addiction and depression following the dismal reception to his first solo album The Wanderer in 1988. Over the next few years he was in and out of rehab and signing on the dole.

What happened next?

There was a band reformation in 2003 but little activity until 2012 and the release of One Day I’m Going to Soar. They were now called simply Dexys and featured old hands like Pete Williams, Mick Talbot, Big Jim Paterson and a new, female vocalist, Madeleine Hyland. Mojo wrote of the album: “Intense, painfully frank, hysterically funny, and in the end, exultant... ODIGTS isn't always an easy listen, but it does offer a fearless experience that invests pop with more theatricality than the form can usually tolerate.”

 Wanda Jackson - The Party Ain’t Over (2011)

Jackson was the Queen of Rockabilly, a massive star in the 1950s and early 60s. But once rock’n’roll became passe so did all those great stars, and Jackson then recorded country, blues and gospel albums. She had never retired and her most recent prior record was in 2006. But as numerous as they were, those albums couldn’t release her from the tag of the former Queen of Rockabilly.

What happened next?

White Stripes’ Jack White offered to produce … and who says no to him? White looked to reconnect the 73-year-old Jackson with her teenage style, resulting in frantic horns and White's fuzzed-out guitar. The result was the surprise return of rockabilly in the 2000s with an album that stood on its own.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono - Double Fantasy (1980)

Please explain:

In early 1975 Lennon released an almost forgotten collection of 1950s and 60s standards, and followed it later that year with a compilation, Shaved Fish, which sold moderately. Lennon spent the next few years as a house-husband.

What happened next?

In 1980, Lennon was inspired by the 2-Tone and new wave scenes that spawned the likes of Madness, The Pretenders and the B-52s. The album he and Yoko Ono made, Double Fantasy, was the ideal comeback, a fresh start for a couple ready to greet the world again. Alas, it turned out to a sad farewell as three weeks after its emphatic release, Lennon was killed by a lone gunman.

AC/DC - Back In Black (1980)

Which ditch were the band in?

Scots-born singer Bon Scott died of acute alcohol poisoning in early 1980. The end seemed nigh for the band with the remaining members considering closing this chapter. Instead, they roped in Brian Johnson, ex of British rock band Geordie. 

And then?

Back In Black was recorded over seven weeks in the Bahamas and released in July 1980. It had the signature guitars and hard rock of AC/DC. The album's all-black cover was designed as a "sign of mourning" for Scott. It sold 50 million copies worldwide and is regarded as one of the best heavy metal albums of all time.

Classic Album Review: Wings - Wingspan (2001)

I’m breaking some rules by listing yet another compilation as a classic album, but you know – my blog, my rules, no rules, guilty pleasures, etc. 

Sir Paul McCartney has worn many hats over the years. Beatle, Wings commander-in-chief, and prolific solo artist, just for starters. For many he was the outstanding “composer” of the 20th century, and alongside John Lennon, Macca was one half of the most commercially successful songwriting duo of the Rock n Roll era. 

Even today, in 2021, he continues to attract all manner of critical praise for his work on the late 2020 album, McCartney III. I haven’t visited that release as yet, and to be perfectly honest I probably won’t. But I do want to share some love for McCartney and offer some thoughts on one of the very best compilation sets in my entire music collection.

Just as the album title suggests, Wingspan offers a comprehensive overview of McCartney’s post-Beatles career from 1970 through to the turn of the millennium, featuring 40-odd* tracks spread over two discs. So much so, it actually goes a little beyond the music of Wings and includes material from a few of McCartney’s solo efforts. 

(*As I understand it, there’s a slight difference between the UK and US versions of the album, and apparently the Japanese edition features a bonus track). 

I’ve always had something of a massive soft spot for the music of Wings. The band was one of the staples of my childhood - always there or thereabouts in the charts, and always on the radio. 

So I was pleased when Wingspan was released in 2001. Offering a 2-album set that included a number of unheralded gems and album cuts beyond the obvious hits. Which was a lovely bonus at a time when I had no other McCartney compilations in my collection and had long considered buying the far less expansive Wings Greatest (1978) just to tick that box. 

The two discs are quite distinct: one contains the band’s biggest hits, the other contains the less obvious stuff and wider coverage of McCartney’s solo work. 

I can’t really add anything about Paul McCartney’s music that hasn’t already been said, but I would dispute the notion - one I’ve seen punted often - that the Wings period of his career was something of a low ebb for McCartney. Yes, there were some patchy or uneven albums, but the same is true of late-career Beatles work, and certainly true when it comes to assessing the “solo” output of the rest of the fab four. 

I just think the music of Wings deserves a lot more love.

Just a few of Wingspan’s highlights: ‘Listen To What The Man Said’, ‘Band On The Run’, ‘Another Day’, ‘My Love’, ‘Silly Love Songs’, ‘Goodnight Tonight’, ‘Mull Of Kintyre’, ‘With A Little Luck’, ‘The Lovely Linda’, ‘Maybe I'm Amazed’, ‘Every Night’, ‘Junk’, and ‘Take It Away’ …

2020: Compilations, Reissues, & Boxes

Timely as ever, I just want to belatedly offer a few more thoughts on some of the releases added to the everythingsgonegreen music vaults across 2020. When it came to compilations, reissues, and box sets, it was a fairly heavyweight line-up.

Starting with perhaps the heaviest of them all, reputation-wise at least. Digging Deep: Subterranea, which offers a barely anticipated but very welcome 30-track Robert Plant solo career overview. One that sees the more obvious “hits” like ‘Big Log’, ‘Ship of Fools’, and ‘In The Mood’ sitting snuggly alongside a whole bunch of far less obvious stuff. And as any Plant fan will tell you, it’s the latter category where the real gems can be found. Digging Deep: Subterranea collects work from all but a couple of Plant’s post-Zepp solo releases across nearly four decades. The only notable absentee being work from the superb Alison Krauss collaborative effort, although Jimmy Page himself would surely argue that particular point. There’s three new (or previously unreleased) tracks to be found, the best of which is the Patty Griffin duet, ‘Too Much Alike’. More than anything, the album highlights what an exceptional career Plant has had. And still has.

In December 2020 the pop world found itself mourning all over again with the realisation that a whole 40 years had (or have) passed since John Lennon was so needlessly gunned down outside his NYC apartment. Naturally, without wishing to get too cynical about it all, a lot of fuss was centred around a new collection of Lennon post-Beatles work in the form of Gimme Some Truth. At 36 tracks in its deluxe form, it’s a balanced mix of his (and Yoko’s) best known material, alongside the not so well-kent stuff. I grabbed it, because I wanted to play the game, I like a bit of John, and of course I needed a long overdue companion set for my 2007 remastered version of Shaved Fish (1975). Apparently.

A far less-hyped late-in-the-year compilation release from a band that rarely put a foot wrong during its pomp of roughly a decade ago, was The Kills’ Little Bastards. Which is everything it promises to be on the tin. Rough, ready, raw and rudimentary rock n roll, across 20 tunes, the vast majority of which are hugely improved from their original form thanks to 2020 remastering. Highly recommended, and all that.

Speaking of rough and rudimentary, the long lost and I guess, very overdue, obligatory White Stripes Greatest Hits set was sitting in my collection before I even knew I needed it. Which I very much didn’t. I’m a Jack White fan, I don’t mind owning that … what else can I say? I’m also a bit of a Meg fan, if I’m being completely vulnerable and honest about everything. You’ll know all of these so-called greatest hits, or more shamefully, you might be someone who knows only ‘Seven Nation Army’. If you’re the latter, don’t sleep on this one, the White Stripes’ Greatest Hits album is here for you, not me.

Which brings me to a couple of compilations that aren’t really compilations because they appeal as being a little more niche or specific than that broad brush stroke might allow. New forms of old work:

Foals Collected Reworks Volumes 1, 2, & 3. More than four hours’ worth of the Oxford band’s finest moments reconfigured for what appears to be a rather large heavily lit dancefloor. Although it’s nowhere near as dubious as that may sound. Volume 1 is actually rather good, with serious producer-types, the likes of Hot Chip, Alex Metric, Purple Disco Machine, and Solomun, for starters, going mental on a career-spanning collection of Foals’ best stuff. In fact, Solomun’s edit of ‘Late Night’ is the stand-out track across the entire three volumes, which can all be picked up separately - as opposed to the full set I managed to snare. It is however a three volume set that falls slight victim to the law of diminishing returns. I felt a little jaded by the end. Volume 1 is probably quite enough techno-fried Foals, thank you very much, despite the best efforts of Jono Ma Jagwar Ma, Lindstrom, Mount Kimbie, and Trophy Wife on the second and third instalments. File this one away under: good to have, but not essential.

A little more essential for me, and another release that was both new material and yet not quite new material, was another intriguing instalment in David Bowie’s Changes series. This one - ChangesNowBowie - being specific to a radio special the great man recorded back in 1996. Featuring tunes like ‘The Man Who Sold The World’, ‘Aladdin Sane’, and Tin Machine’s ‘Shopping For Girls’. How much Bowie is too much Bowie? … wash your mouth out with soap. Reviewed here.

Reissues and deluxe sets: yet more heavyweight carry-on.

I’m probably preaching to the converted here, but New Order’s Power Corruption and Lies deluxe reissue, and Joy Division’s 40th anniversary edition of Closer proved irresistible additions, even though I’m sure I already have both albums in their original form somewhere. Maybe even on cassette. The key thing worth noting about each work is the way these albums made a mockery of the age-old “difficult second album” cliché. Of the two, I think the New Order release was the best value for money, if indeed deluxe releases are ever really value for money, with an Extras disc featuring those pesky non-album singles and previously unreleased versions of many of the album cuts.

Another landmark album celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2020 with a multiple disc deluxe edition, and yet another release I didn’t really need but couldn’t resist, was Ultravox’s Vienna, the highlight of which was the “Rarities” disc featuring early versions (‘Sleepwalk’), soundcheck versions, the single version of ‘Vienna’, the 12-inch version of ‘All Stood Still’, and a bunch of live takes (at St Albans City Hall and The Lyceum) from the year of its release. Some of this stuff is incredible to listen to again, and a timely reminder of just how special Ultravox was during its pomp.

Ditto Depeche Mode, of course, and somewhat by accident, more by crook than hook, I managed to pick up a copy of the Violator 12-inch singles box set. Multiple versions of ‘Personal Jesus’, ‘Enjoy The Silence’, ‘Policy of Truth’, and ‘World In My Eyes’, plus all of the associated b-sides … 29 tracks all up, including a dizzying 15 and a half minute ‘The Quad: Final Mix’ version of ‘Enjoy The Silence’ (phew).

An eight-volume deluxe set of Prince’s Sign of The Times, anyone? Probably unnecessary, but wow … the quality of the material he didn’t release when he was alive is all the testimony needed, if ever needed, for indisputable proof of Prince’s sheer genius. Or his commitment to his art. Or his perfectionist stance on releasing music. I found more than a few hidden gems modestly tucked away amongst the 90-plus (count em) tracks included on this deluxe set of an album I’d always previously (wrongly) regarded as being slightly inferior to Parade. I'm quite sure Parade didn’t have this many quality cast-asides, but that may yet remain to be seen. Just wow.

Last, and probably least, to be fair, a Bandcamp name-your-price I picked up was Pitch Black’s Electronomicon Live, which was essentially a prelude to the first ever vinyl release of the duo’s fantastic second album, Electronomicon, which celebrated its 20th birthday in 2020. As difficult as it might be today to process the fact that the relatively DJ/club-friendly original album had never previously been the beneficiary of a vinyl release, the live version - with tracks sourced from hours and hours of DAT tapes/live recordings from the era - stood up pretty well I thought.

Right, we’re nearly there, albeit weeks after the fact, I’ve got just one more 2020 retrospective blogpost to come, one that looks at the best EPs I picked up during the year.

Classic Album Review: John Lennon - Rock N Roll (1975)

With a new John Lennon solo career retrospective released last week, and fresh consideration being given to his post-Beatles work, I thought I'd publish an album review I wrote years ago for another site ... 

Rock N Roll was John Lennon’s sixth post-Beatles “solo” offering - recorded prior to Walls And Bridges but released after it - and it finds the New York-based fabster returning to his earliest roots and influences with an entire album of covers from an even earlier prehistoric era. The iconic album cover photography, an early Sixties shot of John Lennon loitering in a Hamburg doorway, is probably more widely celebrated than any of the recorded material found on the album itself, but that’s not to suggest Rock N Roll is anything other than a fairly decent collection of songs. Given that it was essentially something of a contractual obligation release for the semi-comatose and soon to be semi-retired Lennon, some of it is surprisingly good.

The album was recorded and co-produced by Phil Spector during the second half of 1973, but due to a series of major legal wrangles and some initial mystery over the whereabouts of the master tapes (!), it wasn’t actually released until early 1975 - subsequently going on to make the top 10 in both the UK and the US album charts. Of course, Lennon was enduring his infamous “lost weekend” period and was separated from Yoko Ono (see the inlay production credit to May Pang … “production coordinator and mother superior”) at the time this work was produced, so we perhaps shouldn’t be too surprised that its release was delayed to the extent that it was. 

From all accounts the recording sessions for Rock N Roll were a fairly debauched alcohol-infused process, with the reputedly bad atmosphere in the studio more than partly attributable to Lennon’s own aggression and prevailing sense of angst (all you needed was love, John). In saying that, the presence of Spector doubtlessly added further fuel to the flames if revelations about Spector’s own work habits have any element of truth to them. Let’s be honest - Lennon and Spector present a pretty explosive combination. In fact, after completing the similarly ordinary Walls And Bridges album in 1974, Lennon would return to the Rock N Roll master tapes (eventually secured off Spector) to touch up the less than impressive (read: drunken) vocals, fix some of Spector’s more obvious technical failings, and according to reports – Lennon even went so far as to record nine new tracks. 

Personally, I find the raw non-manufactured nature of classic Rock in general, and early Rock‘n’Roll specifically, completely contrary to the production excesses of Spector and his ilk, so he probably wouldn’t have been my choice to produce an album like this in the first place, and I’ve always felt it was an oddity that Spector is often associated with Rock’s most primitive era. For me, Lennon needed this album to embrace that stripped back, raw, almost-DIY-like ethic for it to have fulfilled its true potential. It is decent enough, just not all it could have been. What we get is something of a compromise. An in-betweener. Yet another great idea spoiled by flawed execution. It would be Lennon’s penultimate solo album - excepting the excellent compilation Shaved Fish (released later in 1975) - and we’d have to wait another five years for Double Fantasy to emerge following the birth of son Sean. 

My CD version is the Yoko-inspired 2004 reissue containing four bonus tracks, including Spector’s own ‘To Know Her Is To Love Her’, and Arthur Crudup’s ‘My Baby Left Me’. 

Best tracks: ‘Be-Bop-A-Lula’ (some classics are timeless regardless), ‘Stand By Me’ (a top 20 single), a compelling take on the controversial Chuck Berry gem ‘You Can’t Catch Me’ (previously ripped off by The Beatles as ‘Come Together’ and supposedly part of the reason for this album’s very existence), plus an especially fine version of Fats Domino’s ‘Ain’t That A Shame’.

Porky Post … Godless Rock

Jesus Christ's Dad

It’s always struck me as something of an anomaly that the two most observed western religious festivals of the modern age – Christmas and Easter – are dressed up in such fancy threads, we’re in danger of forgetting entirely what each one is supposed to represent. I mean, Christmas has about as much to do with a grey-bearded fat guy in a red suit, and rabid consumerism, as Easter has to do with bunnies and chocolate eggs. It’s just plain weird. Could it be that without the dressing, or the requisite holidays, each festival would prove too much of a hard sell? Whatever the case, it turns out our good friend Porky has been giving religion some thought this week, specifically as it relates to music. He decided to share some of those thoughts with everythingsgonegreen.

Thanks Porky, you’re the bacon to my EGG. Or something …

Music has always contained a highly religious element – it goes back to choral music through the centuries I guess. Gospel was born in American churches, while country and western has upheld good ol’ fashioned Godliness. Rock and pop has had its fair share of religious fervour too, notably Creed and Cliff Richard, and roots reggae music hasn’t been ashamed to show its allegiance and love of Jah, albeit as an assertion of their Rastafarian culture. And on these shores an annual religious musical festival, Parachute, attracted good crowds.

In spite of, or perhaps because of, the above, there’s contrarily been a reasonable amount of music exposing religious activities or outright attacking it.

As you will see this has resulted in some excellently-written lyrics about religion’s less healthy influences. I have kept a distance from anything that could be conceived as purely dismissing religion just for the sake of it (hello death metal), or anything purporting to support Satan. The opposite side of the coin is not always the cleaner side.

My first find was a surprising one, George Gershwin’s ‘It Ain’t Necessarily So’ from his and bro’ Ira’s play Porgy and Bess, which premiered in 1935. In it a drug dealer laments some of what is written in the Bible.

“The things you’re liable/ To read in a bible/ Ain’t necessarily so (repeat).”

It was later covered by gay liberation new romantics Bronski Beat, and Aretha Franklin, and butchered by Cher and Larry Adler.

Also in the 1980s, XTC released ‘Dear God’ as a one-off single. Andy Partridge wonders what it’s all about.

“Dear god, hope you get the letter and…/ I pray you can make it better down here/ I don’t mean a big reduction in the price of beer/ But all the people that you made in your image/ See them starving in the street/ ‘Cause they don’t get enough to eat from God/ I can’t believe in you.”


Bigger than Christ

The Arcade Fire sang “Working for the church/ While your family dies,” on ‘Intervention’, and John Lennon famously wrote “Imagine there’s no Heaven/ It’s easy if you try/ No hell below us/ Above us only sky ….  Nothing to kill or die for/ And no religion too/ Imagine all the people/ Living life in peace.”

That wasn’t Lennon’s sole take on faith and its believers, and his fame and respect meant he could escape the venom often reserved for such critics. Sample lyric: "God is a concept . . . I don't believe in Jesus."

Red Hot Chili Peppers wrote a worthy critique, on ‘Shallow Be Thy Game’ …

“Shallow be thy game/ 2000 years look in the mirror/ You play the game of shame/ And tell your people live in fear/ A rival to the way you see/ The bible let him be/ I’m a threat to your survival/ And your control company.”

And would you God-damn-well-disbelieve it, Stevie Wonder was doubtful about all this deity stuff too: "When you believe in things you don't understand/ Then you suffer / Superstition ain't the way."

Away from the lyrical writing critics, Scottish indie-dance outfit The Shamen once faced down religion with a loaded statement that implied that Christianity was built on deceit and deception.

In 1988, an evangelist bookseller from Southend-on-Sea, in Essex, paid the British Post Office tens of thousands of pounds for a postmark that would be franked onto millions of letters in the run-up to Easter. The postmark featured the words “Jesus Is Alive” in bold capital letters, with a cross.

 

In stepped The Shamen, who called their national tour the Jesus Is A Lie tour. The slogan was a simple but evocative re-working of the postmark, with an inverted cross as part of the promotional material. It was a blatant call-to-arms for those who found the postmark and the ideology of certain elements of religion offensive.

“ … we certainly don’t go along with the hypocrites who peddle this form of organised religion,” said The Shamen’s singer Colin Angus, stoking a stoush with the Jesus Army. Angus branded the cult’s members as “fascist paramilitary Christians” and the Army burned Shamen records in return.

The Jesus Is A Lie tour came on the back of The Shamen’s single ‘Jesus Loves Amerika’, which nailed their distrust of religion quite succinctly …

“These are the men who break the right in righteous/ Such hypocrisy, stupidity is out of sight, yes/ Jesus loves Amerika but I don’t love neither.”

The Shamen went on to sell millions of records, Christianity in Britain has been dwindling in influence and numbers for decades.

Link: Porky on The Shamen vs Religion

Then there is the cuddly act called Christian Death, whose entire raison d’etre would appear to be to stoke controversy. Their 1988 goth-metal album Sex and Drugs and Jesus Christ seemed to be conceived as a deliberate act of provocation.

In a recent interview the band’s frontman Valor Kand explained: “Drugs are the battleground for all of the problems people have. The picture of Jesus taking drugs is a conflict of righteousness. It was quite a symbolic record cover. I wanted to reach a few people and let them explore the inner depths of meaning that has been accumulated for over 1700 years. That doesn't disrespect anyone's religious beliefs whatsoever. It is not meant to insult belief because people need belief. It just drew attention that there is maybe more to this than we have ever allowed ourselves to consider.”

Which seems to contradict my previous statement, but there’s little doubt that Christians would not have taken kindly to a cover of Jesus as a druggie.

Want more Porky? … go here.