Big Muff

The Bottom Line:

The ironical album: generally considered to be John's worst, leaving out Couldn't Love You More, it was in the charts for seven weeks and reached the top 20.

One gets the impression that Warner had high expectations of John and that the latter seriously tried with this album to score a hit. Something he never managed to do in his entire career. The songs are not bad but only Could've Been Me and Never Let Me Go are still playable today. The album is also very short. John was wounded at the time of recording because he had punctured his lung when jumping over a fence. After this second effort John and Warner split up again.

CD-release in 1997, digitally remastered.
Japanese CD edition June 1998 with two bonus tracks, a US remix of Gun Money and a live version of Hiss On The Tape. Probably because the original album with 37 minutes 15 seconds was rather short. The live version of Hiss On The Tape was recorded live at the Oxford Apollo on Sunday 10 October 1982.
This release also had real Japanese lyrics (on top of the regular ones) and even five pages of Japanese liner notes that were apparently completed 27 June 1998.

4 August 2008 a version by Warner Music (WEA International inc) was released in the Rhino Encore series.