cellophane flowers of yellow and green...

Jim Dedman exasperatedly retorts, regarding Cash's cover of NIN's "Hurt":

"The fact that it may have been a concept album does not, in my opinion, imbue its final track with so much significance and external meaning that it dwarfs any cover thereof. (Sgt. Pepper's was, after all, a concept album, and I'll put Joe Cocker's version of "With A Little Help From My Friends" against Ringo's any day.)"

Sgt. Pepper's may have been a concept album, but not of the kind The Downward Spiral was. The Downward Spiral told a story--a coherent narrative with one central character; Sgt. Pepper merely created a fictitious, alter-ego band. Indeed, this is why Joe Cocker can best the Beatles (and their fictitious band)--there was no continuity of theme, style, or narrative in Sgt. Pepper's. (In fact, the Beatles abandon the "concept" after the first two songs, and the ending.)

The indefatigable Jim goes on to note:

"We know Cash has struggled with life and narcotics, we know he has sinned and paid for it, we know he has broken so many rules and yet somehow survived in order to seek redemption."

Presumably because Cash has "struggled," and used narcotics, and has sinned, and broken a rule or two, his version of "Hurt" should easily trump Reznor's. Here's a news flash: Trent Reznor is no saint. He's an industrial-metal rocker, for crying out loud! Indeed, Reznor was the poster-boy for existential struggle, drug use, sin, and general mayhem when The Downward Spiral was released in 1994. And if Jim wants to see Reznor "seek redemption," then he should give a listen to NIN's follow-up album, The Fragile,which is imbued with a sense of hope and salvation that was explicitly missing in The Downward Spiral.

Amazingly, Jim continues:

"[Cash's rendition] is far more haunting and evocative than the Reznor's version, which is preceded by only thirteen tracks."

That's like saying that the final tragic scene in Hamlet is "preceded by only" four Acts. The suggestion is laughable.