There’s a hidden message in that new Busted album sleeve that no one’s talking about

Busted are back... again, it turns out

This month Busted released a new album. Not McBusted. Real Busted. With Charlie. How long’s it been? Fifteen years? Twenty? It’s been forever. I’m not talking about McBusted here. BUSTED Busted.

It’s actually been three years. I had no idea either, but Busted kinda released a comeback album in 2016. Not kinda – they did. I’ll be honest, I missed it, which was probably the fault of the sleeve as much as it was my limited interest in McBusted. I mean Busted. I’ve just checked into it and on that record the band members were in silhouette and they didn’t even use the famous Busted stamp logo. It could have been a record by anyone, and was quite disrespectful to Charlie’s return.

Finally he’s getting the homecoming he deserves on the sleeve of ‘Half Way There’ – a cryptic title that has led conspiracy theorists and Busted fans alike to believe that Busted have committed to releasing 10 albums in total, with a cavalier disregard for demand.

I think Busted might have just invented the word ‘unsilhouetted’ – that’s how bold this cover is in light of their last. It’s definitely them, isn’t it? I don’t mean that just in terms of how clearly they’ve been photographed with their heads popping through nine glory holes – I mean that Busted energy is totally back. Go and have a Google of “Best of Talking Heads” and look at that sleeve. It’s very similar, but, y’know, VERY Talking Heads. It’s very arch, isn’t it? All their faces seem to sum up what a drag it was being in Talking Heads. The photographer on this Busted shoot would have said, “let’s have some fun with it, lads,” and boy did they run with that (except for the middle shot of Charlie, which must have been taken either at the very beginning of the day, or the very end).

It’s a cover with so much to look at and yet so little, with what I believe to be a not so hidden story…

Charlie (top left): “Busted are back, baby!”