Songs for These Times

INFIDELS

"Sometimes Satan Comes as a Man of Peace"

Bob Dylan wasn't in that much favor in the mid 80's, but during this somewhat murky period of his career there are some overlooked gems. On the heels of his much criticized religious period it was the early years of Ronald Reagan (remember him ?) just eight years after Nixon's resignation, the end of the Vietnam war - the beginning of "Trickle Down Economics". Some of the other news of the year 1983 may look unsettlingly current.

President Reagan dubs the Soviet Union the Evil Empire
Israel and Lebanon sign a peace treaty, yet civil war in Lebanon continues
A bomb planted by Shi'ite Muslims destroys the U.S embassy in Beirut (87 people killed)

Dylan, as usual, addresses all the issues head on in a collection that sounds even more relevant today than it did 23 years ago. With lines like -

Who's gonna take away his license to kill // they say patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings // sundown on the union... they don't make nothin' here no more //

While his most famous lines like "Sometimes even the president of the United States must sometimes have to stand naked" still bring applause in concert, they sound like naive idealism in the face of today's reality. Check out this CD if you haven't heard it or listened to it in a while - it'll make you mad or help ease the pain.

Package This !

DIGICRAP !

I HATE Digipak packaged CD's !!!!! I know, I guess, they're supposed to be more environmentally friendly - but dammit I want to preserve what artwork is part of the CD package - and digipak doesn't do that. I end up putting my CD in a Jewel Case anyway or burning a CD copy so I can use the CD without screwing up the package !

Old School ? I don't care - I pay for a CD I want it and the artwork protected !

And Dual Disc format ? What do I do with that ? File it with my DVD's or my CD's or start a new file ? Don't want to use the CD in the normal way and risk damaging the DVD. I just burn a copy of the CD for everyday use and file the original disc with my DVD's. And if they're Digipak - I use another Jewel Case for that as well.

There are certainly more pressing world problems than my views on CD packaging, but I doubt I'll be tortured for expressing my views unless Jewel Cases become part of the next terrorist plot or the Digipak lobby finances the next US president.