CD review: Devils and Dust

I can't even remember the last time I bought a compact disc.  What would lure me back to this archaic technology from the glory of my iPod?

There has been a new development in the area of CDs called dual-discs.  In this format, one side of the disc is the regular CD, just like it has been for the last 15 years.  (Really? CDs are 15 years old? I remember when they first came out.  God, I'm old.)  But on the other side of the dual-disc is a glorious remix of the music in 5.1 DVD-Audio.  The sound is absolutely fantastic.  While I'm still incredibly happy with my iPod for portable audio, I don't know if I can ever put a regular stereo CD into my home entertainment system again.  If you got a good set-up, I absolutely recommend that you pick up a dual-disc and be blown away.

There's just one problem.

The album that I bought to try this thing out was Bruce Springsteen's latest, "Devils and Dust".  To be quite frank, it sucks.  Those who know me know that I'm a huge Springsteen fan.  I've even been known at times to say that he's my favorite musician.  He's definitely in the running, at any rate.  But this album is just so out of character for him.  Don't get me wrong, I'm all for singers trying to branch out artistically.  But the Boss is a Jersey boy, and an album about life in the southwest, cowboys and Mexican immigrants and whatnot, just doesn't ring true.  Also, his voice is so ravaged by years of hard rocking that him singing solo with just an acoustic guitar for most of the album doesn't work.

Hopefully the album will grow on me, but right now I'm having a lot of trouble working up the urge to play it over and over.  At least the audio is fantastic . . .

I'll be picking up a dual disc of the new NIN album sometime this week, so I'll be sure to weigh in on it as well.