Long years ago he set up his scheme for a five-record-long song cycle, tackling, in order, the Individual, the Family, the State, the Economy, and Religion. With a scheme like this he couldn't revert to personal issues as he matured, the way so many have. He had talked about the Individual already, on his first album. And unlike most performers with overtly political stances, he could not feel he was just retreading the same ground after awhile, since each disc would so radically shift focus.

But really, is what he's talking about five separate issues or five facets of the same problem? The answer is in the first song, Lyin' in a Bed of Fire, on the first album of the cycle, Men Without Women. As he explains on the website,

"I had to start with a song that would not only set up this album but set up all five of the albums to come. Every first song of every album would lay out the main theme of that record, but this one had to lay out the main theme of my life!"

Born Again Savage is the completion of the cycle, the "Religion" CD, replete with titles like "Saint Francis," "Lust for Enlightenment" and "Tongues of Angels" and lyrics like "Prophets once upon a time, their words the law of the land/They used to look so regal in their psychedelic colors/There's no place for them now, in the land of the bland" (from "Face of God").

The music is good, straightforward rock, well-suited to the potent mix of spirituality, sex and politics in the lyrics. Little Steven has been in the business some twenty-five years, and has produced, written songs with, or performed with everyone from Artists United Against Apartheid to the E Street Band (with whom he is now touring). With his connections he pulled together some fine players for the new album÷his own guitars and vocals are backed by Adam Clayton (of U2) on bass and Jason Bonham (John Bonham's son) on drums.

But the full Little Steven experience is not provided in the music, raw and in-your-face as it is. As befits one who professes such regard for psychedelic prophets, www.littlesteven.com is a wildly colored haven for the spirit of protest. If you feel the purpose of the '60s was to change the world, not just to encourage tuning in, turning on and dropping out÷this is the site for you. Here is a man who got fed up with the political, economic and social status quo, and has done enough homework to speak intelligently about what all has gone wrong.

Go and read, absolutely read, all the essays on all the albums. Little Steven wrote them specifically for the site. He reports on an epiphany he had, just before he started his solo career, when a "German wise-ass" accused him of putting missiles in his country. At first he tried to distance himself from his country's foreign policies, but then, he says, "I reluctantly came to the conclusion that I was an American citizen and maybe some responsibilities went with that. So okay I'm putting missiles in this guy's country and I start reading books to see what else I've been doing since World War II." But Little Steven wasn't content with reading damning essays about US foreign policy. Before he wrote his songs, he went out and met those who were affected. His essays÷compelling reading, every one÷talk about crossing from West to East Germany ("It was the first time I ever missed advertising on billboards. There was no color."), negotiating for his life with South African revolutionaries ("The topic of conversation for the first hour was whether or not they should let me live."), and meeting Nicaraguan President Ortega's wife ("After you spend a little time in politics you learn where the power is and try to get to it as quickly as possible. In politics, as in life, the wife is usually a good place to start.")

There is revolution just in the presentation of this material in this format. No journalist, no EmptyV, is acting as middle ground between you and Little Steven. He gets to say exactly what he thinks and you get to listen in.

It's curse and cure on the Internet, both at once all of these sites, that actually say something but to find them you have to know what you're looking for. In a society so used to being spoonfed information turn on the TV and news comes pouring out we need to relearn how to dig for the truth.

The truth may be alarming, but it's worth finding.