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Devo's founder Gerald Casale was 57 years old when he released a strangely nostalgic album under a pseudonym. "There was a time when time was on our side..." he sings, 30 years after the launch of the band Devo. "Now it's too late. That time has passed us by."

Devo's drummer called it "the best Devo record that never was." On the album's liner notes, he points out that the other members of Devo had played on its tracks. But Casale released this new album under the name "Jihad Jerry and the Evildoers." He acknowledged that it might sound like his earlier work and follow the same themes, but he'd billed the 2006 album as his first solo project.

The songs examine "the political and cultural climate of the world today," according to the album's cover. They're attributed to the satirical persona "Jihad Jerry," a rebellious young Iranian who'd somehow become a musician after rejecting his parents' religious beliefs. "I, Jihad Jerry, declare that mine is not a holy war," his liner notes explain. "Rather, it is a war on stupidity, as thankless and futile as the war on drugs."

Jerry appears on the cover wearing dark sunglasses - and a turban. But it's not clear if he's criticizing the reign of the Ayatollah or the woes of America.

"There was a time, a time we must remember.
A time and place before we lost our way.
There was a world, a world more glued together.
Now is the time to get on your knees and pray."

He offers a nod to Devo, when female backup singers ask "Is it because the beginning was the end?" (a line from a 1980 song by Devo). But his lyrics off darker and more cynical explanations.

"Is it because believers took control?
Is it because they're busy counting their gold?
Is it because it's true, the fix is in?"

"Could be," Jerry sings. "Yeah, it could be..."

He mentions the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in the album's second song, "Army Girls Gone Wild" (with references to spring break and MTV's "Total Request Live"). But in writing about current events, Casale has come full circle. The band Devo formed as a reaction to the 1970 shootings of student protesters at Kent State. Casale even knew two of the students personally.

With this album, he's now been writing about the dangers of abused government power for over 35 years.

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