‘Songs for the Deaf’ is the best rock record about eternal recurrence. There is a path with a definite start and a little less definite end, and along the way there’s acres of familiar terrain, signs of rock as it were in the past, as it always is. Loosely, it’s a concept record about driving from Los Angeles to the Joshua Tree with only a radio to entertain you. No tapes, no CDs, aux cables weren’t really a thing then. Bad U-Haul, worn down truck with 150k on it, they don’t say. The radio is meant to guide us through all the different ways *Deaf* rocks us, yet there’s more to it.