Devo: C or D? S & D etc.

For me, Freedom of Choice is just a bit half-assed in the songwriting dept, and the production job has always underwhelmed me - some of the songs (not all) sound pretty flat eg. "Gates of Steel", "Snowball" and "Planet Earth" all sound way better in their live or remixed versions. Also it was the first time their packaging and conceptual elements stopped being subversive and surreal. Also, in my view it marks the point where they stopped opposing paternalism and joined the machine in terms of Mark Mothersbaugh's "advice" songs which started cropping up more and more, starting with Whip it. That always disappointed me. Contrasted with the previous two albums it really came up short.

Mind you, I'd love to hear a good remaster of this and New Traditionalists.

The Hardcore Devo albums are SOLID, esp. the 2nd one.

This sounds like it could be awesome:

* In 1982, Toni Basil released a cover of "Pity You" on her album Word of Mouth, retitled as "You Gotta Problem." The instrumental track of this version was re-recorded by Devo and the album was engineered by Bob Casale.

Melvins covered Mr DNA last time I saw them. Melvins + Devo = OMG

― Jamie_ATP, Sunday, January 10, 2010 6:01 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i saw that at ATP :D

Re Toni Basil - it's okay. She did a few Devo songs including Be Stiff and I forget the others. They are all okay. There's youtube vids out there. If memory serves she shows up in The Men Who Make The Music somewhere.

Or at least she gets a credit and my friends and I would argue about where she was. I think she's in the video for Come Back Jonee somewhere.

I have that Toni Basil album! Most of the album's not great apart from Mickey but the Devo song is cool.

I just watched it on Youtube – the vid has kind of a Devo vibe to it.

Ha her "Be Stiff" video has the same orange-haired guy who seizure-dances in the Devo videos.

Spaz Attack. LOL.

"I come up the river to kill many people. I come up the river with my laser gun."

I just recalled there's another Toni Basil/Devo collab (with vocals from both) on the Recombo DNA disc I mentioned upthread. It's pretty crap. It's one of those clanky, banging mid-tempo things and her vocals are horrible, with MM doing his "Peekaboo" voice in the background.

Fans of Oh No It's Devo could hunt down the soundboard recording of the Boston gig on that tour. First 2/3rds is all Oh No/FoC/New Trad stuff, including stuff that they probably never performed again, like Patterns, Speed Racer, Out of Sync and Deep Sleep. Then they close the show with Joko Homo/Uncontrolable Urge/Smart Patrol/Gut Feeling/Come Back Jonee. This must've been an incredible tour to see.

I'm a huge fan of the first 4 albums and have always been lukewarm about "Oh No" and downright hated "Shout". "Peekaboo" grates, too.

I'd love to hear that stuff live, though, so if there's a link to the above mentioned Boston gig, please post it!

This looks like it although it's slightly incomplete. Missing the 8 min version of Beautiful World and Come Back Jonee. The version of Girl You Want is amazing on this - it sounds totally different.

In my opinion there are two, radically different Devos: 1974-1979 version and 1980-1982 version (post-82 who gives a shit?). In terms of music, philosophy, songwriting, image and so on they are quite different. A huge bulk of the first version (my favourite) only exists in live or demo form. So I listen to demos, live stuff, and Hardcore archival stuff for my Devo fix these days, having long ago exhausted the albums. Fortunately there is huge amounts of of stuff out there, with some kind of approval of the band. The Hardcore discs are just the tip of the iceberg. Here's an unbelievable resource.

Thank you for those links!

I agree that there's a big dip in quality between Oh No.. and Shout. But the Shout is like a cliff over an abyss when you hear Total Devo and Smoothnoodlemaps.

Plus that cover version of "Are You Experienced?" is worth the price of admission IMO.

some of the songs (not all) sound pretty flat eg. "Gates of Steel"

It's well worth tracking down the "Now It Can Be Told" live album from 1998. "Gates Of Steel" on that is awesomely atomic-powered.

I've always had a soft spot for "Now It Can Be Told", though I know hardcore Devo fans abhor it.

I am totally onboard with Shout being okay and the last two being poor. There's a couple of good ones on Smoothnoodlemaps though - Devo Has Feelings Too is pretty cool. I also like Now It Can Be Told. That was pretty much the set they played the only time I saw then live which was round about the same time. Greatest hits tours can be really fun.

Wow I forgot about Now it can be Told and wonder what happened to my copy. 3 sides with an etching if I recall...

I've always had a soft spot for "Now It Can Be Told", though I know hardcore Devo fans abhor it.

they do ? i think its great, really great. the build up from acoustic opening to the full on band gets me every time.

Thank you, ILX, for making me put on "Oh No" for the first time in a long while. It's almost shockingly great. And "I Desire" practically sounds like something from Hardcore Devo.

two, radically different Devos: 1974-1979 version and 1980-1982 version

There's a dvd floating around the web of those two mid-summer 1977 Max's shows (referenced in that link) that made me really want to go beyond the lps and find some stuff from that first period. This amazing clip of "Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA" is from that dvd:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNxURxqIv80

I know where I got the impression fans didn't like "Now It Can Be Told": the crushing review on Allmusic. I should know better than to take that to heart. I, too, will pull out "Oh No" from the sell pile for one last listen today.

oh fer fuck's sake dude, allmusic is full of shit. also full of otm, but unless you know the dude that's writing (ned raggett, thom jurek being two i generally trust if not always agree with) you can't base your decisions on what to hear purely on what they say

sweet vid

oh no, "Oh No!" is great and my fave of the 80s albums, definitely pick it up for a dollar or two if for 'Speed Racer' and 'Peek-a-Boo' if nothing else. I remember reading in The Stark Fist that it's like a Subgenius concept album. 'He's got a picture in his pocket of the Lucky One'. time out for fun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9x6Jm3ski8

Xpost. "Big Mess" is not about the Subgenius. The lyrics were taken from letters written to an LA gameshow host by a nutty fan.

I'm so glad this is back on youtube. Neil Young in his Never Mind The Bollocks shirt, Booji Boy on vocals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9sktCm8qJs

Then there's this - Jermaine Jackson with Jerry and Mark on Omnichords.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0ImnOLzVBc&feature=related

"Big Mess" gets me hyped up like a kid on Christmas Eve. Seeing that letter is awesome. It reminds me of that Max Headroom pirate broadcast but innocent & cute.

^^^that pirate broadcast thing always reminded me of Devo. The cheap masks are one obvious reason, the other I just realized: it sounds like "Chango" from Hardcore 2.

Holy Cow at that pirate broadcast thing. I wish people did stuff like that all the time.

There's a dvd floating around the web of those two mid-summer 1977 Max's shows (referenced in that link) that made me really want to go beyond the lps and find some stuff from that first period.

I once read about a bootleg of a 1976 San Francisco performance that was supposed to be up there with the best. Never been able to track it down.

^^thanks for the archive link, everything. looks like the SF gig is more likely '77...

This (from an interview with Jerry Casale) is from a couple months ago but it's got me optimistic (especially because I have enjoyed the recent songs they've done). Bring on the new LP!

What can you share about Devo’s forthcoming LP, Fresh?

We’re picking up where we left off. We re-listened to all of our stuff and thought about all of the things we liked best about what we did. We know that we can’t suddenly become someone else. We can only be Devo. And we want to be the best Devo that we can be! We wrote from that point of view. We took it back down to basic core things. We think it’s the best record that we’ve ever done although we’re not certain that Fresh will be the title. There are more good songs on this album than any other record that we’ve made. We’re aiming for a spring release.

Devo's secret ingredient: Alan the drummer. Everything without him on it is irrelevant.

I once read about a bootleg of a 1976 San Francisco performance that was supposed to be up there with the best. Never been able to track it down

This is likely the Mabuhay Gardens show which is probably their most circulated live show. I believe this went around on vinyl and tape before even Q: Are We Not Men was released and has been going around ever since under various titles. A buddy of mine has a 70s vinyl edition and I've got a CD from the 90s on a bootleg label called Ranier. I know that in the UK at least there was huge excitement about Devo building through late 1977 and 1978 which was partly spread by a couple of tapes circulating and my guess is that this was one of them.

Here. Someone blogged one of the vinyl versions. There's a great version of the unrecorded song The Words Get Stuck In My Throat on this.

"Devo's secret ingredient: Alan the drummer. Everything without him on it is irrelevant."

This person has not seen Devo live with Josh Freese drumming.

Though of course I agree that Alan was amazing.

I sooo love that Jermaine/Devo song! Haven't pulled out the 45 for far too long.

i just remembered, i have a new remix that devo did of the track pop music by M.
its on a cheapie remix comp that been released recently.
apart from the original, its the best thing on the comp.

M remix by 2009/10 Devo or by 1979 Devo? If the latter exists, I need to hear it! If not, uh, quite like to hear it I guess.

remix by 2009 Devo (off to dig in the archives for the cd .. )

whoa

Devo playing at Kent State in 1973!

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2010/02/devo-private-secretary-video.html

there is also a great Rockpalast pro-shot DVD around (it was on D!m3 for a while) from 1978 that I recommend searching.

Hey, so I recently checked out the "Pioneers Who Got Scalped" compilation. The oddities are great - I love the General Boy spoken word stuff, and it does have the 4 good tracks from "Oh No" and "Shout", but the rest of disc 2 is, frankly, awful! I was inspired to put together my own compilation of b-sides and outtakes from a variety of sources. I found stuff like "Find Out" and "Part Of You" which are better than almost all of "Oh No" and some cool bits from "Recombo DNA". Here's my tracklisting:

I'm A Potato (from Hardcore Vol. 1)
Mongoloid (single version)
Jocko Homo (single version)
We're All Devo! (from Pioneers)
Mechanical Man (from Greatest Misses - an early demo)
Be Stiff (non-lp single)
Duty Now For The Future! [General Boy] (from Pioneers)
General Boy Visits Apocolypse Now [General Boy] (from Pioneers)
It Takes A Worried Man (from Pioneers)
Turn Around (b-side)
Make Me Dance (Recombo)
Time Bomb (Recombo)
Nu-Tra Speaks (from Pioneers)
Mecha-Mania Boy (non-lp single) - this is *great*!
Peek-A-Boo! (Dance Velocity)
That's Good
Big Mess (these are the 3 tracks from "Oh No" I like)
Find Out (b-side)
Part Of You (outtake that came out on the Infinite Zero version of "Oh No")
Modern Life (Recombo)
Faster And Faster (Recombo)
One Dumb Thing (from Pioneers)
Love Is Stronger Than Dirt (Recombo)
Shout (the only good song on "Shout")

Note there are other non-lp tracks that I have on my import version of "Q: Are We Not Men". I played this last night and was VERY happy! It's so good I had to share it with you all. Bask in the devolved love: (link deleted)

This commercial has been running all the time in NE Ohio lately:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBx9xOBNElg

Been listening to Duty Now a lot. I will have to check out your comp, Gerald. Thanks!

Just downloaded that Compilation, thanks for putting that up Gerald.

Over the summer Devo went from being a band I quite liked to being a band a completely love. Duty Now For the Future is my favourite album. Still haven't bought the latest album though.