Devo: C or D? S & D etc.

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.

Duty Now is so crazy good. I was surprised how much I liked their new album, and I think it's really fun.

Thanks for uploading that comp, Gerald, I am stoked to hear it.

Surprised there isn't much discussion of the new album here. I thought it was really good, kind of harkens back to Oh, No! It's Devo in a way, but the songwriting is generally better. Some real garbage tracks on there though ("Cameo"...what the hell??), and the production is pretty awful, standard loudness war garbage production that makes the thing hurt your ears if you listen too much. If you just pick and choose your favorite 12 tracks out of the 16 released it gets a lot better. "No Place Like Home" is fookin genius. A friend of mine (also way into Devo) played "Don't Shoot" at a bar and I think a lot of people really enjoyed it. It's not too different from what the group usually does but it's got a very urgent, almost non-musical hook that's very very cool to hear blaring from giant speakers.

listening to GMcB-B's comp (about which, by the way, thanks a million, Gerald). never before noticed how much "i'm a potato" sound like something by the monks. probably because i haven't listened to it in forever. a lot of days, DEVO = the best of men, whether or not they were.

That compilation is just great. The songs from the Oh no era are fantastic, I do like that album a lot but Find Out is just about better than anything on there.

Thinking I might get the new album. Is the 16 track deluxe version actually available on CD? Or do I have to buy the CD and then download the extra tracks? I've seen a couple things saying some of the songs left off should have been included.

recombo tracks like "make me dance" and "time bomb" are fantastic, too. need to track that puppy down.

Thanks GMcB-B! Looks like a great listen.

Other good songs on Shout that aren't Shout:

- Are you Experienced?
- Here to Go

The new album left me very underwhelmed. I don't think I can recall any of the songs off the top of my head. They did a Devo-by-the-numbers album on purpose and I don't think its very surprising that its pretty tepid and unexciting. I'll have to listen to it again to have a more detailed discussion, I'm sure it has some highlights but I can't remember them.

and yeah, "find out" just cleaned my clock

I hate to pee in everybody's cornflakes, but I'm going to delete the link that G McBB posted. I don't have an issue with the downloading itself, I have my own eyepatch and parrot etc, but the download links have to be done away from ilx.

right and proper, just glad to have got in under the bar

DAMN @ mecha-mania boy, find out, modern life, faster & faster, and one dumb thing. oh, no! could have been at least 100% better. :(

I definitely agree with that! "Modern Life" and "Find Out" were two of their best tunes during that era...no idea why they got cut. I'm glad more people are finally hearing those two.

As for Shout: personally I really liked "The 4th Dimension" and "Please Please". Plastic, but very catchy tunes. I don't think the band really took Shout seriously, it really sounds like just something to satisfy the record company rather than the best the guys could do. I think they were all kind of burned out at the time and really just wanted a year off.

Sorry if I violated ILX law - I've posted links before without issue. *shrug* Anyone who didn't get a copy just send me some ILXmail and I'll hook you up.

I'm THRILLED that y'all have seen the light, too! "Find Out", indeed, smokes, as does "Mecha-Mania Boy". What the hell, I'm guessing some label retard did the track selection from 20 tracks submitted or something, or the producer was going for a smooth accessible sound and those were just a bit rough. Anyway, all this stuff is too good to be scattered all over the place, hence my desire to pull it together.

duders .....

fyi 'Recombo DNA' is on sale @ Rhino Handmade this weekend ... 40% off of the $39.99 list .. making it a still expensive but much more palatable $23.99. just ordered mine (along with a copy of one of the Charles Wright 2CD things so I could get the free shipping)

http://www.rhino.com/shop/product/devo-recombo-dna

their website was acting really slow and unresponsive for me though

so I feel like a dummy, but I'm just now getting around to giving Duty Now for the Future a solid listen (it's the only one I don't have on vinyl, so I just never think of it). <3 Strange Pursuit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxAwxCkAT2s

little girl OTM

Speaking of cute kids & Devo, I thought this entry in their tattoo gallery was p adorbs.

Red-Eye may be my favorite Devo song.

Whatever happened to the girl from the Whip It video?

SAN ANTONIO -- She was a successful entrepreneur, entertainer, and mother. That is, until failing health and the failing economy took her on a downward spiral. She's a woman you may have seen before.

Shay Spitz-Ober rocked the role of leading lady in the 1980 music video for Devo's "Whip It." Her husband played trumpet for the artist known as the godfather of Tejano music. She and her family lived in a $300,000 dollar home. But in a heartbeat, they lost almost everything they had.

"I lost my self-esteem," said Shay. "I lost my hair."

Shay was diagnosed with back-to-back bouts of breast cancer. Not long after, her business went under and she found herself and her family homeless.

(story continues at link. has nice outcome)

I'll just leave this here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_M9ZMo5TiU&feature=related

Gotta grab that gusto
Gotta get there first

Long time no sugar...

That Jermaine Jackson & Devo video!

Now, c'mon, you can't do that without a link!

Oh wait, it's upthread!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0ImnOLzVBc&feature=player_embedded

Just for convenience.
It's not the best song but it's crazy that it happened!