DEVO for my Akron U bound baby boy

Like it or not (not), my baby boy BigGrant97 heads off for the University of Akron in the fall, as mentioned
before, Akron being the home of The Rubber City Rebels (see yesterday) and of Devo.... my personal take on Devo is I loved that first album "Are We Not Me? We Are Devo", a collection of herky jerky robot rhythyms and neo-stupid lyrics about de-evolution, which they argued was the current human state at the time.....(hmmmmm. Ever seen "Idiocracy"? Ever hear Donald Trump? maybe .....) ....the whacked cover of "Satisfaction", "Uncontrollable Urge" (done better in a raved-up live version on "Urrgh a Music War), "Shrivel Up", "Space Junk" "Jocko Homo".... LOTSA stuff I like here... I said "Stuff I like" instead of "Good stuff"because at the time, 1980-82 or so, in my circles (both metal AND punk), this was probably the most disliked band in the world.........so, when did I ever care about something like THAT?

OK, Devo were Mark Mothersbaugh on guitar/keyboard/vocals, Bob Mothersbaugh on guitar/vocals, Bob Casale(now deceased) (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Gerald Casale (keyboards, vocals), drummer Jim Mothersbaugh, and drummer Alan Meyers (now deceased).....their unique sound and dorky costumes made them extremely polarizing, although after the first run they kind of ran their course anyway.......I do happen to have a SLEW of their stuff here, they were always great for some odd-ball cover versions (my fave: their stunning "Workin In a Coalmine"), which will turn up on the double disc set at the end here, but before that, check these "proper" Devo releases, see what you recall/love/hate/forget...........all in all the ULTIMATE period piece, and you know I love my period pieces.

First we have the debut, I've already described it above, great album to my ears, so we'll jump to "Duty Now For the Future", a huge drop off from the previous release, despite another cool cover version "Secret Agent Man" from Johnny Rivers, a winner......other than that, stuff like "Blockhead", while alright, seemed to point to an early detour toward suckcity.

Worse yet it is that damn "Freedom of Choice", which proved the Lord God had both a sense of humor and a masochistic streak by allowing that horrid "Whip it" to become a world wide hit......my yet-to-be-first wife was a big fan, and if THAT isn't enough said, I don't know what it......in fairness the title track and "Girl u Want" are decent enough tracks.

"New Traditionalists" is a return to form, two cool singles for my money, "Beautiful World" and "Through Being Cool" are memorable standouts. Next up was "Oh, No, It's Devo"......gonna be honest, I'm sure I've heard it and don't remember a damn note of it, gonna guess typical Devo-fare, what can i say? Pretty much same for "Shout", although it includes an inside out version of Hendrix' "Are You Experienced?" (really, it does.....)

"Total Devo" contains yet another oddball cover ("Don't Be Cruel") in this case, also the ambitious "The Shadow.......perhaps the only underappreciated Devo album. "Smooth Noodle Maps" came out in 1990 and I swear to God I never heard of it until researching this, I grabbed a copy but didn't listen......gimme a full report if you dare. 

Allegedly, there is a "new" album out there, "Something For Everyone"......I found it easily, so I'll include it for the completists, not gonna listen to it though unless someone gives me a good reason.......

The two disc "Hard Core" Devo is too bad ass......lots of demos, early versions of the stuff on "Are We Not Men?", and plenty of them cool cover, notably my fave "Working In a Coal Mine"......don't miss these, please! Other than the eebut, I recommend these more so than anything here.......these volumes really give you a sense of what this band was REALLY about!

Q ARE WE NOT MEN? A WE ARE DEVO-01 Uncontrollable urge/02 (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction/03 Praying Hands/04 Space Junk/05 Mongoloid/06 Jocko Homo/07 Too Much Paranoias/08 Gut Feeling/(Slap Your Mammy)/09 Come back Jonee/10 Sloppy (I Saw My baby Gettin')/11 Shrivel Up

DUTY NOW FOR THE FUTURE-01 Devo Corporate Anthem/02 Clockout/03 Timing X/04 Wiggly World/05 Blockhead/06 Strange Pursuit/07 SIB (Swelling itching Brain)/08 Triumph of the Will/09 The Day My baby Gave Me a Surprize/10 Pink Pussycat/11 Secret Agent Man/12 Smart patrol/ Mr DNA/13 Red Eye

FREEDOM OF CHOICE-01 Girl U Want/02 It's Not Right/03 Whip It/04 Snowball/05 Ton O Luv/06
Freedom of Choice/07 gates of Steel/09 Don't You know/10 That's Pep!/11 Mr. B's ballroom/12 Planet Earth

NEW TRADITIONALISTS-01 Through being Cool/02 Jerkin Back N Forth/03 Pity You/04 Soft Things/05 Going Under/06 Race of Doom/07 Love Without Anger/08 The Super Thing/09 Beautiful World/10 Enough Said

OH NO! ITS DEVO!-01 Time Out For Fun/02 Peek-A-Boo!/03 Out of Sync/04 Explosions/05 That's Good/06 Patterns/07 Big Mess/08 Speed Racer/09 What I Must Do/10 I Desire/11 Deep Sleep

SHOUT-01 Shout/02 The Satisfied Mind/03 Don't Rescure Me/04 The 4th Dimension/05 C'mon/06 Here To Go/07 Jurisdiction of Love/08 Puppet Boy/09 Please Please/10 Are You Experienced

TOTAL DEVO-01 Baby Doll/02 Disco Dancer/03 Some Things
never Change/04 Plain Truth/05 happy Guy/06 Don't Be Cruel/07 The Shadow/08 I'd Cry if You Died/09 Agitated/10 Man Turned Inside Out/11 Sexi Luv/12 Blow Up/13 Some Things Never Change (Cassette Version)

SMOOTH NOODLE MAPS-01 Stuck In a Loop/02 Post Post-Modern Man/03 When We Do it/04 Spin the Wheel/05 Morning Due/06 A Change Is Gonna Come/07 The Big Picture/08 Pink Jazz Trancers/09 Jimmy/10 Devo has Feelings Too/11 Dawghaus

SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY-01 Fresh/02 What We Do/03 Please Baby Please/04 Don't Shoot (I'm a Man)/05 Mind Games/06 Human Rocket/07 Sumthin'/08 Step Up/09 Cameo/10 Later Is Now/11 No Place Like Home/12 March On

HARD CORE DEVO VOLUME 1-01 Mechanical man/02 Auto Modown/03 Space Girl Blues/04 Social Fools/05 Soo Bawlz/06 Satisfaction/07 Jocko Homo/08 Golden Energy/09 Buttered Beauties/10 Midget/11 I'm a Potato/12 Uglatto/13 Stop Look and Listen/14 Ono/15 Mongoloid

HARD CORE DEVO VOLUME 2-01 Booji Boy's Funeral/02 Can U Take It?/03 Bamboo Bimbo/04 A
Plan For U/05 The Rope Song/06 Goo Goo Itch/07 Be Stiff/08 All Of Us/09 Baby Talkin Bitches/10 I need a Chick/11 U Got Me Bugged/12 Chango/13 Fraulein/14 Dogs of Democracy/15 37/16 Bottled Up/17 Working In a Coalmine/18 I Been Refused/19 Fountain of Filth/20 Clockout/21 Let's Go/22 Man From the Past/23 Doghouse Doghouse/24 Hubert House/25 Shimmy Shake

OK, lotta stuff here.........some good, some maybe not so much, but it's here......I have a couple live boots but I can't locate em this second, any that any of you wonderful folks have are of course welcome for submission.........I've put up a lotta shit this weekend, MAYBE more to come tonight, we'll see, but hope ya like it, as always!

DUTY NOW FOR THE FUTURE!