#devo hardcore

Doctor say you ain't got long to live

Nurse say you ain't got much to give

Don't listen to your doctor

Don't play up to the nurse

Wave goodbye to your doctor

“No comparison!” Devo -Mongoloid

By jason gilmour

This review is from: Q: Are We Not Men (Audio CD)

O.K. I’d like to start off by pointing out that this record was the end result of DEVO’s long and complicated de-evolution from multi-media project to major label “pop” band. The reviewer that wrote something about DEVO ripping off some idiotic Euro-dweebs has no idea that almost all of the songs on this perfect album were being developed since 1974-75. Lookie here spud, DEVO were WAY head of “new wave”, “electro” or whatever pretentious label you wanna give it. Yeah, Kraftwerk were around before DEVO but man, those guys took themselves SO seriously!

DEVO created a kind of glorious primitive futurism that is complex while being darkly funny. DEVO are part freak show, part futurist, part goon and 100% pure godhead. That said, “Are We Not Men” is a blistering manifesto and a great record.

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 Devo -Mongoloid

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“An utter masterpiece” Devo -Mongoloid

By Andrew Suber

This review is from: Q: Are We Not Men (Audio CD)

This is the greatest Devo album and one of the watershed albums of punk and new wave. These songs are perfect examples of using a bland facade and thus concealing a manic tempest underneath. What’s the message? Destroy your parents and resist assimilation at every turn because time has slowed down and reversed. We are doomed to lives infinitely more empty than any others in human history simply because culture has filled every hole in our head with pablum… a process that is pleasurable if you embrace it completely.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of energy in the songs that cover the gamut of neurotic symptoms — the delicious rockabilly nerd-punk of “Come Back Jonee” or the compulsive twitching of “Uncontrollable Urge” (one of my favorite first tracks of all time). Excellent songwriting; Eno let them go and contributed only the smallest touches– the subtle drum treatments and synth on “Mongoloid”, for instance. The guitars are great and energetic: I christened the unique guitar style “jerkabilly”. “Satisfaction” exhibits it most characteristically.

This is a great album in every respect. Concept album doesn’t describe it at all. It is an organic and complete chronicle of the particular idiocy and alienation of our times. Get the “Devo Hardcore” on Rykodisk too– it’s great for comparison.

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