Between the not-quite-of-this-world band of nerds known as Devo and the retro party outfit known as the B-52\u2019s, you would think that Warner Bros. Records completely lost their minds when unleashing both acts on an unsuspecting public in the late \u201870s. They put their native states of Ohio and Georgia on the music map, although their success would be limited. Neither group had the intention of being labeled as a novelty act, but because they were so unique, the mainstream American listeners didn\u2019t quite know what to do with them.<\/p>\n
Oh, but I did. Their debuts came with bright yellow sleeves, so you really couldn\u2019t miss \u2018em if you tried. Devo had the unenviable task of being launched first, with a rather twisted, angular guitar-oriented affair with the convoluted title you see listed above. The opening cut \u201cUncontrollable Urge\u201d sets the tone. Midwestern sexual repression explodes in a blast of frenetic drums, guitar and bass. You can almost see the dancing sperm from Woody Allen\u2019s Sleeper<\/i> providing the visual. Double entendres abound throughout this debut album, even including the Stones classic \u201c(I Can\u2019t Get No) Satisfaction\u201d for good measure (which was later used to thrilling effect in Martin Scorsese\u2019s film Casino<\/i>).<\/p>\n
You almost have to feel sorry for these boys. They obviously haven\u2019t had much luck with the ladies, hence their daring with such risqu\u00e9 material. You need not be a genius to know what they are singing about. Maybe by forming a band even they<\/i> would have groupies! Of course, putting a Dapper Dan\/Matt Damon lookalike on the album cover couldn\u2019t hurt\u2026<\/p>\n
The more carnal stuff is set aside for left-turn detours into songs about space junk, mongoloids and even Big Macs. Nothing is safe or sacred from these jokers. It\u2019s the Revenge Of The Nerds<\/i> set to primitive, yet still futuristic music. The high point is the official Devo theme song \u201cJocko Homo,\u201d which builds to an impressive crescendo that sounds even better on a set of headphones or booming out of big speakers on a slam-dance floor.<\/p>\n
While this first record doesn\u2019t have the immediate payoff that subsequent ones like Freedom Of Choice<\/i>, New Traditionalists<\/i> or Oh No, It\u2019s Devo<\/i> do, it does warrant repeat listens to get the full effect of what they were going for. The problem stems from too many tunes sounding alike, thus they all tend to blur together. Had they chosen a different producer than the obscure Roxy Music alum Brian Eno, these songs may have had a longer shelf life and broader appeal (though other critics do point to this as Devo\u2019s greatest achievement). To each his own, but this was NOT where my love of all things Devo started. That occurred with their breakthrough hit single from 1980, \u201cWhip It,\u201d a roller skating favorite of many. It\u2019s their biggest Billboard hit by a long shot, though I wouldn\u2019t ever call Devo one-hit wonders. They deserve a much better fate than that. <\/p>\n
Give this purveyor of the New Wave movement a spin. It just might prove to be irresistible.<\/p>\n
In a world that\u2019s constantly DE-VOLVING, geeks, pinheads and other misfits need your love too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":31902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6355],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-43627","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-devo","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43627"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=43627"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=43627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}