album #42

q: are we not men? a: we are devo! (devo)

This was a pretty cool record but I never really got into it. Devo’s got their interesting style- the forceful guitar, the buzzing synth, strangely distant shouted/sung lyrics. They clearly had an influence on a lot of the music that came since then, a positive influence. But overall I don't quite love their sound. It’s not full enough for my tastes, the melody, the sound, it’s somehow not rich enough. There’s that tinny distance.

There was no song that I can point to and say, “I really loved this and want to listen to it again,” but I’d like most of them if they came up on shuffle. “Uncontrollable Urge” is a classic, the great guitar, the ‘Yeah!’s. The cover of “Satisfaction” was one of my favorites- makes that cool, halting, synthetic sound really work very well, it really inverts the tone of the original perfectly. “Space Junk” probably came closest to fitting the upbeat, melodic sound that I like. “Mongoloid” is pretty good; slow, spacey; strange synth. A nice, eerie sound to this one. “Jocko Homo” is cool, a classic- ‘we are devo,’ the answer traveling in various interesting musical directions. “Gut Feeling” is pretty good, that famous instrumental opening, building a great energy. And “Shrivel Up” was another one of my favorites. Probably comes closest to 'I love this and want to hear it again, a lot' territory. A dark edge to it, a bit menacing, catchy.

It’s tough to say. I think I like the individual songs but the album is not too fun to listen to, that distance gets tiresome. Mixed in a shuffle with other songs, Devo makes for a fun, eccentric change of pace. I like it, don’t love it.