Before there was Weezer and Tenacious D, before the Aquabats or They Might Be Giants or Thomas Dolby--hell, before there was even "Weird Al", there was a band who encapsulated the guilty pleasures of pure, unadulterated geekdom so confidently, so fearlessly, that the future of music would forever be irrevocably shaped. Definitely moreso than by nerd contemporaries like Rush (goddamned obviously) and, arguably, Elvis Costello. I'm talkin' 'bout Devo, my friend. Devo is more fuckin' punk than actual punks.
And I'll tell you why Devo are punks: their whole schtick revolves around the concept of "de-evolution" - that humanity is actually regressing - that humanity are all sheep. They want to throw it in our ugly faces that mankind is getting stupider by the second. That's pretty punk. However, they wear silly costumes and fill their songs with synthy sci-fi noises and sing in goofy voices, so the outward punkness is undercut to the point where you might not want to admit to people that you listen to Devo. But don't be ashamed! We're all out there and we're proud! Don't wave them off just because of their flamboyant one-hit wonder "Whip It", Devo is honest-to-God a really good band...at least in the beginning. They get really bad as the '80s progresses. Perhaps it was an elaborate meta-commentary of their "humanity is regressing" schtick? Probably not. At least their 2010 comeback album was decent, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
FIRST A LITTLE HISTORY: Before it was even conceptualized as a musical project, the idea of "de-evolution" was illustrated in various collaborated art projects during the late '60s between Gerald Casale and Bob Lewis, who were buddies at Kent State at the time. This idea was even further exemplified, and thus heightened, by the famous Kent State massacre in 1970 (one of the four murder victims was Casale's friend). Mark Mothersbaugh, a fellow Kent State student, caught wind of this project and joined their team. The project culminated into a musical outfit by 1973; the name "Devo" coming straight from the "de-evolution" idea.
So, yeah, the real takeaway here is that Devo comes straight out of podunk Ohio, and there's a certain air of midwest aesthetic positively exuding from them so it shouldn't come to much of a surprise. Between 1973 and 1978, a slow burn of adding members, members quitting, and small potatoes gigs here and there, led to a happenstance of getting discovered by David Bowie and Iggy Pop. They pulled some strings, got them a record contract, and requisitioned Brian Eno to help produce their debut album Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! See what 10 years of hard work will get ya? By the time of their debut, personnel consisted of Gerald Casale and his brother Bob, Mark Mothersbaugh and his brother Bob, and Alan Myers on drums (it is unclear at this time whether or not Myers had a brother named Bob). Bob Lewis likely ended up quitting because the Bob-factor was reaching critical mass.
If all you know about Devo is "Whip It", the guitar-heavy keyboard-light angular post-punk rawness of Are We Not Men?... will come as a bit of a shock. In fact, it's not even too nerdy at all on the surface. This stuff kind of sounds like the Buzzcocks or Wire or some other respectable, pouty-faced, sneering and brooding over-educated British band populating the zeitgeist at the time. Once you delve a little deeper, and not by much, you'll find that Devo has more humor weaving in and out of the crunchy guitar riffs and oddball time signatures than any of those bands combined. Almost annoying so! One of the best hooks in the whole record happens during the chorus of the first track "Uncontrollable Urge": apparently, the beginning lyrics of the third phrase goes "It's got style/It's got class/So strong/I can't let it pass" but you'd never even tell because a loud, dorky voice goes "NYNE NYNE NYNE NYNE NYNE NYNE NYNE NYNE" over the whole thing! It's the touches like these the undermine the artsy and brooding sulkiness of their contemporaries on the other side of the pond, or even the intellectual snobbiness of their New York counterparts like Television or Talking Heads. They capture the sound and maintain that aw-shucks small-town-America sensibility that makes them accessible, and I believe this is why a band like Devo would be so appealing to the conservative geek demographic. All those naysaying reviews online that complain about the lack of warmth in the production and the methodically robotic melodies can suck it, too, because the heart comes through just fine in all of these tracks. The relative lack of synths help here for sure, because they're going to ramp it up in that department for the rest of their career afterward (but you know that already).
My main gripe about Are We Not Men... is that it's another rare instance of Side B being more enjoyable overall than Side A. My opinion, of course. This album shares this trait with Talking Heads' debut Talking Heads: 77, although on a much less severe scale. Talking Heads: 77 is top-heavy with similar sounding tracks whose melodies aren't strong enough to feel incredibly essential, Are We Not Men... is top-heavy with songs that have strong melodies that just lack in sonic diversity. As a result, first-timers may not find much too thrilling about the record until they get to "Gut Feeling / (Slap Your Mammy)", which offers a slow-build krautrock-type experience escalating into a full-on swirling synth jam before the first lyric even drops halfway through. After that, "Come Back Jonee" and especially "Shrivel Up" barely have vestiges of punk rock influence. "Come Back Jonee" sort of sounds like a new wave Jerry Lee Lewis, with phrases of rockabilly guitar peppered throughout. "Shrivel Up", the closer, is a huge unexpected curveball: G. Casale drops the goofy voice affected on the rest of the record's tracks and adopts a quieter, more sinister delivery to match the off-putting, very un-Devo-like anthem of unbridled paranoia that's possibly about PENISES maybe? It's a very good song; kinda has that Oingo Boingo demented carnival vibe that you've assuredly already read about on my blog before, eh? If nothing else, it's a display of Devo's range. It's not all hyperactive, goofy punk parody, although I don't think anything else Devo ever did is as slow and unnerving as "Shrivel Up".
Bringing it back around, there's not a bad song on here. The closest thing to filler, arguably, is "Too Much Paranoias", possibly because it's sandwiched between the great "Jocko Homo" (the nexus of their whole de-evolution philosophy in one compact song; the catchy chorus includes the title of the album) and the great "Gut Feeling". Other than that, you have a handful of enjoyable and unique dance-punk tunes, as well as the most oddball Rolling Stones tribute ever conceived with Devo's re-imagining of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", replete with awkward jerkiness and self-aware Kraftwerkian methodical coldness, Novelty music this all may be to stuffy types who care more about how their musical tastes are perceived by others than actually, you know, enjoying music, but I don't really think I need to go on the defensive any further, right? If there's any one Devo album to check out for your own damn self, this one is it. Your mileage will vary with the rest, honestly, but you might surprise yourself once you realize you've become a hardcore Devo-tee! HA HA! HA! HA!
Final comments: It helps that Devo were doing their thing and honing their sound for such a long time before Are We Not Men... made it out to the world. I strongly believe that this album is the best piece of work they would accomplish. If they didn't pump out a brand new album every year for the next four years and actually took a little more time to refine their work they would have created something that rivaled their debut. That's what I would say if I actually believed it, but taking some extra time didn't work for them AT ALL in practice and their three worst releases are tangible proof (Shout, Total Devo, and Smooth Noodle Maps), so I think my stance about their post-Are We Not Men... career is fairly well-founded. VERY GOOD duly deserved in this case, but they certainly won't get another one on my watch.
VERY GOOD
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