Devo: Freedom of Choice
1980
Warner Bros. Records
Format I Own it on: Vinyl and Compact Disc
Track Listing: 1. Girl U Want 2. It's Not Right 3. Whip It 4. Snowball 5. Ton o' Luv 6. Freedom of Choice 7. Gates of Steel 8. Cold War 9. Don't You Know 10. That's Pep! 11. Mr. B's Ballroom 12. Planet Earth (CD Bonus Tracks: 13. Freedom of Choice Theme Song (Live) 14. Whip It (Live) 15. Girl U Want (Live) 16. Gates of Steel (Live) 17. Be Stiff (Live) 18. Planet Earth (Live))
In a lot of people's eyes, this was the band's defining moment...Where Devo full-on embraces the synthesizers and write "Whip It," the song that would cast an enormous shadow over the rest of their output...
The song was already a success, but when MTV took off in 1981 and started playing the video non-stop that's was it...You really only have to see the video once for the images to get burned in your head...The energy domes, Mark Mothersbaugh whipping that cross-eyed girl's clothes off, those turtle necks rolled over their mouths like that guy from the Bazooka Joe comics...
Despite its humongous success, I've never ever heard anyone toss the "sell-out" label at this record...I think it's because it's hard to argue that this isn't a great album...If some of the band's musical edge is buffed out a bit, the lyrics maintain their sharp critical focus:
"In ancient Rome there was a poem
About a dog who found two bones
He picked at one, He licked the other
He went in circles until he dropped dead...
Freedom of choice is what you got,
Freedom from choice is what you want..."
-Freedom of Choice
You just don't get pop hits with that much thought behind them anymore...
I used to always wonder about that ancient poem Mark refers to...The closest thing that anyone's been able to find is an Aesop's fable about a dog who gets greedy and loses his bone to get another bone...Here, read it yourself...
"A hound dog found a bone and held it tightly in his mouth. He growled and scowled at anyone who attempted to take it away. Off into the woods he went to bury his prize.It doesn't quite match up, but it's got to be what he's referring to...If you know of a better explanation, let me know...It's bugged me for decades...Oh yea, this song had a great video too, but I think it drove home the band's weirdness a little too much for average MTV fans, so it didn't quite make the splash "Whip It" did...Still, you should check it out if you haven't seen it...
When he came to a stream, he trotted over the footbridge and happened to glance into the water. He saw his own reflection. Thinking it was another dog with a bigger bone, he growled and scowled at it. The reflection growled and scowled back.
"I'll get that bone too," thought the greedy dog, and he snapped his sharp teeth at the image in the water.
Alas, his own big bone fell with a splash, out of sight, the moment he opened his mouth to bite!"
For me, the album's best track has to be "Gates of Steel." Man alive, is this song amazing...It's just such grand, Earth-shaking pop...Wide-open guitar strums, cryptic lyrics that span the course of human evolution (and of course, their eventual de-evolution), over the steadiest beat ever recorded...I'm calling this the second greatest Devo song (right after "Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA")...I think the lyrics are what drew me in...The band has spent most of their career outlining the endless failures of mankind, but here they manage to give us poor apes a bit of dignity....
"The beginning was the end of everything now
The ape regards his tail, he's stuck on it
Repeats until' he fails
Half a goon and half a God
A man's not made of steel...Twist away, now twist and shout
The earth it moves too slow
But the earth is all we know
We pay to play the human way
Twist away the gates of steel..."
I don't know...That's beautiful to me...I liked this song so much that my band recorded a cover of it that we haven't released yet, but it came out pretty good...I kinda got stuck on re-creating that fractured-glass opening keyboard figure...Such an iconic sound but I just can't figure out how to reproduce it...Once I figure out that mystery, I'm sure we'll put it out (despite a zillion other band's already releasing covers of the same song over the last few decades)...
Dang, as I listen to this, I'm blown away by all the good stuff here...The riff-heavy new-wave rock of "Girl U Want," "Snowball"'s existential electro-pop, the epic finale "Planet Earth"...It's just a really strong album and a must-have if you're a fan of Devo and/or 80's new wave...A classic if I've ever heard one...
In addition to my vinyl copy, I also have a CD reissue that features the 1981 "Devo-O Live" EP, that was recorded for the King Biscuit Flower Hour (Holy shit, do I remember listening to that late every Sunday night on the radio...Loved that show...)...
It's a beautifully recorded, precisely played live set of "Freedom of Choice" tracks (plus "Be Stiff) and a "new" song called "Freedom of Choice Theme Song" which is an instrumental that ties together a lot of the album's recognizable riffs)...Devo concerts are always very visual (I'd argue that they're just as much a performance art project as a band), so the band's live shows are best experienced on the video format, but this'll do for a quick live Devo fix during a brief car ride...
Here's "Gates of Steel" by Devo...Enjoy....
Devo: Whip It/'Turn Around
1980
Warner Bros. Records
Format I Own it on: Vinyl
Track Listing: 1. Whip It 2. Turn Around
This was a favorite single of mine growing up and recently I was psyched to locate a copy at Eastside Records for $1.99...Sure, everybody knows that "Whip It" is great (and it's a song that I've heard 10 billion times, but magically have never gotten sick of) but this is all about the B-Side "Turn Around"...
"Turn Around" is such a killer song! It seems to fill the gap between "Duty Now For the Future" and "Freedom of Choice." It has their new-fangled synth-pop sound but it's a little more raw and speedier...Zero idea why this was left off the album....I also marvel that it's never included on any of the band's multiple "greatest hits" compilations., especially after Nirvana did their popular cover of it back in the 90's...
I'm telling you, if you run across this single, definitely check it out...Very much a case of me enjoying the B-Side more than the A-Side...Here's "Turnaround" by Devo...
Devo: Live 1980
2005
Target Video/Grata Video/Music Video Distributors
Format I Own it on: Compact Disc and DVD
Track Listing: (CD) 1. Whip It 2. Snowball 3. It's Not Right 4. Girl U Want 5. Planet Earth 6. S.I.B. (Swelling Itching Brain) 7. Secret Agent Man 8. Pink Pussycat 9. Blockhead 10. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction 11. Uncontrollable Urge 12. Mongoloid 13. Be Stiff 14. Gates of Steel 15. Freedom of Choice 16. Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA 17. Gut Feeling/Slap Your Mammy 18. Come Back Jonee
I usually write about how I bought so and so record at Eastside or Zia Records or maybe PDQ, but not this time...I bought this album at...
...WALMART!!!
"Yut...I'm goin' to Walmart and then I might take my scooter through the Chik-fil-a drive thru..."
Anyway, I bought "Live 1980" at Walmart in the late 2000's, and it was totally worth braving the mutant-strewn wastelands of a Tucson Walmart for...If you focus on just the CD section, it might now 100% blow you away...It's definitely not a state-of-the-art hi-fi release...It's very much live with boxy sound and somewhat distant vocals, but you forget about any audio shortcomings as soon as you pop in the DVD portion...Holy shit is this amazing! Sure, they screw up the year Regan took office, and it's not the sparkling, hi-def picture quality some tight-asses might expect, but it's a fine 1980's live recording (think good VHS quality and you're pretty close)..After watching this I have to include Devo in the list of the greatest live acts of all time...Visually striking and the musicianship is top-notch...
Best moments: An absolutely transcendent version of "Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA," that somehow makes me worship the song even more...Check out the old-school crowd, relaxing comfortably in their folding chairs while Bob 1 plays his bizarro guitar right in their faces...There's also the mini-movie of Booji Boy getting disfigured in a factory accident that segues into the ultra-creepy "Tunnel of Life," a song that's never appeared on any of the band's albums, as far as I know...
The bonus performance by Devo's evangelical alter-ego Dove in the special features is a great treat...I'm calling for a Dove reunion!
Yea, I don't think I could recommend this more...I think this actually enhanced my enjoyment of the band, which I didn't think was possible...Do not miss this...You can always find it for dirt-cheap too...I think when I bought it new back in the day it was maybe 10 bucks, so I'm betting that used copies have got to be going for pennies at this point...
Here's the live version of "Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA" from the video...Have a great Friday night, y'all...
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