Devo: Live 1980

Elly Roberts reviews

Devo: Live 1980
Distributed by
Wienerworld

    Cover

  • Cat.no: WNRD2355
  • Released: January 2006
  • Format: DVD/CD (dual disc)
  • Rating: 2/10
  • Running time: 75 minutes

Lacklustre DVD of a quirky looking band with even quirkier music: it now looks and sounds very dated.

Eccentric American quintet and new wavesynth-rockers Devo made a huge visual and musical impact in the late ’70s andearly ’80s. Early purveyors of synthesiser music, which later influenced thelikes of Britain’s Gary Numan, Human League, and Soft Cell who took thestyle to classier levels.

Devo had an agenda they wanted to spread aroundthe globe. Self proclaimed ‘art monsters’ and ‘Spudboys’, the quintetbrought strange sounds and strange words to an unsuspecting young audience.Their message was anti-evolution, thus the name Devo(lution) came intobeing.

This shambolically amateurish record caught the band that briefly skirtedwith pop fame in the UK in late ’70s and 1980, with only two songs worthmentioning – Whip It!, and Come Back Jonee, neither of which made the top 20in the UK. Highly acclaimed debut album Q: Are We Not Men? A: No We Are Devopeaked at 12, with their three subsequent offering barely making the top 50.


The DVD, full of fuzzy long-shots and glaring lights, followed by almostdirectionless mixing and wandering camera work only add to the poor package.Musically, they were far inferior to their strongly held beliefs thatdevolution was the only way forward for mankind, based on Oscar KissMaerth’s crackpot anthropology The Beginning Was The End. Got it? Mmh.

Hardly a visual feast by today’s standards, or even back then as it happens,they romp through 20 songs at breakneck speed with few highlights from theirone dimensional and contrived repertoire. True to form and ethos, they’rewearing silly outfits and even sillier flower-pot hats.

It doesn’t take long before the ‘I’m bored with this.’ creeps in.

Die hard fans may drool over this encounter with the past, which is wheremost of this ‘muzak’ well and truly belongs. Looking back, they resemblemore of a novelty act rather than serious music troubadours.


The full list of tracks included are :

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. Jocko Homo
17. Smart Patrol / Mr. DNA
18. Gut Feeling / Slap Your Mammy
19. Come Back Jonee
20. Tunnel Of Love
21. Devo Corporate Anthem

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