Devo Album: “Pioneers Who Got Scalped (The Anthology)”

Disc one really shows Devo at their peak while disc 2 shows why I stopped buying their albums from "Shout" on. I had hoped that there might be some hidden jems that I missed the first time around, but disc 2 is full of unimspired dance tunes and cover songs. I wonder what they were thinking when they re-made "Bread and Butter"?

New fans will appreciate some of the pre-label versions of their songs(Jocko Homo, Mongoloid) though hardcore fans have certainly heard these before on vinyl(or on the Hardcore cd). It's nice to have "Worried Man" on cd. Where's "Pink Pussycat", by the way.

New spudboys might be better served by buying the first 3 albums and skipping the later stuff. I see Amazon has an import of "Duty Now for the Future/New Traditionalists". Not a bad deal

Now, how about a DVD of all the Devo videos!

Pioneers Who Got Scalped has always given me mixed emotions. It is a solid two CD set packed with extras. It is too bad that it is the older stuff I am more impressed with than the newer material that has been put out since the spud boys have (mostly) hung up the energy domes. The music industry is ripe today for DEVO's humor and message and could use a little devolution to become more human again...or maybe less drum machiens would be a better start...

I digress. One of my favorite bits on the cd's is the cover of Nine Inch Nail's Head Like A Hole. Devo is a bit of a whild card with covers. Don't Be Cruel was more peanut and nanner sandwiches than spud, while Are You Experienced was as far removed (and in tune) from Hendrix as the song could get. Head Liek A Whole is very faithfully covered by DEVO and somehow manages to be as enjoyable a Reznor's original. It is a vingnette of the talent of the spud boys and this set.

The cover of the cd is also nifty with the 1970's moving picture thing as you change the angle.

I have to resist the temptation to five star this spud-puppy, because the great stuff is truly, truly great. It's easy to listen to these two CD's and see where the sound of things falling apart, as they likened the "Are We Not Men" WB debut to, began falling apart. Disc one covers the territory up to "New Traditionalists," and is just too juicy to describe. But I'll try. Let's face it, NOBODY sounded like the band that made the original "Jocko Homo." By the time Brian Eno polished the sound with his visionary production style, the Spudboys were tinkering with the elemental theories of rock. By breaking "Satisfaction" into a robotic yelp with a rhythm akin to a factory worker's machine line, they tweaked convention so hard that there was no way to ignore their arrival. "Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA" not only rocked punkishly hard, it also described the band's vision of their placement as "suburban robots to monitor reality."

With that kind of formula in place, genius could not be long in coming. With "Freedom of Choice" and "New Traditionalists," they delivered in spades. (Or is that spuds?) "Freedom Of Choice" bent and twisted the crazy consumerist mentality that makes us believe we have so much to decide on, when we really are just being manipulated. Witness the title song's lyrical bite as well as the hit, "Whip It," which strung self help mantras with a razor sharp wit and dance floor snap. After that, success seemed to elevate the cynicism, with "Beautiful World" bemoaning that, although things might be good for some, the closing line of "It's a beautiful world for you, but not for me" spoke to every isolated misfit the macho world of hair band metal and success at all cost Reagen Republicanism had ever stomped on. At the opposite end of the spectrum was the anthemish "Through Being Cool," urging the alienated to "Step out and dare to declare" their uniqueness. Classic stuff, this.

After the NT album though, things went askew in Devo land. "Oh No, It's DEVO" gave us a few great songs ("That's Good" is here, "Patterns" isn't), but was mired in gimmick heavy production. Altered pitch voices were the norm on most of "Oh No," detracting from the band's strengths. By the time the much better "Shout" came along, the public had moved on and their record company had very publicly made it known that they weren't interested. The two great cuts from that unfortunately out of print disc, the title song and an outrageously devolved Hendrix cover of "Are You Experienced" (which had a fantastic vid) are here. It took a few years of wound healing and a slowly building acknowledgement of DEVO's influence to get them another album, "Total Devo." It was probably the least inspired of the studio albums, and the singles here are all that counted. The Rip Van Winkle tale of "Disco Dancer" could just have easily been about the band! Too bad that the follow up. "Smooth Noodle Maps" was ignored. As an album, it rates with any other from the Warner Years. "Post Post Modern Man" could have been from "New Traditionalists." But a nostalgia trip only has so much gas, and even though the tour was successful, the album went into obscurity fast.

As for the rest of "Scalped's" second disc, I'd have been much happier with the single versions of "Dr Detroit" and "Here To Go" than the overlong dance versions. With the exception of "Head Like A Hole," the additional cover versions are unexceptional, and the irritating "new" version of "Words Get Stuck In My Throat" makes you glad for skip buttons on remotes. This is the place where that elusive fifth star slipped away. Maybe some day Rhino will be generous enough to grab all the DEVO discs and give them the royal remaster treatment.

Special mention must be made about the 3-d cover! THIS is the kind of inspired silliness that made me love DEVO in the first place.

Starting as a cult favorite in the mid-70s, word of Devo's powerful live shows spread throughout rock music fandom. Never as enjoyable on studio recordings as they were live, this collection spanning their 25 plus year career nonetheless showcases the quirky inventiveness and originality they brought into play. Contained in the first 25 songs/narrative cuts are some ("Uncontrollable Urge", "Be Stiff", "Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA") that can truly be considered gems reflecting a unique view of our world and the devolving "spuds" of the great unwashed. Their creativity as a unit gradually dimished as the mid-80s wore on, but one can still see their relatively lasting imprint on entertainment, advertising and, yes folks, even politics: witness Al Gore, the original role model for "Mongoloid".

This could have been soooo much better, which is why I can only give it a measly 3 stars. Granted, most of the material is top notch, but with these "Anthologies" being primarily aimed at fans, I have to ask: Where's the beef? Having been an avid but not fanatical Devo listener before purchasing this 2 CD set, I was already familiar with the bulk of this anthology through owning the Warner Bros. Greatest Hits & Misses CD's and the band's first four studio albums.

Disc One of this anthology does and adequate but unspectacular job of documenting Devo's Warner Bros. career. Unfortunately, this was already done pretty well by the Greatest Hits and Misses CD's, and Disc One has very little to add to these previously released compilations...Sure, you get the Booji Boy label recordings of "Mongoloid" and "Jocko Homo", but these are the lone representatives from Devo's extensive pre-Warner career. And, somewhat annoyingly, the Disc One tracks differ very little from the Greatest Hits and Misses selections. Devo had some killer album only cuts like "Going Under" and "Strange Purtsuit" and it would have been nice to see some of these see the light of day rather than the standard hits and semi-hits. Aside from these criticisms, Disc One is still a great listen for either the rabid or casual fan-- this was Devo in their prime, and few have come close to matching their blend of intelligence, wit, and innovation in pop music.

Disc Two is comprised mostly of the band's later work and lacks the consistent quality of Disc One. It starts out strongly enough with tracks from Devo's 5th album, but after that the tracks progressively (and, perhaps, appropriately) de-evolve into 80's synth pop crapola. There are, however, a few gems from this era-- "Theme From Dr. Detroit", "Some Things Never Change", and "Post Post-Modern Man" are among the few standout tracks on Disc Two. The previously unreleased track, "The Words Get Stuck In My Throat", is a pleasant surprise, particularly to hardcore fans who have been hearing the track on bootlegs for years. Overall, Disc Two isn't a total throwaway, but most of your time spent with this Anthology will involve the classics on Disc One.

If you're a casual fan and money is not an issue, then go ahead and buy this anthology-- It's got all the hits and most of their best cuts. The booklet is classy and informative, but a bit sycophantic at times. If $30 is too much for you to spend, then your best bet would be to track down the Greatest Hits and Greatest Misses CD's-- both can be found very cheap at chain stores. Or pick up any one of their first four studio albums-- either way you'll be treated to some great music.