Devo Album: “Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo”

Devo stormed onto the music scene with their 1978 debut; the CD starts perfectly with the "yeah yeah yeah yeah" rumble of "Uncontrollable Urge." They build on this auspicious beginning with their remake of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," which always sounds to me as though the music consists solely of a synthesizer backed with garage tools being banged together. I love the irony of these rather contained and arty "rockers" opening their debut CD with two such completely hedonistic songs.

Some of the songs are peculiar - including "Space Junk" and its protagonist, Sally, who is always being hit with, well, space junk. A few songs might also be a little offensive in this age of political correctness, especially "Mongoloid" and "Sloppy (I Say My Baby Getting'); however, the lyrics are so absurd that it's clear that they shouldn't be taken seriously. The masterpiece here, arguably, is "Jocko Homo" - which contains the unforgettable chorus for which this CD was named - Are we not men? We are Devo! The group even calls themselves pinheads in this song.

Devo has always been uncategorizable. Are they punk? Are they new wave? Are they rock? Nowadays of course, a number of bands successfully blend musical styles (e.g., Flaming Lips), so it's not as revolutionary. However, I can only imagine what people thought of this CD in 1978. I was only 8 when this CD was released, and other than "Whip It," I wasn't very familiar with their work until recently. I bought this CD about a year ago because I was impressed by Mark Mothersbaugh's film score work, including the delightfully whimsical "Rushmore." Needless to say, I think this CD is remarkable, and I plan on buying more Devo music. Many people are also apparently still discovering this defunct group, as this CD didn't go gold until 2001. It's about time!

Ok let me play the race card.I am black and so were 95% of my friends when this Lp came out.I remember buying it just because of the album cover. When I took it home and played it I knew right away that Devo would hang.I remember playing it at a house party[I Can't Get No Satisfaction]My homies never forgot and this was months before they even got airplay.I would still be jamming this joint but it came up mysteriously missing thanks to my brother Johnnie.Oh well This is a cut above anything else similar that was out at the time.[groundbreakingly unpopular]

I bought this album with a friend one day, in one of those huge corporate electronics stores. I picked it up immedietely, having heard the greatness of "Jocko Homo" and "Satisfaction" before. My friend looked at the album in my hands, and said the following thing:

"Hah, they had that song 'Whip It,' didn't they?" Immediately afterwards he rolled his eyes. Hmph.

Why Devo is so dismissed as an eighties novelty band is lost on me. Heck, I even like "Whip It" for it's musical qualities. But would you catch me saying that to anyone anymore? No way. I'd get the same response every time.

Sad that those idiots will never listen to this amazing, one-of-a-kind album. "Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!" is musically flawless, a combonation of the aggressive post-punk feel with a little (but thankfully, not too much) new wave mixed in. The result is pleasing to the ears and very danceable. Just my kind of music.

I love every single song on this album; I fear that if I began to name off my favorites, I'd list the whole album.

So, I'll just list my top favorites as of right now: there's the wonderful, sort of creepy masterpiece "Shrivel Up," a song with a catchy melody (the kind that will stick in your head for a long time) and odd, kooky lyrics. There's also the near-instrumental "Gut Feeling/Slap Your Mammy," featuring almost two and a half minutes of nothing but amazing music (with a piano thrown in for good measure). "Sloppy (I Saw My Baby Gettin')" has one of the weirdest and catchiest choruses anywhere.

Oh, if only I had the time to name of the merits of each song on here. Seriously, every single song counts. You'll be liking "Come Back Jonee" as much as the classic "Jocko Homo." Although it may take a couple listens to truly get into the vibe of this album, it's well worth it.

This is the greatest Devo album and one of the watershed albums of punk and new wave. These songs are perfect examples of using a bland facade and thus concealing a manic tempest underneath. What's the message? Destroy your parents and resist assimilation at every turn because time has slowed down and reversed. We are doomed to lives infinitely more empty than any others in human history simply because culture has filled every hole in our head with pablum... a process that is pleasurable if you embrace it completely.

Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of energy in the songs that cover the gamut of neurotic symptoms -- the delicious rockabilly nerd-punk of "Come Back Jonee" or the compulsive twitching of "Uncontrollable Urge" (one of my favorite first tracks of all time). Excellent songwriting; Eno let them go and contributed only the smallest touches-- the subtle drum treatments and synth on "Mongoloid", for instance. The guitars are great and energetic: I christened the unique guitar style "jerkabilly". "Satisfaction" exhibits it most characteristically.

This is a great album in every respect. Concept album doesn't describe it at all. It is an organic and complete chronicle of the particular idiocy and alienation of our times. Get the "Devo Hardcore" on Rykodisk too-- it's great for comparison.

It is rather ironic that the last of Devo's albums to be remastered for CD are their two most iconic albums: the grand statement of De-evolution with Q. Are We Not Men? A. We Are DEVO! and the commercial breakthrough, Freedom of Choice. Nearly fifteen years after Henry Rollins first began releasing the remasters of the remainder of Devo's WB catalogue on his Infinite Zero label, these two albums have been available on CD in exceptionally ordinary quality: until now.

In every previous CD issue of Q? A! or songs on compilations from this album, there have been numerous glitches and tiny dropouts plaguing various tracks. For the first time all of these foibles have been eliminated. At long last there is bass on the CD of this album and the overall depth of the recording reveals so much more. However, the remastering process has not entirely corrected everything and has even introduced a few glitches of its own. There is still excessive tape hiss on this album, some of which surely could have been minimised. The bass intro to Mongoloid still has way too much tape hiss.

The biggest problem however is that in going back to the "original analog recording tapes" all of the artifacts of 30 years of storage have come to the fore. There are numerous tape print through (ghosting) artifacts that detract from the overall enjoyment of this album. The worst example of this is the end of Sloppy (I Saw My Baby Gettin') where there is a persistent echo of "Sloppy, Sloppy, Sloppy, Sloppy" that was not on any previous vinyl or CD release of this album. To whoever remastered this album, did you actually listen to it before signing off the new master? Now that is Sloppy. Every one of these glitches should have been removed during the remastering process.

As for Deluxe, there is nothing special about this release to call it Deluxe. It might have been better if Rhino had reissued this to their usual high Deluxe standard rather than WB themselves. Where is the bonus disc of B-sides, demos and other oddities. The live concert from London in May 2009 is good bonus material but not really Deluxe material. Plus you can get a concert of the DVD on the Club Devo only Devo-Lux reissue fo this. Where is Social Fools and Be Stiff that were also recorded during these album sessions along with a multitude of demos and early live tracks from Devo's extensive archive? And not a liner note in sight. There is so much more that could have been added to this disc. Maybe it was all too hard to have to remaster a bunch of tracks from numerous sources.

And just to top it off, how on earth did the front cover image of Chi Chi Rodriguez get reversed??? Does WB have anyone who actually takes any care in going over the material that they are releasing?

I'm giving this five stars simply because this was a ground-breaking album and it sounds better than any previous CD release. However, it could have been SO much more. QA certainly does not stand for quality assurance with this release. First Devo was introduced to the barrell room by WB, now it's their loyal fans.