Devo / Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
Artist Devo
Album Title: Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
Album Cover:
Primary Genre Rock: New Wave
Format CD
Released 08/28/1978
Reissue Date 00/00/1990
Label Warner Bros. Records
Catalog No 3239-2
Bar Code No 0 7599-27364-2 8
Packaging Jewelcase
Tracks
1. Uncontrollable Urge (3:10)
2. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (2:40)
3. Praying Hands (2:48)
4. Space Junk (2:14)
5. Mongoloid (3:44)
6. Jocko Homo (3:39)
7. Too Much Paranoias (1:57)
8. Gut Feeling/(Slap Your Mammy) (4:57)
9. Come Back Jonee (3:48)
10. Sloppy (I Saw My Baby Gettin') (2:40)
11. Shrivel-Up (3:03)
Date Acquired 06/06/1986
Personal Rating
Acquired from Down In The Valley
Purchase Price 14.00

Web Links

All Music Guide Entry:
Discogs Entry:

Notes

1978 Warner Bros. 3239-2

Produced by Brian Eno

Mark Mothersbaugh
Jerry Casale
Bob Mothersbaugh (Bob I)
Bob Casale (Bob II)
Alan Meyers: drums

Reviews
All Music Guide Review:

Review by Steve Huey
Produced by Brian Eno, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! was a seminal touchstone in the development of American new wave. It was one of the first pop albums to use synthesizers as an important textural element, and although they mostly play a supporting role in this guitar-driven set, the innovation began to lay the groundwork for the synth-pop explosion that would follow very shortly. Q: Are We Not Men also revived the absurdist social satire of the Mothers of Invention, claiming punk rock's outsider alienation as a home for freaks and geeks. While Devo's appeal was certainly broader, their sound was tailored well enough to that sensibility that it still resonates with a rabid cult following. It isn't just the dadaist pseudo-intellectual theories, or the critique of the American mindset as unthinkingly, submissively conformist. It was the way their music reflected that view, crafted to be as mechanical and robotic as their targets. Yet Devo hardly sounded like a machine that ran smoothly. There was an almost unbearable tension in the speed of their jerky, jumpy rhythms, outstripping Talking Heads, XTC, and other similarly nervy new wavers. And thanks to all the dissonant, angular melodies, odd-numbered time signatures, and yelping, sing-song vocals, the tension never finds release, which is key to the album's impact. It also doesn't hurt that this is arguably Devo's strongest set of material, though several brilliant peaks can overshadow the remainder. Of those peaks, the most definitive are the de-evolution manifesto "Jocko Homo" (one of the extremely few rock anthems written in 7/8 time) and a wicked deconstruction of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," which reworks the original's alienation into a spastic freak-out that's nearly unrecognizable. But Q: Are We Not Men? also had a conceptual unity that bolstered the consistent songwriting, making it an essential document of one of new wave's most influential bands.
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