I still remember the first time I put the needle of the record player down on this very strange-looking album cover for the first time around 1984. Hell, I don’t even remember who brought it to me but I had never heard of the band DEVO and the cover art was just so strange I HAD to listen to what it was… I was never quite the same after that. I have been a DEVO-Devotee ever since. The problem was that this album was truly the apogee of the career of the band –and it was my first taste of them! Over the years, I have managed to collect the entire discography for the band and have sat and listened to the entire progression from beginning to end. What I can tell you is that this album is a great example of the value of having a good producer. Roy Thomas Baker was hired to produce this album just one year after the band released New Traditionalists –and what a difference it made. Baker is mainly known for producing a good portion of Queen’s studio albums (along with a laundry list of “who’s who” of major bands of the last several decades).
One of the most interesting things I’ve personally noticed when listening to the older albums DEVO created, was how their song introductions are great and the rest of the song doesn’t quite stand up to the promise of the music the intro gave me. But Baker’s producing created a collection of songs that hold their own throughout. From beginning to end, each song stands up as a wonderful example of how to layer many sounds together and still not sound “messy”. I never tire of sitting down and listening through this album. My all-time favorite is “Speed Racer”…
If you listen closely, you’ll hear very subtle changes in the beat, little sounds and accents but the song still remains clean and clear –you can distinctly make out every little thing! One of the interesting things that you can also hear in this song is the fact that some of the synth sounds are actually out of tune slightly. This adds a special sort of feel that I really don’t hear that often these days…
DEVO attempted to re-create the same production quality with their next album (being self-produced) Shout. There are distinct differences with this album (including the incorporation of a Fairlight CMI computer used in the song creation process) but what is missing is the clean production quality that Baker brought to the table. I will forever wonder what their next studio album would have been with Baker behind the production work…
I know that many bands have a sort of “bell curve” lifespan when it comes to the quality of albums. Oh, no! It’s DEVO is by far the peak of the curve for this band and well worth giving a close listen as it a model of production perfection when it comes to electronic music –and this was done before the advent of a computer in the studio!