Throwback Thursday: Devo "Freedom Of Choice" (1980)

Cover via Amazon

"The beginning was the end..."  - Devo, "Gates Of Steel"

Guitarist and founding member of Devo, Bob Casale (a/k/a Bob #2), passed away on Tuesday at the far too young age of 61. In his memory, there's been a lot of the Spudboys' music being played around Ruttville this week.  If you can manage to sidestep 1984's misbegotten Shout and the contemporarily released non-LP single "Theme From Doctor Detroit," it's pretty tough to go wrong anywhere in the Devo catalog (and even Shout has its moments: the title track, "Here To Go" and the wacky re-imagining of Jimi Hendrix's "Are U Experienced?")  Of course, Devotees will tend to lean heavily on the first two albums, and it's tough to argue with the simply classic opening salvo of Devolutionism, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo or its lesser-known but every bit as wonderful follow-up Duty Now For The Future.  But for me, their third album, 1980's Freedom Of Choice, remains the go-to record when I need a good shot of Devo's unique lunacy.

Part of my affinity for this album lies in the fact that in a collection that now boasts close to 3500 titles, Freedom Of Choice was one of my earliest additions.  The record has been getting airplay in my home for over thirty years!  Beyond that, the album is just flat out excellent from start to finish.  Not a clinker to be found here.  And while it was not an obvious grab at commercial acceptance or mainstream radio airplay, it is Devo at their most "pop," their most accessible, and it does contain their most well-known song, "Whip It."

Jerky, robotic rhythms are still the rule on Freedom, but the sound is less antiseptic than on the first two albums.  The yellow radiation suits were abandoned in favor of the famous flowerpot hats, a more humanized visual to match the more accessible sound.  While traditional guitars are certainly background players here, Devo had not yet gone fully synthesized. (That would happen with the next album, New Traditionalists.) The result is a fuller, tougher sound than is heard on any other album bearing the Devo name.

"Whip It"  is only the centerpiece of the album because history painted it that way.  It's buried in the middle of side one, just another track on album full of hook-laden, energetic, synth-heavy tunes.  If "Whip It" scored so big, it remains a puzzle why similarly styled tracks like "Girl U Want," "Freedom Of Choice" or "Gates Of Steel" weren't every bit as big.  For those looking for the expected Devo goofiness, "Ton O' Luv" and "That's Pep!" fit the bill nicely; the surprisingly touching "Snowball" shows that the previously emotionless Spuds know heartbreak as well as any of us.  Even apparent throwaways "Cold War" and "Don't You Know" are good enough to be lead tracks on virtually any other New Wave bands' albums.  And the final one-two punch of "Mr. B's Ballroom" (with its hiccuppy "whoa-whoa-oh-oh" chorus) and "Planet Earth" (not the same song as the identically titled Duran Duran single) is simply excellent.

Unlike many other New Wave albums of its time, Freedom Of Choice really doesn't sound terribly dated today.  Well worth adding to your own collection if you don't already own it.

R.I.P., Bob #2.

New Wave for the New Week #43 BONUS ENTRY! BY REQUEST!

[All throughout the month of November, all NW4NW entries are based on requests made by you, dear readers. Because of the amount of requests received, there will often be more than one entry per week during this month - I recommend signing up for email alerts on the left-hand side of the screen so that you don't miss any of the fun!]

Devo via last.fm

NW4NW All Request Month heads into the last weekend of the month with a final flurry of three requests, the first of which comes from Luke Bunting.

There are certain bands that seem to come to everybody's mind when you mention New Wave, bands who even the most casual mainstream listener associates with the term. Some people immediately think of The B-52's while others immediately start mimicking Gary Numan's "Cars." But everyone's short list of New Wave bands includes the world's favorite Spudboys from Akron Ohio!

Clad in matching yellow radiation suits, matching red flowerpot hats, or matching Ken-doll plastic hairpieces, Devo has epitomized New Wave for most people since they first achieved national notoriety cranking out their spastic rendition of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" on Saturday Night Live in 1978. Within two years they would be bringing De-Evolution to the masses via their worldwide hit, "Whip It."

Sadly, most people only remember Devo for those two songs (plus "Jocko Homo," which most folks don't know by title - they just remember the chorus of "Are we not men?/We are Devo/Are we not men?/D-E-V-O"), and in mainstream history they have been relegated to novelty-band status. Even though they never again hit the charts, Devo recorded several excellent albums, as well as a few toward the end of the 1980's that might have been better left unreleased. After taking a hiatus following the Smooth Noodle Maps LP in 1990, Devo reunited a few years back to tour. They have even begun recording again, with their first album of new material in two decades, Fresh, set for a 2010 release.

Devo's influence on contemporaries and on those who came after can hardly be overstated: they helped to pioneer the music video, especially the long video format, via their 1974 production In the Beginning Was the End: The Truth About De-Evolution; they staked out early synthesizer territory from the start and continued to use electronic instruments in new ways throughout their career; they have been the direct impetus for two sequel bands: Dev2.0, an all-kid band; and DEVA, a female-fronted take on the Spudboys' music. Not a bad run for a band of art-school geeks who have been going since 1973, always looking and sounding quite unlike anyone else.

In his request, Luke wrote, "Devo will always be the new wave kings for me." You're not alone in that, Luke - we're ALL Devo! Here they are as the current entry in NW4NW All Request Month performing "Secret Agent Man" from The Truth About De-Evolution (try to ignore the goofy kid intro-ing the clip):