Entertainment For Lively Minds
Devo
Posted by illuminatus on 29 July 2010 - 2:15pm.
What's it called?:
Something for Everybody
What It Sounds Like:
Meaty, beaty, big and boucy to steal a phrase. And there are some cracking tracks: Mind Games, with an introduction that sounds like Yellow Magic Orchestra; What We do, a big booming finger to anyone who says that their sound hasn't changed much (we know, and we don't care); Please Baby Please, which reminds me of Adam and the Ants with the synths turned up to 11. And nothing really awful at all, actually. I do have a copy of Hot Potatoes but don't listen to it much. This though, has been on my iPod pretty much constantly for a month.
What Does It All "Mean"?:
I've always found Devo a hard band to love. Plenty of cleverness to admire, but all to self-consciously layered in artifice. This album sounds so much more immediate and fun.
Goes well with...:
It sounds marvellous barrelling along a road with the stereo cranked up.
Might Suit People Who Like...:
Oddly enough, The Pet Shop Boys as it does have a relentlessly dancy edge to it. And, in pieces Adam and the Ants and Yellow Magic Orchestra.
Totally agree...
I love this album, a wonderful production with some great strong songs, a few of which you mentioned, along with lead single "Fresh" are right up there with the best of their "old".
It has that kind of Human League "Dare" quality for me, top notch synth pop songs with hardly any filler. Is this one of the best comeback albums ever...?
It's rare these days that I'll listen to a new album all the way through and then do the same again, but this is so infectious.
It's warm, which is unusual for Devo as you said, and I just can't stop myself from dancing, which is probably a bit embarrasing for anyone witnessing me frugging down Windsor High Street on a lunchtime!
Your review
made me want to check this album out as I had something of a wee Devo frenzy on Acnify™ recently, all stuff I already knew but hadn't heard since last century. You guys are damn right, this is a fine ellpee.
thankee