After getting dropped by Warner Brothers, Devo then would sign with Enigma, a much smaller record label, which at the time was focusing on alternative and punk music (though it didn’t limit itself to those genres). Devo was one of the bigger acts in the label’s catalog, which should have been good all around, but changing tastes in the industry and with audiences seemed to work against the band.
Drummer Alan Myers left the band, replaced by David Kendrick, formerly of the band Sparks. Don’t feel too bad if you are not familiar with the name. Not only was there a label change, but a personnel change for the band. Add to this the fact that “new wave” was no longer getting the attention it used to, but instead heavy metal had started coming into prominence again. The musical landscape was shifting again, and Devo was steadfast and resolute in its mission, recording an album which fits in with their wider catalog in general and has some specific songs that certainly stand out.
Now that 1988 album has been reissued in a near complete two-disc set with a couple of out-takes and the official remixes and extended versions of a couple of songs that were released as b-sides at the time.
While Total Devo isn’t my favorite album by the band, it isn’t nearly as bad as the critics of the time would have you believe. While not breaking any new ground musically, there is enough of a variation in their formula to keep things interesting and lyrically this offering continues the tradition of skewering society. “Disco Dancer” is a great example, where the song is about a man who fell asleep, perhaps in a coma, and wakes up in a world that is unfamiliar. In this case it is a man perhaps from the height of the 70s disco era.
It is a shame this video got played I think a total of twice on MTV. Enigma had little to no promotional budget and with the “make or break” network not getting behind this new album and no other avenue of promotion, Total Devo went nowhere.
As usual, songs on this album examine the human condition of finding love, or not, such as in Happy Guy or being full of desire such as in Blow Up. Songs like Agitated talk about being frustrated with the world.
Agitated (Hyperextended Mix)
There are some great remixes and alternate versions of songs included as well as a couple of other tunes. For instance, the song Some Things Never Change is slightly different from the vinyl and CD version as opposed to the version included on the cassette, so the cassette version is included as one of the bonus tracks in addition to the regular album version. Differences? Well, on the “cassette version” the intro and outro are longer.
Some Things Never Change (Album Version)
Some Things Never Change (Cassette Version)
I think I prefer the original album version of the song.
I did mention this is a “near complete” reissue of the album. There is one notable omission from this new set. We get the “Extended”, “Dub” and Single” mixes of Baby Doll in addition to the album version, but missing is the version of the song that was used in the movie Tapeheads.
Now I want to watch that movie again.
Seriously though, Total Devo is well worth getting for fans of the band and while some may be only interested the band’s “hits” this is a great set of songs. I picked up the vinyl version, which doesn’t have all the songs on disc as on the 2 disc CD version, but does come with a code for the MP3 download of everything. Why would I get the vinyl version over the CD? Even though it cost more, there are a couple of inclusions which made getting the larger format worth it. A couple of photo postcards are nice, but the vinyl itself is great. Then there is the double-sided poster itself, which just can’t be done justice with the CD format’s size. Interestingly there are no lyrics included, which is a shame.
Now if only some of the other albums could get this treatment.