1) The Spawning of a New Error 2) Uncontrollable Urge 3)
Satisfaction 4) Praying Hands 5) Space Junk 6) Mongoloid 7) Jocko Homo 8) Too
Much Paranoias 9) Gut Feeling/Slap your Mammy 10) Come Back Jonee 11) Sloppy 12)
Shrivel Up 13) Blank Frank 14) Gut Feeling 15) Pumping (My Heart) 16) Slappy
sings Dead Zeppelin
I guess the album cover for this really sums it up.
Okay so you know how Devo
were kinda punk but not really,
this album seeks to correct that mistake. As the title indicates it’s a cover
of the first Devo album. Now if you’ve heard that album you know it’s
reasonably diverse, there’s some fast paced rockers, some bouncy new wavers,
some creepy post-punkers and some zany experimental rock tracks. Well this
album homogenises that and turns all the songs into fast paced punk rock songs.
Oh, and the singer sounds awful, just really unmelodic and- for lack of a
better word- gross.
I know this sounds like a criticism (the homogony, not the
grossness) and it is to an extent but it works in the album’s favour, giving it
more of its own personality. The problem is they don’t go far enough, it still
sounds like Devo, just a more hyperactive and, um, could I say primitive without
sounding like an asshole?
So the band does a grimier more spontaneous take on Devo and it’s
not entirely convincing. The songs they handle the best are the songs which
were energetic to begin with. Like “Uncontrollable Urge” for example, they do a
great version of that. It manages to leave me as excited as the original one
and has a rougher and more distorted guitar tone that works in its favour. Oh
and the synth tone they get throughout the album is great, much more synthpunk
than on the original album. This leads me to conclude that maybe it would have
been smarter if they’d covered Freedom of
Choice instead, it would have sounded more original and would have turned
the dated tones of that album into something more unique.
They chose to go with this album though and they really don’t do
so well with the more contemplative songs. I admit straight away that I’m
biased as “Gut Feeling” is my favourite Devo song but in my view they really
butcher it. Whereas previously the song had a somewhat sombre- perhaps because of
the truly ethereal keyboard tone they use- and eccentric vibe now it’s a by the
numbers punk song with the keyboard sounding like a bar band piano. The
alternate version they do later on is slightly better due to them foregoing the
keyboard line but not by much. They also fuck up Devo’s signature song! Jocko
Homo (I guess Whip It is their signature song but can’t they have two?) The
call and response is completely indecipherable and the clinical aura of the
song is gone, I don’t think they were in lab coats when they recorded this.
They do some other really good covers to make up for this however.
“Satisfaction”- which is a cover of a cover!- can be said to combine Devo’s
with Rolling Stones version. “Praying Hands" is fun as hell the garage
punk and “Shrivel Up” works surprisingly well as a punk song, feeling creepy in
a more visceral but less malevolent way.
There are exceptions to the fast paced good slow paced bad rule
however. They do a great version of “Mongoloid”, with a growly guitar part and dilapidated
synth tone. Oh and the guys vocals actually work on it. And on the other side
they completely screw up “Too Much Paranoias”, which has the paranoid and
hectic feel of the original song replaced with, well, punk.
So the album definitely has flaws. Some of the covers don’t work
and homogony of it makes it monotonous. Not enough to get completely bored but
enough to fidget and think of dirty limericks. The album does manage to retain
the bright catchiness of the original though, it just feels a bit insubstantial
in places.
Despite the many complaints I’ve made I still don’t feel
inconsistent in recommending it. There’s some good high points and it’s too
damn fun not to recommend. Sure they remove some if the idiosyncrasies but that
really helps prove that Devo’s melodies work without the weird garnishes and it’s
really cool to hear the melodies played on this album. Listen to it at least
once, especially if you’re a Devo fan.
Oh and for some reason they do a Brian Eno and Patti Smith song.
Those are nice.
No comments:
Post a Comment