Q: ARE WE NOT MEN? A: WE ARE DEVO
Brian Eno was drafted in as producer on this 1978 opening salvo to the world. This was before his reputation for grafting charisma onto tired bands (Hello U2!) had become a thing, and in this instance he was by his own admission often surplus to requirements. So fully-formed was Devo’s conceptual aesthetic that he had little to add, despite his oblique strategy cards. Nevertheless his studio savvy gave a raw edge to the already frantic songs. Opening track, ‘Uncontrollable Urge’ still batters the listener to a pulp with its relentless riff, and elsewhere the skewed perversity of Stones cover, ‘Satisfaction’ and the sublime ‘Gut Feeling’ make this an essential album in the Devo canon.
