Devo

Devo: Something for EverybodySomething for Everybody (2010)
Warner Bros.

Reviewer Rating: 2

User Rating:

Contributed by: JeloneJelone
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on June 22nd 2010Twenty years after the release of Smooth Noodle Maps, Devo has finally returned with a new studio album (Devo 2.0 notwithstanding) called Something for Everybody. Give them credit for this: The new focus-grouped album (88 percent approved!) sounds like classic Devo, just with an updated contemporary.

Twenty years after the release of Smooth Noodle Maps, Devo has finally returned with a new studio album (Devo 2.0 notwithstanding) called Something for Everybody. Give them credit for this: The new focus-grouped album (88 percent approved!) sounds like classic Devo, just with an updated contemporary dance sound. Whether or not the world needed this release is another matter. Much like the B-52s' own comeback record, Funplex, Something for Everbody boasts enough overly glossy yet catchy numbers to avoid embarrassing the band's legacy, but it doesn't exactly build it up, either. Still, though, these sarcastic post-punk jams can be awfully funny at times.

Something for Everbody doesn't sit well as one continuous listen, but there are enough moments spread around the album that should get a laugh, like when the band turns "Don't taze me bro" into the outro for "Don't Shoot (I'm a Man)." For all the stuttering rhythms, there are plenty of hooks, reminding the listener that Mark Mothersbaugh is still a top-notch songwriter.

What sinks the record is a cavalcade of uninspired lyrics coupled with repetitive music. For a while, Something is funny so long as the tunes are interpreted as jokes. But eventually the rampant use of clichés and faux-sincerity stop being funny--probably around track five, the sort-of-misogynistic "Mind Games." The songs blur together after a while, too. Cue the drum beat and techno textures, kill time until Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale sing in a weird voice.

There are some nifty numbers here ("Fresh," "Don't' Shoot," "Human Rocket"), but nothing tops the songs the band turned out in their heyday like "Jocko Homo" or "Gates of Steel." Something for Everybody isn't the most embarrassing comeback album, but it doesn't do much to earn the phrase "comeback album" either.

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

XchinatownX (June 22, 2010)

Little girl, be on the lookout for a man
He's the driver of a woman-chasing van
He has fun with all the women he deceives
He has many tricks up his sleeves

He goes cruisin' in his custom-painted van
Tinted lights, inside he keeps it spic and pan
Little girl, how would you like to take a ride?
Little girl, look at the inside

Come in, my dear
Relax, don't fear
We're off
I love you

Here comes the van man!

Come on in, declare the spider to the fly
With a grin he's such a nice guy

Uh uh, uh huh!

He's the van man, and he's coming after you
When he catces you, what will you do
Don't laugh at this: you're on his list
You're next, I warned you

Here comes the van man!

zatransis (June 22, 2010)

This review is shit. It basically boils down to "I don't like this stuff as much as the other stuff... 2 stars."

This album is great. What was the last album from a band that hasn't released new content in 20 years that was half as good as this?

i-type-poorly (June 22, 2010)

Also, the reviewer fails to mention the overall motif of the album, Devo's corporate assimilation, and cheeky satire on mainstream marketing. Focus tests showed people like blue, sexiness, and soft tones; which explains the album art and new look for the band. I think it's also worked into the production of the songs and some of the content. It may not make "Mind Games" and "Step Up" suddenly good songs to us punk fans, but since Devo was once insane enough to make an album as "fascist clowns" in response to negative mainstream criticism, it wouldn't surprise me to find out they made a few songs deliberately sugary and vague to emphasize the Something For Everybody gag.

i-type-poorly (June 22, 2010)

Three out of four extra tracks on the deluxe edition are excellent, and should have been on the retail version of the album. Replace three of the weak tracks that sound a bit too 80's with those, and dump "No Place Like Home" (a poor man's "Beautiful World" with hammy lyrics), and you've got a damn good Devo album worthy to stand alongside Freedom of Choice and New Traditionalists.

If anyone was expecting another Duty Now, you're insane; but I went in expecting nothing, and got a whole lot, so I love this album (using my track list).

Skibz777 (June 22, 2010)

While the lyrics are pretty heavy-handed at times, it's easily DEVO's best and most consistent effort since 'New Traditionalists'. I pretty much felt the same way the reviewer did about the album when I first heard it, but after a day or two to reflect on it, it grew on me doubly so. While I agree it's not much of a comeback album, I can only see it as a win-win situation: the music is typically "DEVO" enough to attract the casual listener who digs "Whip It", but there's enough musical substance - and yes, "freshness" - to win over the hardcore DEVOtees. While some tracks are so-so at best ("Sumthin'", "Step Up"), the high moments greatly outnumber the flaws. In fact, the only problem I had with the album was "No Place Like Home", which sounds like a Thomas Dolby b-side...that style of music is painfully awkward in DEVO's hands and grinds the album to a halt, but "Fresh"? "Please Baby Please"? "Human Rocket"? "What We Do"? Those can compete with even the best of their early-80s work. A greatly satisfying experience, well worth the 20 year wait (or, for myself, about 10).

weffjebster (June 22, 2010)

"Mark Mothersbaugh is still a top-notch songwriter.

What sinks the record is a cavalcade of uninspired lyrics coupled with repetitive music."

...uh

skolarx (June 22, 2010)

saw them on colbert last week, was interesting to see that josh freeze is still playing with them

Problematiclogic (June 22, 2010)

I think everyone can agree that the lyrics are pretty dismal, but apart from that I really like it. Catchy as hell.

lushj (June 22, 2010)

This record is really, extremely good- if other older bands took this much care & time with new records after a long hiatus, the world would be a better, less embarrassing place.

As a long-time DEVO fan, I really like this! I think it'll take its place somewhere between Duty Now For The Future & Oh No It's Devo.

VStoriesFallen (June 22, 2010)

I bought the deluxe version, and the extra tracks fit really well with the rest of the album. Plus "Watch Us Work It" is a great song. Some of the songs do sound the same, but to me it flows very nicely. Not as good as Q: Are We Not Men? or Freedom of Choice, but then again, you can't top perfection.

ExtraCheesePizza (June 22, 2010)

Certainly not Devo's best, but two stars seems pretty low for a solid album that's catchy as hell and warrants repeat listening.

Dante3000 (June 22, 2010)

Haven't bought this yet, but I listened to it a few times over the stream and I quite enjoyed it. Maybe it doesn't stand up over repeat listens if it's your main focus but I found myself really enjoying each song as it played in the background as I worked.

PaulPendley (June 22, 2010)

Moon Pandas!

punk_sk (June 22, 2010)

How come there's no cats?