Marking
45 years on the shelves today is the sophomore LP from Akron Ohio
mutants, DEVO, with Duty Now For the Future being released on June 1st,
1979. While it was critically disparaged at the time of its release,
fans know it's an essential sequel to their debut, documenting, as the
first album did, the band's early catalogue of music.
Forming
in 1974 as a response to the Kent State massacre of students by police
in 1970, DEVO spent their early career amassing a staggering catalogue
of original songs before they ever got the chance to step into a
professional recording studio to produce a major label LP. Their 1978
debut put a reasonable dent in that backlog, but they still had plenty
enough for their second album, with enough to spare to, years later,
fill a double CD set of early demos (Hardcore DEVO -Volumes 1 & 2,
1990/91). Only three new songs were brought in to fill out their second
outing: "Red Eye", "S.I.B." and "The Day My Baby Gave Me a Surprise".
Their
debut album was produced by Brian Eno, but the relationship during that
effort was slightly strained and the band were eager to learn from
different people, so they wanted to work with a different producer for
their next album. In fact, throughout their career, they've never
worked with the same producer more than once. For their second LP, they
chose Ken Scott, who had previously worked with The Beatles as an
engineer and produced David Bowie's Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust and
Aladdin Sane. While the atmosphere in the studio was professional and
pleasant by all accounts, in retrospect, several members of the band
didn't feel he understood the sound they were wanting to achieve. For
this album, rather than perform in the studio as a band to lay down bed
tracks, every instrument was layered individually, playing off a click
track. That approach ended up siphoning some of the edge off the band's
sound, muting the dynamics which had been so prevalent on their first
album. Overall, the production simply doesn't have the same punchy heft
that Eno was able to get on their debut, a situation that didn't go
unnoticed by critics, who felt the album sounded lacklustre. The flat
production is compensated for, however, by the strength of the songs,
especially the older, more developed material.
For
the album's cover design, a dummy bar-code was integral to the design.
Bar-codes were just starting to come into use at the end of the '70s,
so there was a kind of novelty futurism inherent in its graphic
presence. The central photo of the band was stamped with perforations
so that it could be popped out of the cover and used a postcard. This
was something the label refused to pay for, so the cost of the
processing had to be taken out of the band's advance. The photograph of
the band was taken by photographer Allan Tannenbaum for the SoHo Weekly
News in New York City. It was used in the album artwork by simply
taking it from the front page of the newspaper in the exact same
dimensions, unbeknownst to the photographer. When he discovered this, he
contacted the record company and was paid for its use. The "Science
Boy" logo originated from a science pamphlet the band had found in the
late 1970s in Akron. After first using it on a promotional item for
Virgin Records, the band were contacted by the original organization
that had created the image for their logo, which resulted in them paying
to acquire legal rights to it.
Upon
release, the album sold well, but was met with some harsh criticism.
Dave Marsh, writing in Rolling Stone, condemned the album, feeling that
"inspired amateurism works only when the players aspire to something
better." Robert Christgau of The Village Voice panned side one as "dire"
and "arena-rock", but felt that "The Day My Baby Gave Me a Surprise"
and "Secret Agent Man" were "as bright as anything on the debut, and the
arrangements offer their share of surprises." Red Starr of Smash Hits
described it as "unimpressive", but noted that the "change of style
definitely grows on you". They went on to say that, although the album
was more accessible, it was "lacking the zany magic of old".
Personally,
I've always thought the band's first two albums delivered an effective
"one-two punch", with enough variation in the style and approach to
allow each to stand as a distinctive representation of different aspects
of the band. Yes, I did find the lack of dynamics on the second album
less engaging than their debut, but classic tunes, like Clockout,
Blockhead, Pink Pussycat and Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA, made the album
essential and unforgettable.
