DEVO Live: The Mongoloid Years

DEVO Live: The Mongoloid Years is a live album consisting of recordings from three early Devo performances.

DEVO Live: The Mongoloid Years
Live album by
Devo
Released1992
RecordedOctober 31, 1975 – November 15, 1977
GenreArt punk, new wave, post-punk
LabelRykodisc
ProducerDevo
Devo chronology
Hardcore Devo: Volume Two
(1991)		 DEVO Live: The Mongoloid Years
(1992)		 Live in Central Park
(2004)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
allmusic[1]

Overview

The album presents parts of three Devo concerts from their early days, presented in reverse chronological order: Max's Kansas City in November 1977 (mislabeled as May 1977), The Crypt in Akron in December 1976, and the WHK Auditorium in Cleveland on Halloween 1975. The concerts were recorded on four-track tape by the band, and the selections are described by Gerald Casale as "the best of the only audio tapes that escaped total disintegration over the last 15 years" in the liner notes.

The album includes an essay and description of the shows presented penned by Gerald Casale, titled "The rest, as they say, is De-evolution." It describes both the environment of the shows, and the development of the early band.

Max's Kansas City NYC November 1977

Covering tracks 1 through 9, this concert is noted as being introduced by David Bowie, who called Devo "The band of the future," and offered to produce their first album. It shows an early Devo at the top of their performance. According to Casale's essay, the day after the show, in Akron, the band began to receive phone calls from record labels.

The band performed two sets at this show. The performance on the CD is the early set, save for "Come Back Jonee" from the later set. In 2014, the Max's Kansas City tracks were re-released as a limited edition LP with recovered audio of David Bowie's introduction.

The Crypt Akron December 1976

This concert covers tracks 10 through 13 and is a performance of Devo opening for The Dead Boys. At the time, there was a feud between fans of Devo and The Dead Boys and a fist fight, allegedly started by Cheetah Chrome, occurred during the show.

This was one of the first shows with drummer Alan Myers.

WHK Auditorium Cleveland Halloween 1975

The remainder of the disc is a very early Devo concert, featuring the quartet lineup of the band which included Jim Mothersbaugh on electronic drums. The band had been hired as a joke to open for Sun Ra at a private party, and had been billed as a cover band. They are introduced by local radio personality Murray Saul.

Devo performs in the guise of theatrical characters, and infuriates much of the audience into leaving before Sun Ra's set. This show was the first performance of Jocko Homo, and allegedly went on for 30 minutes. During the performance on the song, an audience member takes a stage microphone and insults the band. The set finally ends when the promoters unplug the band's equipment, though the recorder picks up an argument and near fist-fight between Gerald Casale and a promoter.

According to other sources, the crowd became angry because Devo refused to stop playing and the headliner, Sun Ra, never got to perform.[2]

Track listing

November 15th 1977

  1. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" [Listed as "Satisfaction (I Can't Get No"] (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards) – 3:18
  2. "Too Much Paranoias" (Mark Mothersbaugh) – 2:21
  3. "Praying Hands" (Gerald V. Casale, Mothersbaugh) – 4:11
  4. "Uncontrollable Urge" (Mothersbaugh) – 3:22
  5. "Mongoloid" (Casale, Mothersbaugh) – 3:27
  6. "Smart Patrol" / "Mr. DNA" (Casale, Mothersbaugh) – 8:02
  7. "Gut Feeling (Slap Your Mammy)" (Casale, Bob Mothersbaugh, Mothersbaugh) – 4:43
  8. "Sloppy (I Saw My Baby Gettin')" [Listed as "Sloppy"] (Casale, Gary Jackett, Mothersbaugh, Mothersbaugh) – 2:59
  9. "Come Back Jonee" (Casale, Mothersbaugh) – 4:01

December 1976

  1. "Clockout" (Casale) – 2:41
  2. "Timing X" / "Soo Bawls" (Mothersbaugh) – 3:50 ["Timing X" uncredited]
  3. "Space Junk" (Casale, Mothersbaugh) – 2:31
  4. "Blockhead" (Mothersbaugh, Mothersbaugh) – 3:11

October 31st 1975

  1. "Subhuman Woman" (Casale, Bob Lewis) – 4:42
  2. "Bamboo Bimbo" (Casale, Mothersbaugh) – 3:21
  3. "Beulah" (Casale) – 3:13
  4. "Jocko Homo" / "I Need a Chick" (Casale, Gregg, Mothersbaugh) – 12:31
  • The track listing is somewhat inaccurate: an uncredited performance of "Timing X" is on track 11; an introduction of the third show on the disc is mis-cued and added to the end of "Blockhead"; instrumental portions of "Baby Talkin' Bitches" and "Chango" are played and appear at the end of track 14; the last two tracks on the album are also mis-cued and combine the performances of "Beulah", "Jocko Homo" and most of "I Need A Chick" onto one track; finally, the track labeled "I Need A Chick" features the band attempting to play further and being kicked off the stage.

Personnel
gollark: At current AP times, it'll take about two and a half days to show up.
gollark: "Oh, I just got this great dragon... but its lineage is {olives/brimstones/something else which people don't like}... I'll need some of those to continue it..."
gollark: Yes. It's a great way to mildly infuriate people, like causing APocalypses.
gollark: Best use of CB prizes: only pair them with dragons people don't like, but then give out offspring very cheaply.
gollark: I prefer shimmerscales.

References
  1. allmusic review
  2. Gorman, John. The Buzzard: Inside WMMS and the glory days of FM rock radio (2007): 105–106
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