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Your cart is empty.Dan E.
Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2023
An excellent read for Devo-tees like me. The book traces the members back to their college days at Kent State, and spends meticulous time detailing how many cultural and political events of the day shaped their personas and what would become their band. AND, importantly, the book goes into great detail about what else was going on at the time of Devo's inception and rise over the years; what other avant-garde bands were doing in those days and how they affected Devo. It's a long read, and for good reason. This book answered most of my questions, and created questions that I didn't know I had. Can't wait to see Devo on their final tour, here in LA this November 2023!
Steven Kingham
Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2019
This is an excellent book but it's not for everyone; it's about ideas. The author is a scholar and he covers a lot of territory; perhaps 1/3 of the book is about Devo's influences, antecedents and contemporaries. You'll learn a lot about Captain Beefheart, The Residents, Dada and Sigmund Freud. You'll also learn about Devo's leftist origins at Kent State University that they sublimated into their satire so well. It ends abruptly after their second album at the dawn of the 1980's, before their commercial peak but also before they were running on fumes. Big recommend.
Lawrence Poulton
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 1, 2016
This is an amazing story, skilfully relayed. I now understand DEVO better than ever!
11
Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2015
Good, insightful and accurate...my friend likes it. He says it took him back to a time when he said he had plastic hair, and posters of potatoes on his wall.
FenTigger
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 22, 2014
Great read on the background, formation and early years of the band, including recording Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, but I felt it could have gone on to cover the rest of the bands career, even tho' I suspect this might only be interesting to real spud DEVOtees. I love Duty Now For The Future and was disappointed that period of the band's history got very little mention.
Peter L. Swimm
Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2014
Reads like a college paper more than a book relies too heavily on source material versus research. Better devo books are out there.
Milo
Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2013
I enjoyed a lot this book . At first I thought it was very similar to 'We Are Devo!' , especially because it covers the same time period, but then I thought " Hey, it's always so entertaining and lots of fun to read about this incredible band !" And infact there's lots of new things to be learned about the 'evolution' of the band , just until the release of the great 'Duty Now For The Future' album. Yes, if 'Are We Not Men?' is commonly and widely regarded as Devo's masterpiece , new information is found in this book about the 'cult' recording of 'Duty Now' . A detailed musical analysis is offered to the reader including the interesting time signatures of the songs 'Blockhead' and 'Strange Pursuit'.There are lots of interesting comparisons to other artists of the time (Gary Panter, The Residents, Kraftwerk) , and we also learn about the huge determination and discipline the band had to go through to achieve their vision and style. When Devo first appeared , nothing like that ever existed that so sharply incorporated advanced technology, avangarde video art , odd philosophy all into one commercial new wave rock band.I hope more books will be published in the near future about the following years , the 80s through 90s and their phenomenal comeback in 2010 with 'Something For Everybody'.All the strange questions you have ever asked yourselves about Devo here they find some kind of logical answer . For example : 'Why Devo at one point was perceived by some as a fascist band ? Or were they just reporters ?' here you will find the answer. Or also : 'What is the mysterious book 'My Struggle' by Mark Mothersbaugh all about ?'I wish there was more insight about two members of the band : Bob 2 and Alan Myers, whom they are so fundamental to the sound and style of Devo.Also a better photo could have been chosen for the cover of the book.Eventually someone should publish a book about all the numerous outrageous costumes and related gadgets that Devo created through their de-evolution , a fashion reference book for the faithful spuds !
Glenn S. Hawley
Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2013
When I started this Book, I was Thinking I had already Read it!!I read Jade Dellinger's We Are Devo! Are We Not Men? & the Details of the Early Days of the Band at Kent State, in That Book, sounded So Familiar to This New Book. I liked Kevin's Readible style of writing, and the Framing Format of The 60's to the 80's was an interesting choice. Many interesting links.BUTThere were Too many times where the story of Devo, got sidelined, by passages, the "retreads" of Rock history, only Thinly intertwined back to the Band's History. Its nice to Know Facts about Can, Sun Ra & other Important bands/musicians, But These little Rock histories, just seemed Too Separate from DEVO's story.Also Like the Dellinger Book, it Just ENDS just before Freedom of Choice & More Wider sucesses (& failures)A Full Scale Biography of the Band: From Origin, to execution, success, to Break up, legacy, to Reformation, would be Very Nice!!
DEVOteeFromO-hi-O
Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2013
The publisher's claim that this was released "to coincide with the groups 40th anniversary" and that "Recombo DNA is the first book to evaluate in the proper context the innovations and accomplishments of this truly groundbreaking band" would be farcical if it were not so misleading! This is just another a money-grab made easy by rehashing previously published material. The band had nothing to do with this effort, and one need only peek at the author's acknowledgements to see that Devo was never consulted about the content. Not a single bandmember (past or present) contributed - and not one was interviewed by the author! The only notables Kevin C. Smith seems to have spoken with are Morton Subotnick and Can's Holger Czukay who earth-shatteringly reveals that "Devo seemed to have come in from outer space!" Have a look at the Endnotes before purchasing, and then compare them to the Bibiliography of the exhaustively researched first study and still definitive account of the band "We Are DEVO" by Jade Dellinger and David Giffels (which is also still available here on Amazon). Kevin C. Smith relied heavily on and certainly never credits Dellinger and Giffels. Very disappointing -- nothing new to be learned here...
John Raimondo
Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2013
Good reading for any fan. Lots of stuff I knew....lots of stuff I didn'tI recommend it for any fan
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