Before I did any of my own investigation, I just assumed Devo was a one hit wonder of the New Wave era. They have now become one of my favorite bands, and this DVD only confirms it further. This is the chronological history of them by Music Video; some of the earlier pieces on this DVD are stories as well, bits and pieces about their 'Devolution Theory'. The early videos weren't shot in the best quality, but ironically those videos tend to reflect their better music, because as you'll see as you gradually progress into the DVD you'll see the video quality enhance but the songs become less familiar & popular. The ideas of most of their videos are random and yet sometimes very literal at the same time. A majority of those videos were produced during the early stages of video editing magic and CGI, so they do seem rather kitsch, but after all, isn't that Devo in a nutshell? This DVD also includes a slew of extra features, as well as commentary and some live performances. I really recommend this DVD to the Devo fan, the Avant-Garde music enthusiast, and the B-Quality film admirer.
2 Reviews
The true origin of concept music video
drmothersbaugh27 August 2008
Every big DEVO fan has to love this collection made in 93' originally for Laserdisc, even with its lack of two very important videos, "R U X-Perienced?", my personal favorite video, and "Theme for Doctor Detroit". This disc spans all of their music videos, plus several extras, since the Ohio Kent State days' "The Beginning Was the End: The Complete Truth About De-evolution" to their last studio album's (Smooth Noodle Maps)"Post-Post Modern Man". Of course it does not include anything since 1990, "Go Monkey Go", "Watch Us Work It", or their side projects, Wipe-outers' "Twist 'N' Launch" or Jihad Jerry and the Evil Doers' "Army Girls Gone Wild". Interestingly enough, "DEVO was a video reality" as Gerald "Jerry" Casale puts it, before it was a musical act. With the introduction of Laserdisc experimentation in the 1970's, DEVO members, art students at Kent State, Ohio, Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald V. Casale, came up with the idea of "music video" even before they knew what it was or even before anyone knew what MTV was, as a half-intellectual, pop culture inspired art project that made the impression that music groups popular at the time were not giving anything worth while that they were writing about or singing about. DEVO was the answer, the bridge band in between punk and new wave, making the synthesizer a key instrument and doing something very deep, dark, bright, intellectual, layman, child-like, funny, political, perverse, humorous, and entertaining all at the same time. They had their own sound, most of the time using experimental instruments that no one else was using. They had their own looks, their own custom outfits, one per album, and there were 7. They had their own slang. They had their own politics. They even had an entire philosophy. The most important, influential, and underrated band, (with the exception of Kraftwerk), since The Beatles. This collection is worth while for anyone wanting to see the origins of music video, not to say the cheesy elements and bad, cheap quality of the videos show wear and time, but they did direct and produce their own videos and it was the first time you didn't just have Elvis shown singing with a guitar on a blank stage. The thoroughly American and art-oriented band. 18 videos all together...
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