Devo: Pioneers Who Got Scalped (CD2) CD Track Listing

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Devo Pioneers Who Got Scalped (CD2) (2000)
Pioneers Who Got Scalped : The Anthology - Disc 2 of 2\n\nReleased May 9, 2000\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: Heading into the new millennium, there was no truly definitive Devo compilation on the market, so Rhino attempted to remedy the situation with the double-disc Pioneers Who Got Scalped: The Anthology -- and did a pretty good job, without quite pulling it off. When faced with a choice, the compilation takes the collector-oriented route by including the rarer version; as a result, buyers get the original Booji Boy-label recordings of "Jocko Homo" and "Mongoloid"; the single remixes of "Snowball," "Baby Doll," and "Disco Dancer"; and the extended dance remixes of "Here to Go" and "Theme From Doctor Detroit." As an added bonus for fans, the beginning and end of each disc features brief sound clips from the group's legendary short films. More problematic, though, is the anthology's attempt to present a balanced overview of all phases of Devo's career. While admirable in intent, the fact is that the group's oeuvre grew steadily weaker as time passed, and since disc one runs all the way through their first (and best) four albums, disc two is a pretty bumpy ride. Not that it's worthless -- collectors and devoted fans will be thrilled with the inclusion of quite a few songs that had only previously appeared on various movie soundtracks, and it also rescues some worthwhile (if not quite transcendent) singles from obscurity, like the aforementioned "Disco Dancer" and "Post Post-Modern Man." But as a listening experience, it pales next to the first disc in terms of songwriting, musical invention, and edgy humor; plus, where the band's early covers reinvented rock standards as comments on alienation and dehumanization, latter-day items like "Bread and Butter" and "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" are strictly novelties and nothing more. So the bottom line is, you've got to be a hardcore Devo enthusiast to fully appreciate Pioneers Who Got Scalped. If you are, it's a fantastic package; if you want a more basic overview, you're better off with the somewhat disorganized Greatest Hits and Greatest Misses discs or the import collection Hot Potatoes. It's kind of a shame, though, that in spite of the generally fine job done compiling Pioneers, there still isn't a single Devo anthology that distills all the best moments from their crucial early years, and throws in just the right (small) number of later singles. -- Steve Huey\n\nRolling Stone (6/8/00, pp.120-22) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...Weird in a different way: It's half album tracks and half alternate mixes, rarities and tracks from Z-grade movies....The first disc roars from start to finish....[while] Disc 2 manages pretty well in salvaging the last 18 years..." \n\nSpin (7/00, p.151) - 6 out of 10 - "...You witness the cultural moment for the post-human hardhats - that early '80s instant when new wave, rap, and electro collaborated on a soundtrack for the 21st century....A trip through the band's Rust Belt-bred dystopia reminds you how much they got right..." \n\nQ Magazine (8/00, p.115-6) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Trading heavily in alienation and sexual frustration, their early material [groundbreaking electro-punk] overshadows most of what was to come." \n\nMelody Maker (6/13/00, p.81) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Sounds strangely like Iggy Pop duffing up early Human League. Sheer genius, then." \n\nMojo (7/00, p.125) - "...Great beats, great riffs, great ideas, and most importantly of all, great fun." \n\nCMJ (6/5/00, p.25) - "...Not just a greatest hits package...[it] features a broad cross-section of classic cuts....Devo was a pioneer well ahead of its time..." \n\nAmazon.com Editorial Review\nThis is it? Just two CDs devoted (snicker) to one of the great American bands? With the one-two punch of their mission statements "Jocko Homo" and "Mongoloid" from the early 70's, it's clear that Devo had it all figured out from the beginning. Theirs was a fight against the increasingly alienating modern world, a sort of "if you can't beat it, join it" idea. Devo would find more honest humanity by becoming less human. "Are we not men? We are Devo!" was their declaration, echoing the man-beast experiments in H.G. Wells's Island of Dr. Moreau. Devo were not just academic philosophers, or simple clowns. They could rock! Disjointed beats, Beefheart-worthy rhythms, and strange sounds combined with general outrageousness resulted in a great rock & roll band, and even a hit or two on the pop charts like 1980's "Whip It."\n\nThe first of the two CDs on the Rhino compilation Pioneers Who Got Scalped goes down like butter, every song a classic. Two or three more CDs could have easily been culled from these same fertile years between their debut album and 1981's New Traditionalists. The second CD starts to lose the plot a bit as the members of Devo started going in different directions, primarily Mark Mothersbaugh's developing interest in movie soundtracks and scoring. But it does still paint the picture of Devo and where they were during what Jerry Casale, Mothersbaugh's writing partner, refers to as "the enigmatic years."\n\nUntil someone steps up and releases the entire Devo recordings and videos together in one big box, this will have to do. And too many great things cannot be said about the 52-page booklet filled to the gills with info and photos. While completists will still be left wanting, this'll keep most spud boys and girls pogo-ing contentedly. --Steve Turner \n\nVH1 Online Review\nTwo decades before "synergy" became the buzzword of late-capitalist suits, Devo crawled from the primordial ooze of Akron, Ohio, with an evolved, multi-pronged attack that today would make the boys in marketing drool: music, video, fashion, and a duty now for the future. The rebel Spud boys' commentary on the de-evolution around them combined the best of the avant-garde (early synth-pop, matching Tyvec jumpsuits, post-modern long-form music videos) with the trashy adolescent humor of the wittiest bunch of punks you'd care to meet. Not surprisingly, Devo's prescient genius went unnoticed by most, who found it easier to categorize the band as a novelty act. Lest we forget their contributions in this post-Devo world, Pioneers Who got Scalped reminds us why Mark, Bob, Bob No. 2, Alan, and Jerry were not just the only band with plastic hair, they were - truly - the only band that mattered. From the Moog minimalism of "Jocko Homo" (which staked out the group's unique place early on with the mantra "Q: Are we not men? A: We are Devo!"), to the Eno- (and emo-) punk of "Uncontrollable Urge," to the poignant synth-pop of "Beautiful World" and the dying gasp of 1990's "Post-Post Modern Man," the two-disc anthology shows Devo's (de-) evolution and commitment to conceptual and musical exploration over a busy decade and a half. With the band no longer protecting us from the ninnies and the twits, Pioneers Who Got Scalped is a primer for keeping vigil against the downward spiral of de-evolution. And that, to quote the Spuds themselves, is a monumental good thing. \n

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