More than three decades after the release of its visionary debut, 'Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo,' and a full 20 years since its last studio album, Devo is back with the aptly titled 'Something for Everybody.' The long rumored, wildly anticipated album (which was launched with a memorable performance in Vancouver at the Winter Olympics) features the band's classic line-up - Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh, Gerald and Bob Casale - joined by drummer Josh Freese (Nine Inch Nails, Guns n' Roses). Though the songs recorded for 'Something for Everybody' are built on Devo's signature mechanized swing, the recording and presentation of the album saw the band experimenting with an entirely new approach. A series of studies were conducted through the clubdevo.com site to help the band with its creative decisions, from color selection to song mixes. In fact, 16 songs were recorded but only 12 made the final album. DEVO invited fans and critics to help select the songs that they liked best to make the cut by participating in a Song Study at clubdevo.com.

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Audio Mixer: Greg Kurstin.
Recording information: Mutato Muzika, West Hollywood, CA; Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA.
Photographer: Joshua Dalsimer.
Coming in way above their previous effort, 1990's Smooth Noodle Maps, Something for Everybody is the album Devo's fans had craved for 28 long years, or maybe 29, if you fall on the sour side of the iffy Oh, No! It's Devo. The synthetic, compressed, and punchy production -- courtesy of producer and Bird & the Bee member Greg Kurstin -- is a modern take on the sound of 1981's New Traditionalists, and if you judge by hooks, this is right in line with their 1980 breakthrough, Freedom of Choice, although there's certainly no "Whip It"-sized megahit here. Instead, there's the opening "Fresh!" a herky-jerky, infectious number with lead singer Mark Mothersbaugh stuttering as if he just created New Wave's "My Generation." The wicked highlight "Don't Shoot (I'm a Man)" ("They'll hunt you down/And tase you bro/For playing with the rules") is the album's other key track, thanks to Mothersbaugh's perfect framing of de-evolution's give (hybrid cars) and take, take, take (Beltway snipers, overzealous cops, etc.). Both highlights are co-produced by Santigold who, like Kurstin, checks her ego at the door, allowing the five spud boys to sound like a functioning band. The twangy guitars of Bob 1 are perfectly balanced with the synths and electronic percussion from new member Josh Freese, while Mothersbaugh's ironic downers are complemented by co-frontman Jerry Casale's more snide and silly songs, and the two attempts to re-create the sarcastic grandeur of their masterpiece "Beautiful World" -- with "Later Is Now" and "No Place Like Home" -- come pretty darn close. While some will complain that the satirical social commentary just isn't as razor-sharp, and that the wild, primal nerdiness of their first two efforts is long gone, the purposeful Something for Everybody is proudly not a nostalgia trip and is, instead, filled with age-appropriate subversion, right up to its ironic title. "Something for Veteran Fans" is more like it with "Something Surprisingly Vital" being an even better choice. ~ David Jeffries

Personnel: Mark Mothersbaugh (vocals, synthesizer, programming); Jerry Casale (vocals, bass synthesizer, bass guitar); Bob Mothersbaugh (guitar, background vocals); Josh Freese (drums, percussion); Bob Casale (programming, background vocals); Van Coppock (programming).

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