Devo
Q: Are We Not Men? A: We are Devo!

Five crazy guys! Five maniacs! From the American rubber capital, ladies and gentlemen... the Devo! Comprised of the twins Bob and Jerry Casale (guitar and bass, respectively), the brothers Bob and Mark Motherbaugh (vocals and keyboards), and Alan Myers (drums), they debuted in 1978, produced by the ever-present "I'm always there" Brian Eno, with an incredible, innovative album, full of Kraftwerk-like character, with a taste for garage rock. Disturbing synths rhythmically contrasting with acoustic instruments, and never as a mere background; nervous, jerky singing, colleagues of David Byrne, and so much irony and zaniness, which especially emerges in the incredible lyrics and their lives, where our heroes would appear in yellow suits and radiation glasses, playing modified instruments with a space-age design.

Before arriving at this record, Devo set their image, and their theory, unfortunately true.
"De-evolution" which is not Bossi's devolution, but the philosophy according to which "the human species is mutating to adapt to the technological environment. De-evolution is then the disappearance of emotions, the rise of a uniform mediocrity where the individual is just a number, the progressive blind trust in the machine- the problem solver (up to the point where the servant/master relationship becomes ambiguous and undefined), the awareness of having nothing to fear from technology" (Piero Scaruffi).
From then on, the trend of robotic singing and movements broke out, influencing even Italian artists like Alberto Camerini (rock n'roll robot).

Q: Are we not men? A: We are Devo! starts with "Uncontrollable urge", a punk-rock that would kick the likes of Offspring and similar. It continues with the fantastic over-modified cover of "(I can't get no) Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones, recognizable only by the lyrics, and "Praying heads". Broken rhythms and dissonant synths, as in "Space Junk". The two tracks that positively affirm the album are "Mongoloid" (mongoloid he was a mongoloid happier than you and me), devastating bass lines and chasing instruments, and "Jocko homo" Devo's manifesto, where in addition to quoting the album’s title in the lyrics, the "De-evolution" theory is exposed. This last track, with a robotic arrangement, has a crazy variation in the end, where synths, bass, guitars, and drums alternate, creating an unsettling and obsessive atmosphere. The remaining tracks are a summary of the characteristics previously listed, where one must cite the obsessive and thrilling "Gut feeling (Slap your mummy)", where an endlessly repeated arpeggio develops into a magnificent instrumental run, concluded by a sonic and disturbing finale.

This is Devo's masterpiece, where adjectives are wasted trying to define it. A punch in the face to compositional standardization, prog, solos, and melody for its own sake. The fathers of musical multimedia. Strange, yes, but easily memorable. I honestly prefer their subsequent album "Duty now for the future" where they got rid of Brian Eno, to create a second album, where the robotic and jagged sound, and the rock 'n roll/electronic mix, becomes the ultimate expression. But the cover and the music of this ingenious work is history and therefore important. The word "recommendation" is superfluous. 5/5 deserved!