Customer Reviews

Devo 2.0 (W/Dvd) (Dig)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I found an old Devo's Greatest Misses cassette in my garage recently and had been playing it in my car while taking my elementary-aged daughters to school. While the tape brought back great memories for me, my kids hated Devo. Then on a trip to Wal-Mart I found DEV2.0, noticed it was produced by the folks from Devo, bought it, and have been playing it for the last two weeks in the car--and my daughters like it!

Although I can't bring myself to sing "Boy" U Want and I shake my head in disbelief when I hear the focus of "Uncontrollable Urge" changed to a passion for snack foods, I consider this CD a gateway to the harder Devo recordings I plan to introduce as the months progress.

Now, if only I can get the kids interested in Zappa, too....

One of the stranger, more subtly subversive DEVO products ever unleashed on an unsuspecting public.

Like the long-out-of-print RYKODISC " DEVO-E-Z listening" CD, which contained Devo's self-produced muzak versions of their own songs, performed in various styles and genres, DEVO 2.0, is another experiment of exposing Devo to society at large...Or at least, more specifically this time --- your kids.

Given that Mark And Bob Mothersbaugh and Bob Casale write and produce music for some chidren's programming and movies nowadays, it oddly seems appropiate. The difference here is, that this album is not subversive Devo background music but a sort of greatest hits of DEVO, re-interpreted, along with 2 new tracks and with pre-teens making up this "band": 3 boys, 2 girls. The girl lead singer has a Gwen Stefani vibe in her performance.

Not to be missed with this CD package, is the DVD that comes with it. Full of videos for most of the songs on the CD, it shows the kids performing in front of computer animations, shown on plasma TV's, which sync up and go along with the music...reminscent of what was done by the actual Devo back with the "oh no! it's Devo!" album tour in concert back in the 80's. Also, on the DVD...a big Bonus for Devo fans...Interviews with Gerry Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh, the braintrust of the REAL DEVO, conducted by the Dev2.0 band members itself. Worth a few chuckles, is the apparently Disney-produced "history" of Devo, a commercial included on the DVD as an extra that attempts to explain DEVO to the younger generation. funny...

You may not agree that Dev2.0 as Gerry Casale says, is the next generation of DEVO, much like Star Trek with its assorted off-shoots, but if you have previous knowledge of Devo from the older eras, it is highly ironic and funny to know that this product is being sold, as we speak, in some Disney stores and Targets...and corporate irony and humor are 2 things that Devo does with a sense of style like no other band. If you look at this album as a "sellout", you have missed the point, in my opinion. I was originally appalled, but after seeing a commercial air in the Disney store for it and how kids reacted, I totally get it.

If you are a big longtime Devo fan with kids, and can appreciate the irony of a Disney + DEVO collaboration and already have all of the real Devo releases, you should check this out. As expected, in the typical "Kid's bop" fashion, lyrics to most of the songs are rewritten to be more appropiate for the younger/pre-teen set. A few songs, have some subtle tweaking here and there musically as well.

DEVO 2.0 is a project by DEVO. There are two disks, a CD and a DVD. They claim in the interview on the DVD that DEVO has always yearned to be more than just a band and the idea of them being the "puppet masters" behind other artists fronting as DEVO is not new. Indeed as mentioned in the other reviews here, DEVO released two albums of genuine and earnest MUZAK versions of a collection of their songs. Also they played as the musicians on TONI BASIL's debut album in 1982 `Word of Mouth" while she covered four of their songs (Space Girl Blues, Be Stiff, Pity You and Love's Little Red Book).

While they claim that the members of DEVO 2.0 will be capable of playing their own instruments by the time of their summer 2006 tour, DEVO does in fact play all the instruments on the CD. The DVD has both the DEVO 2.0 music videos with colorful new DEVO cartoons playing on monitors in the background, and the option of watching those cartoons by themselves with only the DEVO soundtrack. They compliment each other and I found both enjoyable to watch. And if that weren't enough, DEVO 2.0 covers two new DEVO songs, Cyclops, and The Winner.

DEVO - The Next Generation.

While the release date is listed as March 14th, 06 it is actually now available at Target. Also worth noting, the Target version includes a 2 bonus videos and 1 bonus song.

The music was produced by DEVO with the vocals by DEV2.O. Word is, that the kids now know how to play and when on tour will do their own music (other than some complex synth patterns). Having grown up a DEVO fan, I am very happy with the slick product that is being presented here. I like the idea of my children being able to enjoy the music I grew up with.

Some lyrics are changed, and this does impact some of the irony of DEVO. But DEVO did the re-writing, and while the changes do cause me to stumble when I sing along, children won't know or care.

The music is fun, energetic and meant to be played LOUD! Nichole does a great job on vocals. I don't care for her in the videos, she hams it up a little more than needed. Then again, I am not the target audience, so what do I know?

Maybe we will get another CD from DEV2.O, but something tells me this is a one-shot deal. Hope I'm wrong, I'd like to hear them tackle: Time Out For Fun, Jocko Homo, Mongoloid and Speed Racer. We'll see....

CD

01 That's Good

02 Peek A Boo

03 Whip It

04 Boy U Want

05 Uncontrollable Urge

06 Cyclops

07 The Winner

08 Big Mess

09 Jerkin Back N Forth

10 Through Being Cool

11 Freedom of Choice

12 Beautiful World

*13 Girl U Want (Target Exclusive)

DVD

01 That's Good

02 Big Mess

03 Whip It

04 Freedom of Choice

05 Uncontrollable Urge

06 Cyclops

07 Peek A Boo

08 Beautiful World

09 Boy U Want

*10 The Winner (Target Exclusive)

*11 Girl U Want (Target Exclusive)

The DVD also includes: a segment where DEVO 2.0 interviews 3 of the 5 members of DEVO 1.0, DEVO 2.0 video profiles, background animations seen in the videos for all the songs (also the songs are instrumentals here - would have made a good karaoke section but no lyrics are shown), and a "Play All" option for the videos.

One note about the music videos, they look like video. By this, I mean they don't look like film, which is how we are used to seeing most music videos today. These are shot on video, and they look like it. Your children probably won't mind, but it is a little unexpected. Would processing it to look like film have cost that much?

Overall this is a fun, vibrant and very suprising experiment. I can't believe it came from the House of Mouse! Disney Sound did a great job, and I am really looking forward to the Go-Gos version of this experiment that is coming soon.

Nothing replaces the original but this gives the old songs a new twist. With Devo's approval, guidence, musical backing, hand picked performers, how could you go wrong? Nay sayers just don't get it. Refer back to your old Laserdisc copy of the video "Through being cool". Young DEVO-tees doing Devo's bidding as the band looks on in approval. Just think, this may lead the radio disney generation to seek out the original recordings and find out what the boys were really singing about. My advice, Buy the CD/DVD at Target.com and get 2 extra songs not found anywhere else. Besides these kids inspired DEVO to write 2 new songs just for this set.

I'm really into Cyclops with it's black sabbath, iron man type riff. I didn't even have to lie about it being for my niece when I bought it because I too am through being cool.

Lighten up and enjoy.

If you're a true Devo fan you will love this CD/DVD. The interview with Mark and Gerry is worth the price of the CD. If you don't want to see kids singing Devo songs, then maybe this CD isn't for you. To give anything Devo a 1 star is pure blasphemy. The real question you should ask "Is Kane a boy or a girl?" It is interesting how some of the seedier lyrics were fixed up to make it more kid friendly.

Attention adult-aged DEVO nerds: this is audio/visual entertainment aimed at young children. If you're some doughy dude who's world has been crushed by the pinheads at Diz-nee because they destroyed something you once held dear, knock it off already! This is a DEVO project/experiment for a new generation. It is for very young spuds, and they really like it (based on the kids' reactions at a recent DEV2.0 show in Akron). These young spuds will grow up and seek out the real DEVO. The seeds have been planted in the fertile brain. Is that not a good thing? It's a great thing!

Here's an actual review: this whole concept is very surreal. DEVO, but for children? It's bound to divide the masses. But if you've got little kids who like quirky music and energetic video production, this will most likely entertain them. It's not annoying like other entertainment for children, like anthropomorphic animals with stupid voices and Raffis who treat kids like little morons. This is for thinking kids (that's usually an oxymoron)! It features actual pre-teens "performing" great music that doesn't waste time telling kids about colors and numbers and how to distinguish right from wrong. It motivates kids to be weird like nothing has before! I would assume that getting little kids into DEV2.0 would help their brains mutate in all kinds of awesome ways.

Remember, friends...much of DEVO is humor at the expense of the "corporate feudal state" that is apparently more vicious than ever.

The ultimate joke is the track listing...some of DEVO's best songs with the best social commentary are re-worked for children with new lyrics that hide the assault. Beautiful World, Freedom of Choice, That's Good, JERKIN' BACK AND FORTH. Adults know what's going on here, but the kids don't. It's subtle genius! The DEV2.0 generation had better bring about a new age of Enlightenment, or I'm gonna be pissed.

A four-star rating because the only thing missing is Mark or Jerry's vocals. Buy it for kids, because that's who it's made for.

I'm a DEVO fan from wayback as well, and I was initially horrified at the prospect of sanitized Devo done by lil' tykes. But despite those misgivings, I bought it anyway and now can't get this CD out of my player. First things - the songs sound really really fresh, proof of Devo's great writing - and the new production sheen is what I think Devo would of done back then if they had 21st century technology (okay, maybe not "Uncontrollable Urge"). Second of all, the two new songs..Cyclops is o-kay but "The Winner" is a great, great song that is classic Devo to my ears. I like the girl's singing, she sounds a little dorky as opposed to a new Jon Benet Spud or whatever, and it's charming. And yes, I kinda cringe when I hear some of the more astonishing lyric edits, but that's kind of funny as well. I've got to say Disney's aggressive 'value for your money' CD+DVD package is pretty cool and worth getting. The more I listen to this, the more sense it makes - like when Kraftwerk would make robots to do shows for them. Awesome!

Yes, this is a sanitized version of Devo's songbook, sung by little kids on a Disney record. Since the Casale and Mothersbaugh brothers are directly involved, it is also Devo's greatest joke since the E-Z Listening Cassette of the 1980's. But get this - the music is actually pretty good; kids (and Devo fans) will dig it! The instrumentals on "Jerkin' Back N Forth" are superior to the original. Are the kids really playing? Who knows. This is fun stuff, just relax and enjoy it.

Devo 2.0's "DEV2.0", in a 13 track Target store exclusive version (featuring "Girl U Want" as a bonus), was released in early February. Yes, it's quite disturbing. Devo recreated for the "tween" crowd, produced by Devo themselves... and the only new Devo tracks in a decade: "Cyclops" & "The Winner." 'Nuff said? Your kids can do a LOT worse.