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Something for Everyone isn't a return to the halcyon days, but neither is it a deluded grasp for relevance, their sonic instincts still intact, the wheezy synths and buzzing guitars sharp and modern.
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Certainly tracks one through six are up there with the most out-and-out enjoyable stuff Devo have ever produced, without compromise on the wit or cynicism. It may be too late in life for Devo to truly regain the heights of what made them one of the best bands of the new wave era, but it doesn't matter.
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The melodies get sharper and more skewed, the beats and synths more diverse and rangy-- evoking everyone from LCD Soundsystem to Mouse on Mars. And most of it is good enough to remind you how most of that everyone owes something to Devo.
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There's also a contemporary fullness and distortion in the album's production that updates Devo's sound without sacrificing its unmistakable essence.
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Their ability to produce electronic rhythms and melodies that twitch the human body is as undimmed as their capacity for playful, subversive thought.
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It's the closest thing to a party album that Devo have ever released: every track is fast, insistent, loud, danceable, and wouldn't have been out of place in the Top 40 at any time over the last 30 years.
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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.
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Combining the punk-funk fury of Devo's earliest recordings with synth pop, this ninth disc is frantic and wall-to-wall catchy (particularly Human Rocket).
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On their first album in 20 years, the spud boys return to show dancey electro-pop pretenders how it's done--syn-drums and all.
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With most of the original brain trust intact – brothers Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh and Gerald and Bob Casale, plus ex-Nine Inch Nails/Guns n' Roses drummer Josh Freese – Something for Everybody sounds effortlessly fresh.
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You'll likely find yourself surrendering to the band's herky-jerky hooks and machine-like swing on Something for Everybody.
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Something for Everybody is pure Devo, triumphantly Devo, sincerely Devo, Devo without scare-quotes.
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It's hooks are wilted, and its lyrics run over with cliches and canned memes from news and television.
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The tunes are solid, and the quintet plays them with all the enthusiasm, vigor and focus that were missing from most of its post-Freedom of Choice recordings. The songwriting sags a bit in the second half.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 30 out of 33
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Mixed: 2 out of 33
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Negative: 1 out of 33
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Mar 13, 2012
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Jun 2, 2011
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Dec 27, 2010Iâ