Devo - Live: The Mongoloid Years
Original Release Date
1992
Release Information
US CD 1992 (Rykodisc - RCD 20209)
Max's Kansas City NYC May 1977
1 Satisfaction (I Can't Get No) 3:18
2 Too Much Paranoias 2:20
3 Praying Hands 4:10
4 Uncontrollable Urge 3:21
5 Mongoloid 3:26
6 Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA 8:02
7 Gut Feeling (Slap Your Mammy) 4:43
8 Sloppy 2:42
9 Come Back Jonee 4:00
The Crypt Akron Ohio December 1976
10 Clockout 2:40
11 Soo Bawls 3:50
12 Space Junk 2:31
13 Blockhead 3:11
WHK Radio Concert Cleveland Ohio Halloween 1975
14 Subhuman Woman 4:42
15 Bamboo Bimbo 3:21
16 Beulah 3:13
17 Jocko Homo/I Need A Chick 12:31
Chart Placings
NoneCredits
Digital Mastering by Dr. Toby Mountain, Northeast Digital Mastering, Southborough MA.
Additional Credits
Mark Mothersbaugh – guitar, keyboards, vocals
Gerald V. Casale – bass guitar, keyboards, vocals
Bob Mothersbaugh – guitar, vocals
Bob Casale - guitar, backing vocals
Alan Myers – drums, electronic percussion (Tracks 1-13)
Jim Mothersbaugh – drums, electronic percussion (Tracks 14-17)
Reviews & Opinions
MARK PAYTRESS, RECORD COLLECTOR, 1992: Devo's sense of the perverse extends to presenting this archive collection of live recordings in precisely anti-chronological order. From the night they played Max's Kansas City in New York in May 1977, which prompted mass record company interest, through the evening they played with nylons over their heads in December 1976 where they opened for the Dead Boys right back to an early support for Sun Ra at the end of 1975, where they managed to clear the auditorium, this pre-history of the band who brought a touch of mechanism into the mainstream is at least as essential as any of their bona fide albums. "Are we not a joke?", was the question Devo posed for themselves during the late 70s, and listening to these reasonably preserved recordings of songs like 'Come Back Jonee', 'Mongoloid', 'Jocko Homo' and 'Smart Patrol' , the answer's still not easily forthcoming. Which is perhaps how it should be.
PUNKY GIBBON: 'Devo Live - The Mongoloid Years' is one of those classic live recordings to file alongside Bob Dylan 'Royal Albert Hall' ("play it fuckin' loud"), Iggy's 'Metallic K.O.' and Suicide's '23 Minutes In Brussels'. In suitably devolVed style, this kicks off with the newest recording, at Max's Kansas City in May 77, by which time the group actually had fans. The 9 songs captured here present the band at its punkiest and most electrifying, playing hard and fast with insane keyboard noises throughout. It's great. The "next" one is from the December before, at The Crypt in Akron. Just four songs, not quite as energetic as the May 77 show but nearly there. At this show Cheetah Chrome from the Dead Boys attacked the band, but while this is mentioned in the liner notes it is, alas, not preserved on tape. The last of the three sets is from a Halloween show in 1975, recorded for Cleveland radio station WHK. The early four-piece lineup (with Jim on electronic drums) plays at a snail's pace and basically clears the place. Near-tuneless anti-songs like the annoying 'Bamboo Bimbo' and the moronically offensive 'I Need A Chick' demonstrate quite clearly why nobody liked them in 1975. This is one of those few live albums actually worth buying with a view to listening over and over again, despite the not-so-perfect sound quality. There isn't a lot that compares to the endless lobotomised chanting of “Are we not men? We are Devo!” which finally drives the audience over the edge during the Halloween Show.
Additional Notes
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