Duty Now for the Future/New Traditionalists

You see, Ken Scott didn't make the production "murkier," as some reviewers claim. He just made it more INTERESTING. Of course, I love "Are We Not Men" -- a complete classic from start to finish. But this album is just more interesting, more fun, more well made -- heck, even the instrumentals "Devo Corporate Anthem" and "Timing X" are spectacular. Everytime "Anthem" starts up, I always get a feeling that something special is going to happen. And I'm always correct.

"Clockout" is one of the best Devo songs, EVER. It doesn't have the traditional verse/chrous/verse template as other songs... it's an odd listen at first, but it will grow on you like ... fungus. Or something. It's got some kicka** guitar and the lyrics are Devo at it's best.

"Wiggly World" is a great combonation of post-punk and new wave... it hits incredibly hard, and it moves at a blazing pace.

Other top songs on this album include "S.I.B. (Swelling Itching Brain)" (this song even gets scary!), "The Day My Baby Gave Me A Surprise," "Pink Pussy Cat" (great voices), and, the best Devo song ever, "Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA."

And contrary to popular opinion, "New Traditionalists" is only a notch below Devo's other works. I'm particularly fond of the last five songs. "Love Without Anger" and "Beautiful World" especially. Great songs, GREAT lyrics.

All in all, one of the best purchases around for a Devo fan. Buy it before it goes out of print!


Only four stars because of New Traditionalists.   June 8, 2004
jason gilmour (Toronto, Ontario)
Duty Now For The Future is one of DEVO's finest creations. All of the songs on this dark masterpiece are killer futurist, electro-spud rock'n'roll monsters. Duty Now For The Future is a follow lp to the great Q: Are We Not Men album and expands on the DEVO manifesto. Songs like "Clockout", "Wiggly World" and "The Day My Baby Gave Me A Suprise" are great rock'n'roll tunes while being gross and darkly humorous at the same time. DEVO was now developing and expanding the notion that DEVO was just doing a job and entertainment was just that-a job. This is the DEVO war machine at the hight of it's power! For great live footage of the band during the "Duty Now" era try to find the video The Men Who Make The Music. Too bad the original cover that featured a super-cool removable postcard and great bar-code graphics has been replaced with the UK/European version of the jacket art.


Is it on? Is it off? Reply!   January 22, 2004
Terence J. Miles (Sutherland, IA, USA)
8 out of 10 found this review helpful

This CD represents an unusual yet remarkable pairing of two absolutely essential recordings by the Spud Boys from Akron.

After the tour-de-force that was Devo's first full-length album, "Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!", the band switched gears and switched producers from Brian Eno to Ken Scott (known for his work with Supertramp, among others), to produce a chilling, icy work, still with intelligence, energy, and quirky creativity, but with a sound that smacked of anything but commercialism (listen to "Timing X" and "S.I.B"), and was nonetheless very appealling in an emotionally backdoor way; disturbingly catchy, a metaphor for the desire our darker consciousness emits.

I always felt "Freedom Of Choice" was the band's attempt at gaining a more commercial acceptance; not a bad record, but light-hearted when compared to the first two major releases. That's one of the reasons I was glad to see "New Traditionalists" coupled with "Duty Now...". It returned the band to a harder sound, more reminiscent of "Are We Not Men...", while somewhat refuting their more commercial leanings of "Freedom" with songs such as "Through Being Cool" and "Pity You". The attitude was still there, the vision, the disturbing catchiness. They hadn't lost it after all; if anything, they were juxtaposing their original fan base with those who came along upon hearing "Whip It". And it worked very well.

Get this CD. It will inform, entertain, and satirize as only Mothersbaugh and company could. Even 20-plus years down the line.


Good Devo/Bad Devo   October 16, 2003
Karl Dean (Nyack, NY United States)
4 out of 10 found this review helpful

The pairing of these titles is interesting in that both represent follow-up efforts to successful albums ("Q: Are We Not Men?..." successful critically, and "Freedom of Choice" commercially).

"Duty Now..." retains the flavor of the first album; still blaring from that contaminated factory-world. It lacks the novelty and punch of "Q:/A:" (which was an avant-garde masterpiece), but it still bangs and sputters and whizzes and cranks, especially "Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA," which is just great rock. By the way, "Red Eye Express" contains my favorite Devo lyric:

Let me tell you a story
Let me shovel some dirt
Long time no sugar
And it's starting to hurt

With "Freedom of Choice" Devo shifted gears. They got the hit single, but seemed to abandon the creepier Devo elements (like nuclear contamination and birth defects) that were part of the attraction/repulsion that made Devo what it originally was. "New Traditionalists," their next album, is, in my opinion, an empty effort. Devo had lost its teeth by this point, was actually becoming "cute," and was well on the way to self-parody.