{"product_id":"devo-q-are-we-not-men-a-we-are-devo-mobile-fidelity-numbered-edition","title":"Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! (Mobile Fidelity Numbered Edition)","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe satirical protest, spastic structures, and deadpan humour of Devo's \u003cem\u003eQ: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!\u003c\/em\u003e run so deep that it took decades for the music cognoscenti to come around and appreciate the record on its own terms. Ranked the 252nd Greatest Album of All Time by Rolling Stone and among the 100 best efforts of the 1970s by Pitchfork, Devo's radical debut helped steer the new-wave movement that followed. And as fate would have it, it is more relevant in the 21st century than at the time of its release.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSourced from the original master tapes, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing in California, and housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, \u003cstrong\u003eMobile Fidelity's numbered-edition 180g 45RPM 2LP\u003c\/strong\u003e set presents the 1978 benchmark in reference-grade sound. Benefitting from the extra groove space on this first-ever 45RPM version by playing with enhanced definition, deep-black backgrounds, and ultra-quiet surfaces, it reveals previously buried nuances and portrays soundstages whose scope is limited only by the capacity of your audio gear. \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMobile Fidelity’s Numbered-Edition Hybrid SACD \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003ePlays with Superb Clarity and Detail\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe presence, clarity, and detail of this reissue render in three-dimensional fashion the textures, tones, and effects critical to the music. Though \u003cstrong\u003eBrian Eno\u003c\/strong\u003e butted heads with the band during the recording process, the merits of his production emerge like never before. The treatments that turn Devo's keyboards into the equivalent of futuristic machines; the metallic effects and pointed sharpness of the percussion; the various voices that emerge in the distance; the sonic symmetry of the arrangements; the herky-jerk motion of the singing; the stickiness of the bizarre time signatures: \u003cem\u003eQ: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!\u003c\/em\u003e comes across like a pointillistic painting seen up close.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne made by what Devo claimed were \"suburban robots here to entertain corporate life forms.\" Of course, leader \u003cstrong\u003eMark Mothersbaugh\u003c\/strong\u003e and company were fully human. The Ohio-based group cut its teeth while several members attended Kent State University as art-school students. By the time Devo settled on the line-up that would create \u003cem\u003eQ: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!\u003c\/em\u003e, it had finely honed the songs and attracted the attention of \u003cstrong\u003eDavid Bowie\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eIggy Pop\u003c\/strong\u003e, and multiple record labels.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInnovators like Bowie, who remixed the album, counted themselves among a limited audience who picked up on the group's brilliant wit and tongue-in-cheek stance. Couched in everything from the record's title to the lyrics and architecture, let alone the band's name, Devo's send-up of social dysfunction, conspicuous consumption, and conformist behaviour maintained that institutions, culture, and humankind continue to regress rather than advance. That \"devolution\" plays out in the strict precision, mechanical rhythms, and black-and-white certainty of the animatronic songs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOriginally misunderstood as a joke or novelty act by many critics and listeners, \u003cem\u003eQ: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!\u003c\/em\u003e gained credibility and clout with the passing of time. Decades later, its relevance in a landscape filled with virtual realities, artificial intelligence, blurred truths, lab-processed clones, repressed emotions, and social media pressures to submissively follow so-called influencers is greater than anything even Devo could've foreseen. The environments at which the quintet hinted on the album — corporations as people and vice versa; microchips taking the place of brains and souls; out-of-hand desires trumping sensibility; mind-crushing fears dictating thought — took up residence in everyday reality.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe prophetic nature of Devo's initial batch of songs cannot be overstated. Skittery, jagged, and shaking along with the ghosts of early rock 'n' roll, the opening \u003cem\u003eUncontrollable Urge\u003c\/em\u003e sets the table for what follows. The band then tears down The Rolling Stones' \u003cem\u003e(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction\u003c\/em\u003e to its studs, the terse minimalism and icy emotion indicative of the devolution addressed throughout the record. Another rock hero, Chuck Berry, receives a nod on \u003cem\u003eCome Back Jonee\u003c\/em\u003e, the tune's name and guitar fills referencing \u003cem\u003eJohnny B. Goode\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThough somewhat controversial, \u003cem\u003eMongoloid\u003c\/em\u003e pulses with frequency-modulated synthesiser lines, crunchy riffs, and proto-electronic beats as it relays the story of a disabled protagonist who not only thrives but attains levels of happiness off-limits to everyone else in the diminished society. Its equally famous B-side, the call-and-response anthem \u003cem\u003eJocko Homo\u003c\/em\u003e, goes one step further, rendering moot any notion of advancement by questioning the entire idea and purpose of mankind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Are we not men? We are Devo!\" the group repeatedly asserts. A truth that seems more evident with each passing day.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mobile Fidelity","offers":[{"title":"Numbered 180g 2LP 45RPM","offer_id":58713425903961,"sku":"SDZ-49449","price":79.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"Numbered Hybrid SACD","offer_id":58713467355481,"sku":"SDZ-49450","price":46.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0588\/3455\/0945\/files\/unnamed_368f544c-af9d-4269-a594-adca7c7e48e2.png?v=1785246562","url":"https:\/\/spindizzyrecords.com\/products\/devo-q-are-we-not-men-a-we-are-devo-mobile-fidelity-numbered-edition","provider":"Spindizzy Dublin","version":"1.0","type":"link"}