DEVO Live: The Mongoloid Years

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DEVO Live: The Mongoloid Years
Live album by Devo
Released	1992
Recorded	October 31, 1975–November 15, 1977
Genre	Art punk, new wave, post-punk
Label	Rykodisc
Producer	Devo
Devo chronology
Hardcore Devo: Volume Two (1991) DEVO Live: The Mongoloid Years (1992) (2004)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
allmusic	[1]

DEVO Live: The Mongoloid Years is a live album consisting of recordings from three early performances by American new wave band Devo.

Overview[]

The album presents parts of three Devo concerts from their early days, presented in reverse chronological order: Max's Kansas City in November 1977 (mislabeled as May 1977), the Crypt in Akron in December 1976, and the WHK Auditorium in Cleveland on Halloween 1975. The concerts were recorded on four-track tape by the band, and the selections are described by Gerald Casale as "the best of the only audio tapes that escaped total disintegration over the last 15 years" in the liner notes.

The album includes an essay and description of the shows, penned by Gerald Casale, titled "The rest, as they say, is De-evolution." It describes both the environment of the shows and the development of the early band.

Max's Kansas City NYC November 1977[]

Covering tracks 1 through 9, this concert is noted as being introduced by David Bowie, who called Devo "The band of the future," and offered to produce their first album. It shows an early Devo at the top of their performance. According to Casale's essay, the day after the show, in Akron, the band began to receive phone calls from record labels.

The band performed two sets at this show. The performance on the CD is the early set, save for "Come Back Jonee" from the later set. In 2014, the Max's Kansas City tracks were re-released as a limited edition LP with recovered audio of David Bowie's introduction.

The Crypt Akron December 1976[]

This concert covers tracks 10 through 13 and is a performance of Devo opening for the Dead Boys. At the time, there was a feud between fans of Devo and the Dead Boys and a fist fight, allegedly started by Cheetah Chrome, occurred during the show.

This was one of the first shows with drummer Alan Myers.

WHK Auditorium Cleveland Halloween 1975[]

The remainder of the disc is a very early Devo concert featuring the quartet lineup of the band, which included Jim Mothersbaugh on electronic drums. The band had been hired as a joke to open for Sun Ra at a private party, and had been billed as a cover band. They are introduced by local radio personality Murray Saul.

Devo performs in the guise of theatrical characters, and infuriates much of the audience into leaving before Sun Ra's set. This show featured the first performance of "Jocko Homo", which allegedly went on for 30 minutes. During the performance of the song, an audience member takes a stage microphone and insults the band. The set finally ends when the promoters unplug the band's equipment, though the recorder picks up an argument and near fist-fight between Gerald Casale and a promoter.

According to other sources, the crowd became angry because Devo refused to stop playing and the headliner, Sun Ra, never got to perform.^[2]

Track listing[]

• "Timing X" on track 11 is uncredited.
• An introduction of the third show is mis-cued and added to the end of "Blockhead".
• "Baby Talkin' Bitches" and "Chango" on track 14 are uncredited.
• The last two tracks on the album are also mis-cued and combine the performances of "Beulah", "Jocko Homo" and most of "I Need a Chick" onto one track.
• The track labeled "I Need a Chick" features the band attempting to play further and being kicked off the stage.

Personnel[]

• Mark Mothersbaugh – guitar (1–2), vocals (1–4, 6–9, 11, 13, 17), keyboards
• Gerald V. Casale – vocals (5–6, 10, 12, 14, 16–17), bass guitar
• Bob Mothersbaugh – vocals (5–6), guitar
• Bob Casale – guitar, bass guitar (10), backing vocals (1–13)
• Alan Myers – drums (1–13)
• Jim Mothersbaugh – electronic percussion (14–17)

References[]