• Artist: Devo
• Flags: Lyrics are included with the album
• Rating:
• Styles: American Underground, American Punk, Post-Punk
• Track Picks: "Clockout," "Secret Agent Man," "The Day My Baby Gave Me a Surprize"
• Similar Albums: Drums and Wires, Dizrythmia, Tent, L.A. Explosion, Chairs Missing, True Colours, Sound on Sound, Entertainment!, Machine Gun Etiquette, Dirk Wears White Sox

Review

While the most obvious flaw of Devo's Duty Now For The Future is that the material simply isn't as good as on their debut, their second album also captures the group in the midst of a significant stylistic shift. On their first album, for all their herky-jerky rhythms and electronic accents, Devo were pretty much a standard guitars/bass/drums rock band, albeit one with more than their share of eccentricities. Duty Now For The Future found them bringing the keyboards that were used as punctuation on their earlier material into the forefront, adding a new level of irony to their "little minds through big technology" philosophy. While Devo would later learn to use electronics with confidence and wit, they were still learning how to integrate them into their sound on Duty Now, and the results lacked the strength and coherence of their debut. Of course, it also helped that the first album had better songs; the two instrumentals on side one are merely filler, "Pink Pussycat" and "Clockout" are jokes that just aren't funny, and "Triumph Of The Will" embraces fascism as a satirical target without bothering to make it sound as if they disapprove. But "Secret Agent Man" is a wittier devolved cover than "Satisfaction," the band rarely sounded as cheerfully creepy as on "The Day My Baby Gave Me A Surprize," and the side two rave up, "Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA" is superbly potent (for all their progressive trappings, Devo were formalists enough to know you make a big rock move near the end of side two.) Duty Now For The Future is hardly a bad album, but it isn't as strong as what Devo had already brought to the table -- or would offer later on. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	iTunes	Composers	Performers	Time
Devo Corporate Anthem		Mark Mothersbaugh	Devo	(1:16)
Clockout		Gerald V. Casale	Devo	(2:48)
Timing X	...	Mark Mothersbaugh	Devo	(1:13)
Wiggly World		Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald V. Casale	Devo	(2:45)
Blockhead		Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald V. Casale, Bob Mothersbaugh	Devo	(3:00)
Strange Pursuits		Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald V. Casale	Devo	(2:45)
S.I.B. (Swelling Itching Brain)		Mark Mothersbaugh	Devo	(4:27)
Triumph of the Will		Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald V. Casale	Devo	(2:19)
The Day My Baby Gave Me a Surprize		Mark Mothersbaugh	Devo	(2:42)
Pink Pussycat		Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald V. Casale, Bob Mothersbaugh	Devo	(3:12)
Secret Agent Man		P.F. Sloan, Steve Barri	Devo	(3:37)
Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA	...	Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald V. Casale	Devo	(6:06)
Red-Eye Express		Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald V. Casale	Devo	(2:50)

Credits

Devo (Producer), Devo (Main Performer), Devo, Mark Mothersbaugh (Guitar), Mark Mothersbaugh (Arranger), Mark Mothersbaugh (Keyboards), Mark Mothersbaugh (Vocals), Ken Scott (Producer), Ken Scott (Engineer), Bob Casale (Guitar), Bob Casale (Keyboards), Bob Casale (Vocals), Gerald V. Casale (Keyboards), Gerald V. Casale (Vocals), Brian Eno (Producer), Bernie Grundman (Mastering), Phil Jost (Assistant Engineer), Phil Jost (Mastering Assistant), Bob Mothersbaugh (Guitar), Bob Mothersbaugh (Vocals), Alan Myers (Drums), Janet Perr (Artwork), Janet Perr (Cover Art), Chuck Statler (Producer), Brian Leshon (Mastering Assistant)

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