shout

Shout
Studio album by Devo
Released	October 9, 1984
Recorded	1984, The Record Plant, Los Angeles
Genre	New Wave
Length	30:48
Label	Warner Bros. Records & Virgin Records
Producer	Devo
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Robert Christgau (C) link
Devo chronology
Oh, No! It's Devo (1982) Shout (1984) E-Z Listening Disc (1987)

Shout is a 1984 album by the New Wave rock band Devo. It is their sixth album for Warner Bros. Records and retains the synth-pop sound of their last few records with a heavy focus on the new Fairlight CMI computer synthesizer. Despite the popularity of synth-pop in 1984, the album was a critical and commercial failure and ultimately led to Warner Bros. Records dropping the band. Following its release, the band went on hiatus for four years.

One of Shout's best-known tracks is "Are U Experienced?", a Jimi Hendrix cover that carried on the Devo tradition of 'mutating' famous songs which began with their 1978 cover of the Rolling Stones classic "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction". Ironically, the cover was marginally more accessible and danceable than the heavily experimental Hendrix track. Many believe this to be a smart move on the band's part, considering the trouble they were having with Warner Bros. Records at the time (Are You Experienced? being a 'sacred cow' of the WB catalog). Additionally, the chorus melody of Hendrix's "Third Stone from the Sun" is transformed into a guitar solo partway through the track. The track "The 4th Dimension" also incorporates the guitar hook from The Beatles' song "Day Tripper" and "Here to Go" quotes a bit of the Wilson Pickett hit "Land Of 1,000 Dances."

The album was Devo's first, and last, to use the Fairlight CMI computer to create songs. This approach further pushed the sound of the guitar into the background of their music. Drummer Alan Myers left the band shortly after the album's release, citing feeling creatively deprived, partially from the band's use of drum machines and the Fairlight.

Track listing

1. "Shout" – 3:15
2. "The Satisfied Mind" – 3:07
3. "Don't Rescue Me" – 3:07
4. "The 4th Dimension" – 4:24
5. "C'mon" – 3:15
6. "Here to Go" – 3:18
7. "Jurisdiction of Love" – 3:00
8. "Puppet Boy" – 3:10
9. "Please Please" – 3:04
10. "Are U Experienced?" (Jimi Hendrix) – 3:08

Rereleases

In 1997, Shout was released on Infinite Zero Archive/American Recordings, and included two bonus tracks: "Growing Pains" (a B-Side to "Are U Experienced?"), and "Shout (Hello Kitty)", a version of the title track from Devo's E-Z Listening Music collections.

In 2004, Collectables Records re-released Shout without bonus tracks. This version is currently in print, but the first printing misspelled Gerald Casale's last name as "Casle". This mistake was corrected in subsequent printings.

In 2008, the album was digitally remastered and released as part of the box set This is the Devo Box in Japan.

Music videos

A lavish video for "Are U Experienced?" was produced by the band and Ivan Stang of the Church of the SubGenius. Its many highlights include Devo as floating blobs of 'wax' in a lava lamp (a definite '60s image) and Hendrix (played by an impersonator) stepping out of his coffin to play a solo. Despite being one of Devo's most visually impressive (and expensive) videos, it wasn't included on the 2003 DVD-format video retrospective The Complete Truth About De-Evolution (although it had been included on the Laserdisc of the same name issued in 1993). This is explained below in an extract from an interview with Gerry Casale for Earcandymag.com:^[1]

E.C.: Speaking of de-evolution, why didn’t the Hendrix estate give you permission to put the “Are U Experienced” video on the DVD?

Gerald Casale: Further de-evolution. You understand that the consortium of people that now represent the Hendrix estate are basically run by lawyers; the lawyer mentality. Lawyers always posit the worst-case scenarios. Though that video was loved for years by anybody who saw it including the man who commissioned it—Chuck Arroff—a luminary in the music business who still claims to this day that it was one of his five most favorite videos ever; they [the lawyers] didn’t get it and assumed we were making fun of Jimi. That’s like saying “Whip It” makes fun of cowboys. This is so stupid it’s unbelievable."

Tour

As the band were dropped by their record label and went on hiatus following Shout's release, there was no tour to promote it. They had apparently planned a show with a video projection backdrop similar to the Oh, No! It's Devo tour of 1982.

Personnel

• Robert Casale
• Gerald Casale
• Bob Mothersbaugh
• Mark Mothersbaugh
• Alan Myers

• Mike Shipley -- mixing
• Jim Mothersbaugh -- technical assistance
• Will Alexander -- programming consultation
• Al Horvath and Bill Wolfer -- additional Emulator programs
• DEVO -- graphic concept
• Vigon Seireeni -- art direction
• Karen Filter -- photography
• Effective Graphics -- computer graphics
• Zachary Chase (boy), Alex Mothersbaugh (girl) -- cover kids
• Clacton and Frinton -- DEVO's Chinese-American Friendship Suits

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Notes