Devo - The Complete Truth About De-Evolution
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Devo, Mark MothersbaughDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-11-18
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Rhino
Movie Reviews of Devo - The Complete Truth About De-Evolution
Movie Review: Praise the Lord for plastic!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Yes, I said it: praise the Lord for plastic!!! Because without plastic, DVDs would not exist, and I would not have been able to view this hilarious and delightful compilation of videos. Can you guess yet that I really liked it? Yes it's missing "Are U Experienced," bla bla bla, wah wah wah. However, I'm going to concentrate on what it IS, not what it ISN'T...
For someone who doesn't understand that Devo were/are a bit kooky (to say the least), or who can't come to terms with this fact, some of these videos may seem like a flaming freak show. If you watch it with the Mark/Gerry commentary turned on, you'll find out they put everything in the videos for a reason, and indeed were never on drugs as one would be led to believe. I'll include some details below - if you want to be surprised when you watch the DVD, DON'T read on, because I'm going to be revealing stuff about each video!
~~~~~
1. Devo Corporate Anthem: This is HILARIOUS!!! It's Mark, Gerry, Bob 1, Bob 2, and Alan standing in formation in futuristic sunglasses looking off into the distance. Partway through, they all simultaneously put their hands up and salute, then stand this way for the rest of the video. It's completely instrumental, and the guys look very sweaty, but someone off-camera very kindly apparently turns a fan on high and points it at them. 7/10
2. In the Beginning Was the End - The Truth About De-evolution: This is a film the guys filmed way back, partly at Kent State, and contains two songs: Secret Agent Man (with Bob 1 on vocals) and Jocko Homo. Secret Agent Man is stricly a performance on a stage, seasoned with the usual Devo freakiness via transparent plastic masks on all the guys except Mark, who is frenetically playing the keyboards as Booji Boy. Jocko Homo is a classic, and features Mark lecturing/singing to a class of medical students about Devo's philosophy of life. This one also features Alan, Jerry, and the Bobs in crazy sunglasses with panty hose over their heads singing the refrain of "We ARE Dev-O!" Absolutely HILARIOUS. Watch for Mark and Bob 1's dad near the beginning of this one as a military general! At the end, there are even credits from the original cut of the film, then a brief slow-motion snippet of a shirtless Mark having the Booji Boy mask ripped off while tied to a chair and threatened with a knife. In summary, this one has it all: freakiness, great music, and a hairless, pasty nerd-chest. 9/10
3. Satisfaction: Sit down for this one!!! It's a total classic, featuring a performance in the legendary yellow jumpsuits, more of the Mothersbaughs' dad, and a HILARIOUS guy that shakes, does somersaults, and throws himself on the ground. 10/10
4. Come Back Jonee: This was the first video Devo did in Los Angeles, so they thought it would be appropriate to adopt a cowboy motif. It features elderly drunk-tank cowboys who enjoy bowling, a VERY hyper Bob 1 on guitar, and perhaps the first videotaped incident of stage-diving by Mark. And of course, the whole band is in complete cowboy regalia. 8/10
5. The Day My Baby Gave Me a Surprise: This video isn't fantastic, but I just love the song so much I can't mark it down! The band performs and plays with Bob 1's real-life child. 8/10
6. Worried Man: THIS ONE IS AWESOME!!! It's from Neil Young's movie "Human Highway," so it was shot in 35 millimeter and has AWESOME picture quality. The guys play 1950s radioactive waste-workers, and Mark doubles as Booji Boy, and the six of them drive around in a vintage truck with some barrels of radioactive waste. Watch for a HILARIOUS moment I noticed - Gerry and Mark are in the cab of the truck, and the Bobs, Alan, and Booji Boy are in the bed of the truck... Near the middle of the song, Mark leans out of the cab and sings back to the other guys for a few seconds. Then if you watch really carefully, you can see Bob 2 spit his gum onto Mark's face, and a bunch of them start laughing before the cut to the next shot about a second later. 10/10!!!
7. Whip It: Nearly everybody on the planet has seen this one, so I won't go into detail! 10/10
8. Girl U Want: This one unfortunately was shot on video and has deteriorated to the point where the color of the picture has an extreme bluish tinge, making reddish items (including the energy domes and everybody's faces) appear purple-ish. It features the band performing for a crowd of cheering teenage girls, many of whom have a slightly-mutated look to them (I'm sure this was on purpose). There's one in particular that has a few close-ups who is slightly cross-eyed and has gigantic teeth - I give it an extra point just her! Overall, it's pretty good. 8/10
9. Freedom of Choice: Out of all the "older" videos, this is possibly the crappiest. It's pretty much just the band acting out all the lyrics, dressed up as gladiators, Mark as a dog, etc. 6/10
10. Through Being Cool: This features New-Traditionalist-uniformed Devo members (complete with plastic hair-hats) distributing laser-tag-looking weapons to a group of kids informally called the "Smart Patrol." The Smart Patrol then goes out and disintegrates icons of Devo-lution like cheesy nightclub guys and yuppies in track suits. Heh heh. There's also some old-school hip hop dancing by the kids. 9/10
11. Love Without Anger: THIS ONE IS AWESOME!!!!! The first time you watch it, it might REALLY freak you out, but just keep watching until the whole thing sinks in. It mainly features two people in hen and rooster outfits (spandex and Latex mask-helmets) fighting and generally acting out the spirit of the lyrics. There are retro 1950s-ish snippets of Mark, Gerry, the Bobs, and Alan standing in V-formation singing the chorus with "hymnals" featuring a fighting couple on the cover. It also features a 30-second or so stop-action film of Barbie and Ken having a marital spat. Probably my favorite part of the entire video is during one of the "clap-clap" sounds mid-verse - we see the hen's feet from behind (in high heels of course), and an egg drops and smashes open perfectly synchronized to each clapping noise. Overall, it's semi-disturbing, but adorable and hilarious at the same time! 10/10
12. Beautiful World: Most people have seen this one too - retro and disturbing film / performace clips interspersed with Gerry singing propaganda-style and Booji Boy controlling / losing control of the whole thing. 10/10
13. Time Out for Fun: Extremely adorable, and a great message. Starts out with the band as spud-boys while Mark does the "Hello! We are .. Dev-O" intro, then goes into a stage performace in front of a movie screen. Mark (with newly permed bangs) croons Sinatra-style into his microphone, Bob 1 makes the most hilarious constipated-looking faces during his guitar solos, and Gerry ROCKS his key-tar! 9/10
14. Peek-A-Boo: Personally, I love this one. It starts out with clips of a very suave Mark in a smoking jacket, ascot, and John Waters-style mustache, then goes to an extremely freaky close-up of him sans-mustache, lit from below, yelling "PEEK-A-BOOOOOO!" in a highly exaggerated way. It then evolves to another stage performance in front of a movie screen. In this one, the screen features some pretty freaky images... And Gerry once again rocks with his guitar-like item, but is WAY outdone by headbanging Bob 2 absolutely burning up the stage with his GIANT key-tar. Be sure to listen to the commentary track on this one - Mark tells a story of how this song saved a lady's life once! 9/10
15. That's Good: Another stage performance in front of a movie screen. Bob 2 is once again rocking his giant key-tar, and Mark's bangs seem to have calmed down a bit. Warning - this one has images that go beyond the realm of "suggestive" - think of the cartoon in Pink Floyd's "The Wall"... Overall, another high-energy performance, but mostly based on graphics and the message of the song. Listen to the commentary track for some great words of wisdom from Mark during this one! 6/10
16. Disco Dancer: I'm not sure if this one was meant as a parody of Duran Duran or not, but I sure hope so... 6/10
17. Post Post-Modern Man: A little sad - the band is a bit older in this one, and the obviously low budget and effort level signify the disrespect they were receiving from their record company. 4/10
18. Post Post-Modern Man (Rocky Schenck remix): Possibly even sadder - it features the band "selling" props from past videos via a QVC-like entity. 3/10
~~~~~
In the extra features section, the videos of (and stories behind) Devo's early live performances are AWESOME! And the "Are U Experienced?" video isn't THAT great to begin with (though the song is of course wonderful!), so overall, this is a highly enjoyable DVD, and is packed full of images, messages and general kinds of entertainment you ~absolutely~ can't find anywhere else! Yes, if you want to nitpick, there are more things they COULD have included, but there's already so much on here, it's more than was even necessary. I highly recommend this DVD!!!!!
Summary of Devo - The Complete Truth About De-Evolution
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