Heart of a Punk Soul of a Rasta

D-E-V-O "Something for Everybody"

You know how it is when an old mate turns up on your doorstep out of the BLUE after twenty years or more. You spend a lot of time just looking at him trying to gauge which bit of him has been in someway medically enhanced, whilst your wife tries to decide whether the woman standing next to him is his first wife (now less wrinkled), a second, a third, his daughter or just a girl he met in the cab. Yes when old friends turn up out of the BLUE after twenty years absence it's usually toe curlingly embarrassing, pretty damn shitty, and about as rewarding as a dwarf winning basketball lessons.

But no - no - no - this is not the case with D-E-V-O returning after twenty years with a new studio album. With DEVO it's like meeting up with an old mate after twenty years in a pub, totally by chance. The years don't matter, you start talking shit immediately, and the session turns into an all dayer.

Yep as soon as the three chord herald hits you, you know, DEVO are back and fuck me, it is most definitely DEVO. There's the "Be Stiff" guitar at the back end of the album opener "Fresh". There's the synths sponsored by ATARI on "Mind GAMES". There's the old DEVO quirk & insanity on "Cameo". There's the old roll call vocals on "What We Do" - "My dog doesn't do what I say". "My girl doesn't do what I say". "My mom doesn't do what I say". "I don't know what to do". Yep it's BLUE chip DEVO, all that's changed is that the SPUD BEAT has gotten even bigger!

"Something for Everybody" is easily DEVO's best since "New Traditionalists" and on a par with their first four. To buy or not to buy? That is a no brainer! The message is in the title and it ain't subliminal. GO THERE

But hey what are all these ex STIFF guys on? Madness came back with The Liberty of Norton Foldgate their best album in years in 2009. The Blockheads did likewise bouncing well & truly back with "Staring Down the Barrel". The Damned keep on keeping on and are always better live than dead. Wreckless Eric's still, well Eric. And now DEVO have come out of the BLUE and gone largesque.

Time to call Costello and Lowe, Lovich and Ed Tenpole, book the ROUNDHOUSE for STIFF @ THE ROUNDHOUSE!

DREAM ON.