Are We Not Men? We Are Devo! (1978)

Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! is the debut studio album by American new wave band Devo. It was released in August 1978 on Warner Bros. in North America and Virgin Records in Europe. Produced by Brian Eno, the album was recorded from October 1977 to February 1978, primarily in Cologne, West Germany.

The album peaked at No. 78 on the U.S. Billboard chart and No. 12 on the UK Albums Chart. Retrospectively, the album has been included on several "best of" lists from publications, including Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, and Spin.

Production and recording

Composition

Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald Casale, and Bob Mothersbaugh wrote the album from 1974 to 1977. "Jocko Homo", written by Mark Mothersbaugh, was demoed in 1974 and first played live on October 31, 1975. During this period, Devo were a quartet consisting of Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald Casale, Bob Mothersbaugh, and drummer Jim Mothersbaugh. In 1976, Alan Myers replaced Jim Mothersbaugh, and Bob Casale ("Bob 2") re-joined as rhythm guitarist and additional keyboardist following a two-year absence. By February 1977, Devo were also performing "Shrivel-Up" live, as well as early versions of "Uncontrollable Urge," "Praying Hands," "Mongoloid," "Too Much Paranoias," and "Jocko Homo." In March 1977, Devo released their first single, a self-produced recording of "Mongoloid" / "Jocko Homo".

By May 19, 1977, the group had debuted all of the album's tracks live, and developed the material throughout the year.

Production

In 1977, David Bowie and Iggy Pop received a tape of Devo demo songs from the wife of Michael Aylward, guitarist in the band Tin Huey. Both Pop and Bowie, as well as Brian Eno and Robert Fripp, expressed interest in producing Devo's first release. In October 1977, Patrick Gleeson invited the band to record "Come Back Jonee" and "Shrivel-Up" at his Different Fur studio in San Francisco. The following month, Devo returned to New York and were introduced ahead of a show at Max's Kansas City by Bowie, who told the audience that he planned to produce Devo's first album in Tokyo over the winter.

Eventually, Eno was chosen to produce the album at Conny Plank's studio near Cologne after a series of engagements prevented Bowie from undertaking the recording. The band were flown to Germany in February 1978. Bowie was busy filming Just a Gigolo at the time, but assisted Eno on weekends. Since Devo had not yet been signed to a record label, Eno paid for the flights and studio cost of the band, confident that they would be signed; in return, he asked for a share of any subsequent deals. The Different Fur recordings of "Come Back Jonee" and "Shrivel-Up" had been overdubbed upon during these sessions.

Gerald Casale was not present for the first day of recording because he had missed the flight. With their bassist missing, the rest of the group spent the day playing with Eno, Bowie, Holger Czukay of Can, and Dieter Moebius of Cluster and Harmonia.

The recording sessions were a source of frustration for Eno and Devo. Eno found the band unwilling to experiment or deviate from the sound of their demo recordings. Devo later admitted that "we were overtly resistant to Eno's ideas. He made up synth parts and really cool sounds for almost every part of the album, but we used them on three or four songs." After conflicts arose between the group and Eno, Bowie was brought in to remix the album.