| Shout (devo Album) |
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Information AboutShout (devo Album) |
''Shout'' is a 1984 album by the New Wave rock band Devo . It was their 6th and final album for Warner Bros. Records . Keeping with the Synth-pop sound of their last few records, ''Shout'' sounds very much of its time. 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 1978's " (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction ". Ironically, the cover was marginally more accessible and danceable than the heavily experimental Hendrix track, perhaps harkening to the idea of "de-evolution" through its return to a more conventional sound. Many believe this to be a smart move on the band's part considering the trouble with Warner Bros. Records at the time (" Are You Experienced? " being a ' Sacred Cow ' of the WB catalog). As well as that Hendrix song, the chorus melody of Hendrix's "Third Stone from the Sun" is transformed into a guitar solo partway through the piece. The track "The 4th Dimension" incorporates the guitar Hook from The Beatles ' song " Day Tripper ". The album was Devo's first, and last, to use the recent Fairlight CMI computer to create songs. This approach further pushed the sound of the guitar into the background of their music. 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. Several things mentioned in a letter from General Boy to Club Devo members in January 1985 stated that a Video for Shout was planned. As well as a Europe United States Tour including a promotional Video similar to the Truth About De-Evolution with a Video for all the songs in the album. The plot of the video can be seen in the R U Experienced video as Devo is seen in a lab, the plot was for Devo to try and find a cure for a disease. TRACK LISTING |
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 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."''
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