The Complete Truth About De-Evolution was the third home video release by new wave band Devo. It is a collection of Devo's music videos from 1976 to 1990. It was released on LaserDisc in 1993 by Voyager and on DVD by Rhino Records in 2003. MVD released a new version of the disc in 2014.
The Complete Truth About De-Evolution contains almost all of Devo's music video output from 1976 to 1990. The DVD does not include two notable music videos: the first is "Theme from Doctor Detroit," the theme to the movie Doctor Detroit ; the second is the Jimi Hendrix cover [1] "R U Experienced?," which was removed due to protests from the Hendrix estate. The films are presented in roughly chronological order and are interspersed with clips from a promotional film Devo made with Pioneer in the 1980s to promote the LaserDisc format. The DVD also includes many bonus features such as a commentary track by band members Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale, an interview with Chuck Statler (who directed many of Devo's videos), live footage from early Devo performances, photo galleries and more. None of the live material from "The Men Who Make The Music" is included, nor is most of the storyline from "We're All Devo!"
It is important to differentiate The Complete Truth About De-Evolution from The Truth About De-Evolution . The Truth About De-Evolution was a short film made by Devo in 1976 which included the videos for "Jocko Homo" and "Secret Agent Man". The Complete Truth About De-Evolution is the 1993 compilation of promotional videos.
Track order from the LaserDisc and Rhino DVD releases.
The track listing on the MVD release omits the Pioneer LaserDisc interstitials (reassigning them to one bonus segment), but restores "Theme from Doctor Detroit" (playing between "That's Good" and "Disco Dancer"). Track order is otherwise the same.
Exclusive to the MVD DVD release is a lengthy roster of bonus material. Featured are the We're All Devo Big Entertainment segments featuring Rod Rooter, Donut, and Dr. Byrthfood and several minutes of live footage from the band's early, pre-Warner shows. Also present are written-word accounts from Casale and Mothersbaugh of the band's experiences with record labels and the recording of their first album, including photographs in automatic and manual slideshows. Promotions for The Men Who Make the Music and Devo Live 1980 DVDs are featured here also. "R U Experienced?" [1] appears to be in the list, but it is simply the first few seconds of the video before the music starts, followed by a test card directing viewers to look for the full video online.
The DVD retains the commentary track from the LaserDisc release, however, as "Theme from Doctor Detroit" was not present on LaserDisc, there is no commentary for that track (a fact conveyed to the viewer by a speech synthesizer).
The Rhino Records DVD released in 2000 received much criticism from fans of the band. First, because of the aforementioned omission of the video for "R U Experienced?." [1] A comment on the back cover of the DVD addresses this: "DEVO regrets that 'R U Experienced?' is not included in the program. The current executors of the Jimi Hendrix estate were determined to prove to us the old adage - 'To seek permission is to seek denial'." Other criticisms focused on the relatively poor mastering job. For example, Rhino simply recorded the gallery segments from the LaserDisc without making them seekable galleries. Similarly, each video's title screen was simply copied from the original LaserDisc, which means many of the chapter numbers listed on the title screens bear no relation to their chapter numbers on the DVD. Furthermore, there had been many delays in the DVD's release. However, the Rhino DVD does include the rare "Mongoloid," video by Bruce Conner.
Devo is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales, along with Alan Myers. The band had a No. 14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", the song that gave the band mainstream popularity.
Mark Allen Mothersbaugh is an American composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as co-founder, lead singer and keyboardist of the new wave band Devo, whose "Whip It" was a top 20 single in the US in 1980, peaking at No. 14, and which has since maintained a cult following. Mothersbaugh is one of the main composers of Devo's music.
Freedom of Choice is the third studio album by the American new wave band Devo. It was originally released in May 1980 on the Warner Bros. label. The album contained their biggest hit, "Whip It", which hit No. 8 and No. 14 on the Billboard Club Play Singles and Pop Singles charts, respectively. Freedom of Choice peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart.
New Traditionalists is the fourth studio album by the American new wave band Devo, released on August 26, 1981, by Warner Bros. Records. The album was recorded over a period of four months between December 1980 and April 1981, at the Power Station, in Manhattan, New York City. It features the minor hits "Through Being Cool" and "Beautiful World".
"Mongoloid" is the first single released by American new wave band Devo in 1977, on the Booji Boy Records label. It was backed with the song "Jocko Homo". "Mongoloid" also had one of the first music videos made using collage. "Mongoloid" would later be re-recorded by Devo and appeared on the album Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! in 1978. It is also a staple of Devo's live shows.
Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! is the debut studio album by the American new wave band Devo. It was originally released in August 1978 on the Warner Bros. label. Produced by Brian Eno, the album was recorded between October 1977 and February 1978, primarily in Cologne, West Germany.
Duty Now for the Future is the second studio album by American rock band Devo, released in July 1979 by Warner Bros. Records. Produced by Ken Scott, the album was recorded between September 1978 and early 1979 at Chateau Recorders in Hollywood. The majority of the songs on the album had been performed in Devo's live set as early as 1976.
Shout is the sixth studio album by American new wave band Devo, released on October 9, 1984 by Warner Bros. Records.
Total Devo is the seventh studio album by American new wave band Devo, released on May 24, 1988 by Enigma Records, just under four years after their previous album, Shout (1984). "Disco Dancer" hit No. 45 on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play chart for the week of September 3, 1988.
DEVO Live 1980 is a live album and video DualDisc release by American new wave band Devo, released by Target Video in 2005.
"Jocko Homo" is the B-side to Devo's first single, "Mongoloid", released in 1977 on Devo's own label, Booji Boy Records and later released in the UK on Stiff Records. The song was re-recorded as the feature song for Devo's first album, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! on Warner Bros. Records in 1978. The original version peaked at No. 62 on the UK Singles Chart. It is based on a chant from the 1932 movie Island of Lost Souls. "Jocko Homo" introduced the call-and-response "Are we not men?" / "We are Devo!" It is generally considered to be Devo's anthem. The title is taken from a 1924 anti-evolution tract called Jocko-Homo Heavenbound by Bertram Henry Shadduck, where it is explained as meaning "ape-man". The song had been in Devo's setlists for several years prior to being recorded, and an early version was featured in the band's 1976 short film The Truth About De-Evolution.
Smooth Noodle Maps is the eighth studio album by the American new wave band Devo. It was originally released in June 1990 and would be their last album released through Enigma. The album was recorded over a period of three months between October 1989 and January 1990, at Master Control Studios, in Burbank, California. Smooth Noodle Maps was Devo's last full-length studio album until the release of Something for Everybody in 2010, as well as the last Devo studio album to feature David Kendrick on drums. The album includes a cover version of Bonnie Dobson's song "Morning Dew," transformed into a dance song.
The Men Who Make the Music was the first home video released by the American new wave band Devo. Finished in 1979, the film was set to be the first Video LP under the title "DevoVision", but was shelved by Time Life due to concerns about its anti-music industry content. It was released in 1981. A DVD of this film was announced in 2000, due to be released by Rhino Records, but this never came to pass. In January 2014, Michael Pilmer, webmaster of the official Devo website, indicated a DVD release by MVD later in the year. The DVD was released the following August, including a bonus feature of Devo's 1996 reunion show at the Sundance Film Festival.
We're All Devo! is the second home video release by American new wave band Devo. Released on VHS, LaserDisc, CED, and Betamax in 1984, We're All Devo! is a collection of Devo music videos from 1976 to 1983.
The Truth About De-Evolution is a 9-minute short film written by Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh, for the band Devo, and directed by Chuck Statler. Filmed in May 1976, it contains two separate songs: "Secret Agent Man" and "Jocko Homo". It won First Prize at the Ann Arbor Film Festival in 1977, and was routinely screened before Devo live concerts. It is included as an extra on the Criterion Collection's release of Island of Lost Souls (1932). Stills from the film were used for the front and back cover of European releases and the inner sleeve of American releases of Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! in 1978.
Pioneers Who Got Scalped: The Anthology is a compilation album by the American new wave band Devo, released in 2000 by Rhino Records. 17 of the 50 tracks were previously unreleased on CD, including single B-sides, outtakes, remixes, soundtrack songs and spoken word material. The band recorded the long-time concert favorite "The Words Get Stuck in My Throat" in the studio for the first time, specifically for inclusion on this compilation.
B Stiff is the first EP by American new wave band Devo, released in 1978 by Stiff Records.
"Are You Experienced?" is the title song for the Jimi Hendrix Experience 1967 debut album. It has been described as one of Jimi Hendrix's most original compositions on the album by music writer and biographer Keith Shadwick. The song is largely based on one chord and has a drone-like quality reminiscent of Indian classical music. It features recorded guitar and drum parts that are played backwards and a repeating piano octave. Live recordings from 1968 are included on The Jimi Hendrix Concerts album and Winterland box set.
Theme from Doctor Detroit is an EP by American new wave band Devo, released in 1983 by MCA Records. It includes the two songs from the Doctor Detroit movie soundtrack recorded by the band, plus a dance mix of the title theme. A music video for the song, containing scenes from the movie as well as footage of the band, was released on the We're All Devo home video in 1984 and also appears on the 2014 re-release of The Complete Truth About De-Evolution video collection.
"Disco Dancer" is a song by the American new wave band Devo, written by Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale. It was the first Devo single that was released without their most prominent drummer, Alan Myers, who was replaced by former Sparks drummer David Kendrick. It was released in 1988 as the first single from their seventh studio album, Total Devo.