Freedom of Choice
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| Freedom of Choice | ||||
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| Studio album by Devo | ||||
| Released | July 5, 1980 | |||
| Recorded | 1979-1980 | |||
| Genre | New Wave Dance-Rock [1] |
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| Length | 32:14 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Producer | Devo, Robert Margouleff | |||
| Professional reviews | ||||
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| Devo chronology | ||||
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Freedom of Choice is the third album by New Wave musicians Devo, released in 1980. It saw the band moving in more of an overt synthpop direction, even though guitars still played a prominent role.
The album was produced by Robert Margouleff, famous for his synthesizer work in Tonto's Expanding Head Band and with Stevie Wonder.
On the Billboard Music Charts, Freedom of Choice peaked at #22 on the Pop Albums chart. It contains Devo's most well-known song, "Whip It", which hit #8 and #14 on the Club Play Singles and Pop Singles charts, respectively.
The group later performed an alternate version of "Girl U Want" that appeared on the Tank Girl soundtrack.
An entire alternate demo version of the album was released in 2000 on the Rhino Handmade two-disc rarities collection Recombo DNA. The demo version lacks "It's Not Right," "Ton o' Luv", "Don't You Know" and "Freedom of Choice" but includes demos of the "Whip It" b-side "Turnaround" and three unreleased tracks ("Luv & Such," "Time Bomb" and "Make Me Move").
In 2008, the album was digitally remastered and released as part of the box set This is the Devo Box in Japan. On September 16, 2009, Warner Brothers and Devo announced a re-release of Freedom of Choice and Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, with a tour performing both albums.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Track Listing
All songs written by Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald V. Casale except as noted.
- "Girl U Want" – 2:55
- "It's Not Right" (Mark Mothersbaugh) – 2:20
- "Whip It" – 2:37
- "Snowball" – 2:28
- "Ton o' Luv" (Gerald V. Casale) – 2:29
- "Freedom of Choice" – 3:28
- "Gates of Steel" (Gerald V. Casale, Mark Mothersbaugh, Sue Schmidt, Debbie Smith[3]) – 3:26
- "Cold War" – 2:30 (Robert Mothersbaugh/Gerald V. Casale)
- "Don't You Know" (Mark Mothersbaugh) – 2:14
- "That's Pep" (Mark Mothersbaugh) – 2:17
- "Mr. B's Ballroom" (Mark Mothersbaugh) – 2:45
- "Planet Earth" (Gerald V. Casale) – 2:45
- In 1993 a U.K. CD re-issue paired this album with Oh, No! It's Devo and added two bonus tracks: the "Whip It" b-side "Turn Around" and the "Peek-A-Boo!" b-side "Peek-A-Boo! (Dance Velocity)."
- On November 3rd, 2009, a "deluxe remastered" CD edition of the album was issued by Warner Brothers and contains the DEV-O Live EP as bonus tracks.
[edit] Track Commentary
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This section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (September 2009) |
- Contrary to popular myth, the lyrical content of "Whip It" has nothing to do with sadomasochism. According to Jerry Casale's commentary on the Complete Truth About De-evolution laserdisc and DVD, the song was inspired by Norman Vincent Peale's 1952 book The Power of Positive Thinking and the "can do philosophy" espoused within.
- "Freedom of Choice," in line with the band's personal philosophy, comments on democracy. The "Roman poem" mentioned refers to the Aesop's fable: The Dog and the Bone, in which a dog with a stolen soup bone in its mouth sees its reflection in a pool. It loses its prize when it tries to intimidate its reflection into dropping the bone in its mouth. In other words, by being greedy, one risks what one already has.
- "Gates of Steel" continues this anti-conformity trend by describing how Mankind has become bound by logic but is by nature irrational, impulsive, and illogical.
- "Mr. B's Ballroom" is a lyric re-written version of an earlier relationship-focused song called "Luv & Such," which can be heard on the aforementioned rarities collection Recombo DNA.
- "That's Pep"'s lyric is an early 20th century poem by Grace G. Bostwick.
[edit] 2009 Album Performances
- November 4 - Henry Fonda Theater, Hollywood, CA
- November 7 - Grand Ballroom, San Francisco, CA
- November 9 - Moore Theatre, Seattle, WA
- November 13 - Vic Theatre, Chicago, IL
- November 16 - 9:30 Club, Washington, DC
- November 21 - Irving Plaza, New York, NY
- November 24 - Phoenix Concert Theatre, Toronto, ON
To commemorate the release of the album's "deluxe remastered edition" on CD, the album was performed in its entirety on each of these nights and featured the band in their original touring costumes. The encore performances were "Be Stiff" and "Beautiful World," the latter of which featured the Devo "mascot" Booji Boy on vocals.
The opening act for this tour was comedian/performance artist Reggie Watts, and for certain dates, JP Hasson (aka JP Incorporated aka Pleaseeasaur).
[edit] Covers
Several songs from Freedom of Choice have been covered by other musicians, most notably "Girl U Want", which has been recorded by Superchunk, Soundgarden, Chancho En Piedra, Robert Palmer, and Zombie Ghost Train.
The album's title track has been covered by 16 Volt, The Aquabats, A Perfect Circle, Lagwagon, Snapcase, Psychotica, Big Drill Car, Fu Manchu, and the Frustrations. Collide and Face to Face recorded versions of "Whip It", which has also been performed in concert by numerous musicians including the String Cheese Incident. The song was also covered for the NME 2008 Awards Compilation by the band Does It Offend You, Yeah?; "Gates of Steel" was covered by Skankin' Pickle, Supernova, Yo La Tengo, Groovie Ghoulies, Shihad, and Junkyard Dogs.
The "Whip It" b-side "Turnaround" was covered by Nirvana and included on the rarities collection Incesticide in 1992.
[edit] Personnel
- Mark Mothersbaugh – guitar, keyboards, vocals
- Gerald V. Casale– bass guitar, keyboards, vocals
- Bob Casale – guitar, keyboards, vocals
- Bob Mothersbaugh – guitar, vocals
- Alan Myers – drums
- Karat Faye - engineer
[edit] Charts
Album
| Year | Chart | Peak Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Billboard Pop Albums (U.S. | 22 |
| 1980 | UK Album Charts | 47 |
Single
| Year | Single | Chart | Peak Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | "Whip It"/"Gates of Steel"/"Freedom of Choice" | Billboard Club Play Singles | 22 |
| 1980 | "Freedom of Choice" | Billboard Pop Singles | 14 |
[edit] References
- ^ "Freedom of Choice" on All Music Guide. Retrieved on August 13, 2009
- ^ Warner Brothers and Devo press release on re-release and tour
- ^ "The De-Evolution of Akron's Music", Beacon Journal, 2000-09-10, http://news.google.com/archivesearch?um=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=%22chi-pig%22+%22gates+of+steel%22, retrieved 2009-12-01
