Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! MoFi 2LP 180g 45RPM

Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! MoFi 2LP 180g 45RPM

Track Listing

A1: Uncontrollable Urge
A2: (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
A3: Praying Hands

B1: Space Junk
B2: Mongoloid
B3: Jocko Homo

C1: Too Much Paranoias
C2: Gut Feeling/(Slap Your Mammy)

D1: Come Back Jonee
D2: Sloppy (I Saw My Baby Gettin’)
D3: Shrivel-Up

Hear the 1978 Record Rolling Stone Ranks the 252nd Greatest Album of All Time in Reference Sound: Mobile Fidelity’s Numbered-Edition 180g 45RPM 2LP Set Reveals Copious Nuances and Textures 

1/4” / 15 IPS analog master to DSD 256 to analog console to lathe

The satirical protest, spastic structures, and deadpan humor of Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! run so deep that it took decades for the music cognoscenti to come around and appreciate the record on its own terms. Ranked the 252nd Greatest Album of All Time by Rolling Stone and amid the 100 best efforts of the 1970s by Pitchfork, Devo's radical debut helped steer the new-wave movement that followed. And as fate would have it, it is more relevant in the 21st century than at the time of its release.

Sourced from the original master tapes, mastered by engineer Krieg Wunderlich, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing in California, and housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, Mobile Fidelity's numbered-edition 180g 45RPM 2LP set presents the 1978 benchmark in reference-grade sound. Benefitting from the extra groove space on this first-ever 45RPM version by playing with enhanced definition, deep-black backgrounds, and ultra-quiet surfaces, it reveals previously buried nuances and portrays soundstages whose scope is limited only by the capacity of your audio gear.

The presence, clarity, and detail of this reissue render in three-dimensional fashion the textures, tones, and effects critical to the music. Though Brian Eno butted heads with the band during the recording process, the merits of his production emerge like never before. The treatments that turn Devo’s keyboards into the equivalent of futuristic machines; the metallic effects and pointed sharpness of the percussion; the various voices that emerge in the distance; the sonic symmetry of the arrangements; the herky-jerk motion of the singing; the stickiness of the bizarre time signatures: Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! comes across like a pointillistic painting seen up-close. 

One made by what Devo claimed were "suburban robots here to entertain corporate life forms." Of course, leader Mark Mothersbaugh and company were fully human. The Ohio-based group cut its teeth while several members attended Kent State as art-school students. By the time Devo settled on the lineup that would create Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, it had finely honed the songs and attracted the attention of David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and multiple record labels.

Originally misunderstood as a joke or novelty act by many critics and listeners, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! gained credibility and clout with passing of time. Decades later, its relevance in a landscape filled with virtual realities, artificial intelligence, blurred truths, lab-processed clones, repressed emotions, and social-media pressures to submissively follow so-called influencers is greater than anything even Devo could’ve foreseen. The environments at which the quintet hinted on the album - corporations as people and vice versa; microchips taking the place of brains and souls; out-of-hand desires trumping sensibility; mind-crushing fears dictating thought - took up residence in everyday reality. 

The prophetic nature of Devo’s initial batch of songs cannot be overstated. Skittery, jagged, and shaking along with the ghosts of early rock ‘n’ roll, the opening “Uncontrollable Urge” sets the table for what follows. The band then tears down the Rolling Stones’ "(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” to its studs, the terse minimalism and icy emotion indicative of the devolution addressed throughout the record. Another rock hero, Chuck Berry, receives a nod on “Come Back Jonee,” the tune’s name and guitar fills referencing “Johnny B. Goode.” 

Though somewhat controversial, “Mongoloid” pulses with frequency modulated synthesizer lines, crunchy riffs, and proto-electronic beats as it relays the story of a disabled protagonist who not only thrives but attains levels of happiness off-limits to everyone else in the diminished society. Its equally famous B-side, the call-and-response anthem “Jocko Homo,” goes one step further, rendering moot any notion of advancement by questioning the entire idea and purpose of mankind. 

“Are we not men? We are Devo!” the group repeatedly asserts. A truth that seems more evident with each passing day.

GAIN 2™ Ultra Analog™ System for Vinyl

GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ is a proprietary cutting system built and designed by legendary design genius Tim De Paravicini, with consultation from one of Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab's founding fathers - Stan Ricker, an audio engineer responsible for many of MFSL's most heralded past releases.

The GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ system is comprised of a Studer™ tape machine with customised reproduction electronics* and handcrafted cutting amps that drive an Ortofon cutting head on a restored Neumann VMS-70 lathe. (*It is worth noting that independent studies have confirmed that the GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ system can unveil sonic information all the way up to 122kHz!)

First and foremost, Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs only utilise first-generation original master recordings as source material for their releases. MFSL then play back master tapes at half speed enabling the GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ system to fully extract the master's sonic information. The lacquers are then plated in a specialised process that protects transients in the musical signal. (Due to this process, there may be occasional pops or ticks inherent in initial playback, but as the disc is played more, a high-quality stylus will actually polish the grooves and improve the sound). MFSL further ensure optimum sound quality by strictly limiting the number of pressings printed for each release. These limited editions, in addition to being collectors' items, ensure that the quality of the last pressing matches the quality of the first.

Release Information

Label: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab – MFSL2-627

Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album, 45RPM, Limited Edition, Numbered, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo, Gatefold

Country: US

Released: TBA

Genre: Rock

Style: New Wave