07 February 2006

DEVO Remakes DEVO

As I watched the Disney Channel with my kids this weekend I was horrified by what I saw.  Disney Records has released an album of re-recorded DEVO tunes sung by a pack of prepubescent Brittany Spears wannabes.  The album is called DEVO 2.0 and, to my greater shock and dismay, the music for the album was recorded by none other than DEVO themselves. 

I must admit that I have a long-running love affair with DEVO.  They were the very first band I heard in concert (in Boston's Orpheum Theater -- the same place I first heard Thomas Dolby) and I have never looked back.  So the idea of DEVO 2.0 was sufficiently unsettling that I shot off an email to my brother that began something like "can you believe . . . ."  But my brother is far more level headed than I when it comes to deevolution and he reminded me that this was not the first foray by DEVO into remaking their own music.  Back in 1990 DEVO put out an album of e-z listening versions of its most popular songs.  So, as my brother pointed out, DEVO 2.0 was merely further social commentary by DEVO on its own musical legacy (either that or shameless commercialism in the form of a truly painful kids album).

On closer inspection, however, I think that DEVO is indeed onto something yet again.  Music lovers have always coveted a good remake.  What is more fun at a concert than to hear one of your favorite musicians perform a song by another of your favorite musicians?  It is even fun when they perform a song by one of your least favorite musicians because they inevitably inject the song with a whole lot of their own musical essence.  Case in point, give a listen some time to DEVO's remake of the Rolling Stones Satisfaction and their musak remake of their remake of Satisfaction.  Great stuff. 

If you're like me and find musical remakes unendingly festive, you will love the podcast Coverville.  Each episode of Coverville includes a new set of remade tunes by every band under the sun (Episode 161 has Devo's Satisfaction).  The list of songs covered is eclectic and the commentary pure fun.  I just hope they don't play the DEVO 2.0's version of Whip It any time soon.  That may be too much for me to take.

Posted by David Hornik | Permalink | | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)