New Traditionalists
	Produced by DEVO
	Released on August 1981
	US CHART POSITION #24 . . . UK CHART POSITION #50
	Find it at GEMM
43111-2 cover

F or your consideration: The Digital Darling. You see, I’m building a zoo of critical curiosities, animals that have been tagged and released into the wild world of rock criticism to hunt and multiply. The Digital Darling is an animal that takes to the nanomosaic of digital technology like a pig to power. How else to explain the cool reception that met New Traditionalists, which otherwise reliable sources such as Trouser Press have lumped in with their next album? The difference is night and day in my mind, (in part) because I own New Traditionalists on digitally remastered disc and Oh, No! It’s Devo on dry vinyl. New Traditionalists strikes me as a revolutionary entry, one of the earliest efforts to supplant power chord guitars with synthesizers, every song a strike against complacency in music. Oh No is merely so-so by comparison, lifeless and a little too mechanical. But I rarely listen to Oh No without thinking how much better it would sound on CD, how a digital remaster might bring the crushing weight of “Peekaboo” to bear on my tiny mind. That’s not to suggest that I’ve accidentally overrated New Traditionalists. “Going Under,” “Through Being Cool” (which we all remember from Heavy Metal, right?), “Jerkin’ Back ‘N’ Forth,” “Race of Doom,” “Beautiful World.” I mean, hell, what kind of idiot listens to that music, goes “Eh” and writes a mediocre review? Maybe it sounds mechanical on vinyl, but I first heard this on vinyl, and liked it more than Freedom of Choice even then. The key to New Traditionalists is the decision to make mechanical music that pummeled your brain like punk was supposed to. Trouser Press got caught with their pants down, AMG’s brain went AWOL. This is absolutely essential Devo, and anyone who tells you otherwise probably didn’t get them in the first place. Note that the Infinite Zero remaster adds a few tracks, including “Working In The Coal Mine” (which was originally included on a bonus single).

43111-2 booklet back cover

TRACK LISTING

1. THROUGH BEING COOL    (Gerald V. Casale/Mark Mothersbaugh/Robert Mothersbaugh)    3:11 JERKIN' BACK 'N' FORTH    (Mark Mothersbaugh/Gerald V. Casale)    3:01
2. PITY YOU    (Mark Mothersbaugh)    2:43
3. SOFT THINGS    (Mark Mothersbaugh/Gerald V. Casale)    3:26
4. GOING UNDER    (Mark Mothersbaugh/Gerald V. Casale)    3:26
5. RACE OF DOOM    (Mark Mothersbaugh/Gerald V. Casale)    3:41
6. LOVE WITHOUT ANGER    (Mark Mothersbaugh/Gerald V. Casale)    2:34
7. THE SUPER THING    (Mark Mothersbaugh/Gerald V. Casale)    4:19
8. BEAUTIFUL WORLD    (Mark Mothersbaugh/Gerald V. Casale)    3:33
9. ENOUGH SAID    (Mark Mothersbaugh/Gerald V. Casale/General Boy)    3:27
   
   CD bonus tracks
   
10. (7" bonus single:) WORKING IN THE COAL MINE    (Allen Toussaint)    2:48
11. MECHA MANIA BOY    (Mark Mothersbaugh/Gerald V. Casale)    2:42
12. NUTRA SPEAKS (NEW TRADITIONALIST MAN)    (Gerald V. Casale)    1:39

CREDITS

GERALD V. CASALE --
ROBERT CASALE --
MARK MOTHERSBAUGH --
ROBERT MOTHERSBAUGH --
ALAN MYERS --
Larry Alexander -- engineer
Brent Scrivner -- New Traditionalist hairdos
New Traditionalist Astronaut courtesy of John Zabrucky
Moshe Brakha -- cover photograph
DEVO INC. -- design concept
Richard Seireeni -- art direction

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