''Smooth Noodle Maps'' is the eighth
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by the American
new wave band
Devo
Devo (, originally ) is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a ...
. It was originally released in June 1990 and would be their last album released through
Enigma
Enigma may refer to:
*Riddle, someone or something that is mysterious or puzzling
Biology
*ENIGMA, a class of gene in the LIM domain
Computing and technology
* Enigma (company), a New York-based data-technology startup
* Enigma machine, a family ...
. The album was recorded over a period of three months between October 1989 and January 1990, at Master Control Studios, in
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...
. ''Smooth Noodle Maps'' was Devo's last full-length studio album until the release of ''
Something for Everybody
''Something for Everybody'' is the sixth studio album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released on RCA Victor in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 2370, in June 17, 1961. Recording sessions took place on November 8, 1960, at Radio Recorder ...
'' in 2010, as well as the last Devo studio album to feature
David Kendrick
David Kendrick (born March 23, 1955) is an American musician who is currently a member of the experimental pop band Xiu Xiu. A former member of Gleaming Spires and Devo, he has recorded and toured with Sparks, Andy Prieboy and Revolushn. He is ba ...
on drums. The album includes a
cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
of
Bonnie Dobson
Bonnie Dobson (born November 13, 1940, Toronto, Ontario, Canada)["Bonnie Dobson"< ...](_blank)
's song "
Morning Dew
"Morning Dew," also known as "(Walk Me Out in the) Morning Dew," is a contemporary folk song by Canadian singer-songwriter Bonnie Dobson. The lyrics relate a fictional conversation in a post-nuclear holocaust world. Originally recorded live as a ...
," transformed into a dance song.
"Post Post-Modern Man" hit No. 7 on the ''Billboard''
Modern Rock Tracks
Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...
chart for the week of August 11, 1990 and No. 26 on ''Billboards
Hot Dance/Club Play chart for the week of September 29, 1990.
Artwork and packaging
The front cover of the record (and the fold-out of the
CD version) featured the members of the band emerging from a strange circle. The liner notes from the "Post Post-Modern Man" single revealed that the circle is actually a computer simulation of the planet
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...
. This image of Jupiter was provided by Philip Marcus and Nicholas Socci. ''Smooth Noodle Maps'' was also issued on limited edition red vinyl by the Dutch East label.
The album title ''Smooth Noodle Maps'' refers to a kind of discrete mathematical system—a noodle map—which may exhibit chaotic behavior, similar to the
standard map
The standard map (also known as the Chirikov–Taylor map or as the Chirikov standard map) is an area-preserving chaotic map from a square with side 2\pi onto itself. It is constructed by a Poincaré's surface of section of the kicked rota ...
. The adjective
smooth
Smooth may refer to:
Mathematics
* Smooth function, a function that is infinitely differentiable; used in calculus and topology
* Smooth manifold, a differentiable manifold for which all the transition maps are smooth functions
* Smooth algebraic ...
refers to the lack of kinks or discontinuities. This is referenced in the song "Devo Has Feelings Too", which includes the lyric, "snake through the chaos with a smooth noodle map."
Promotion
Two
music videos
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
were made for the album's second single, "Post Post-Modern Man". The first, which was directed by Devo co-founder and bassist
Gerald Casale
Gerald Vincent "Jerry" Casale ( ) ( ''né'' Pizzute; born July 28, 1948) is an American musician. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as co-founder, co-lead vocalist, and bass player of the new wave band Devo, which released a top 20 hit in ...
and was never officially released, saw the band driving a
Lincoln Town Car
The Lincoln Town Car is a model line of full-size luxury sedans that was marketed by the Lincoln division of the American automaker Ford Motor Company. Deriving its name from a limousine body style, Lincoln marketed the Town Car from 1981 to ...
along the desolate
Interstate 10
Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originally pl ...
in Southern California. According to Casale, when the finished video was delivered to
Enigma
Enigma may refer to:
*Riddle, someone or something that is mysterious or puzzling
Biology
*ENIGMA, a class of gene in the LIM domain
Computing and technology
* Enigma (company), a New York-based data-technology startup
* Enigma machine, a family ...
, they demanded the video include March 1990's
Playboy
''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother.
K ...
Playmate of the Month
A Playmate is a female model featured in the centerfold/gatefold of ''Playboy'' magazine as Playmate of the Month (PMOTM). The PMOTM's pictorial includes nude photographs and a centerfold poster, along with a pictorial biography and the "Playm ...
,
Deborah Driggs
__NOTOC__
The following is a list of Playboy Playmates of 1990. ''Playboy'' magazine names its Playmate of the Month each month throughout the year.
January
Peggy McIntaggart (also known as Peggy Sands and Peggy Sanders) (born September 6, 196 ...
, in order to make it more marketable. After acquiescing to Enigma's demands,
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
then rejected the video because it used the "Macro Post Modern Mix" of the song instead of the "college alternative track" they wanted to market, as featured on the original album. This resulted in a second video directed by
Rocky Schenck
Rocky Schenck (born April 18, 1955) is an American photographer and music video director. Schenck has photographed several album covers and has written and directed numerous music videos and short films. He has shot fashion, editorial and portra ...
, which featured Devo in a spoof of the
Home Shopping Network
HSN, an initialism of its former name Home Shopping Network, is an American free-to-air television network owned by the Qurate Retail Group, which also owns catalog company Cornerstone Brands. Based in the Gateway area of St. Petersburg, Flor ...
, selling various Devo-related merchandise.
Reissue
In 2018, Futurismo Inc. issued a two-disc deluxe edition of ''Smooth Noodle Maps'', on both CD and vinyl formats. The double CD set comes housed in a digipak
while the double LP comes in three vinyl color variations. Both formats include gatefold sleeves with die-cut windows and changeable covers, a fold-out poster and liner notes from band member Gerald Casale.
Critical reception
Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...
critic
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
awarded the album a "Dud" rating, which meant he did not write a review to accompany it. In retrospective reviews,
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
's Steve Huey noted that while the album was "inconsistent, especially in terms of subject matter, the band does try some new ideas in its arrangements." Similarly, Mark Prindle noted that the album "features newer synths and an attempt to incorporate dance elements into Devo's late-period faceless boring dance-pop, but it's just as hookless, generic and dated as its two predecessors."
Track listing
* The "Post Post-Modern Man" mixes contain samples of "
It's More Fun to Compute" by
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...
.
2019 Futurismo Inc. "Deluxe Edition" bonus disc
Tracks 8–14 previously unreleased.
Personnel
Devo
*
Mark Mothersbaugh
Mark Allen Mothersbaugh (; born May 18, 1950) 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 2 ...
– lead and background vocals, keyboards, guitar,
digital editing
Digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital ...
*
Gerald Casale
Gerald Vincent "Jerry" Casale ( ) ( ''né'' Pizzute; born July 28, 1948) is an American musician. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as co-founder, co-lead vocalist, and bass player of the new wave band Devo, which released a top 20 hit in ...
– lead and background vocals, bass guitar,
bass synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...
, keyboards
*
Bob Casale
Robert Edward Casale Jr. (born Robert Edward Pizzute Jr.; July 14, 1952 – February 17, 2014), or "Bob 2", was an American musician, composer and record producer. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as the keyboardist and rhythm guitari ...
– guitar, keyboards, mixing,
sampling, backing vocals
*
Bob Mothersbaugh
Robert Leroy Mothersbaugh, Jr. (; born August 11, 1952), or by his stage name "Bob 1", is an American songwriter, composer, musician and singer.
Mothersbaugh's music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as lead ...
– guitar, backing vocals
*
David Kendrick
David Kendrick (born March 23, 1955) is an American musician who is currently a member of the experimental pop band Xiu Xiu. A former member of Gleaming Spires and Devo, he has recorded and toured with Sparks, Andy Prieboy and Revolushn. He is ba ...
– drums, percussion,
drum machines
Additional musician
*Frank Schubert – guitar on "Devo Has Feelings Too" and "Dawghaus"
Technical
*Devo – producer
*Bob Casale – engineer
*Andrew Ballard – assistant engineer
*Jeff Lord Alge – mixing
*Ryan S. Moore – digital programming
*Marty Frazoo – technical assistance
*Björn Almstedt – mastering
*Pat Dillon – art direction
*Gerald Casale – art direction, graphic concepts
*Laddy Van Jansky – photography
Tour
Like the ''
Total Devo
''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 ''Billboards Hot Dance Club ...
'' tour before it, the ''Smooth Noodle Maps'' tour saw Devo scaling things back and presenting a very basic set with no complex visuals. The band wore plain white
Tyvek
Tyvek () is a brand of synthetic flashspun high-density polyethylene fibers. The name "Tyvek" is a registered trademark of the American multinational chemical company DuPont, which discovered and commercialized Tyvek in the late 1950s and early ...
shirts and shorts with the Jupiter image from ''Smooth Noodle Maps'' on the left breast of the shirt. As in earlier tours, Devo removed their shirts later in the set to reveal solid black T-shirts emblazoned with the band name on the front.
The three songs performed from the album were "When We Do It," "Post Post-Modern Man" and "A Change Is Gonna Cum". Prior to the ''Smooth Noodle Maps'' tour, Devo had performed "Post Post-Modern Man" and "A Change Is Gonna Cum" as early as October 1989.
Due to poor ticket sales and the bankruptcy and dissolution of Enigma, who was responsible for organizing and financing the tour, the ''Smooth Noodle Maps'' tour had to be cancelled part way through. The final concert of the tour took place at
Perkins Palace in
Pasadena, California
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district.
I ...
on March 23, 1991. The concert featured a different setlist than other shows on the tour, omitting "Going Under," "Happy Guy," "Post Post-Modern Man," "A Change Is Gonna Cum," "
Satisfaction," "
Jocko Homo
"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 ...
," "Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA", and adding "
Here to Go" from 1984's ''
Shout'' (the only time the song was ever played live), as well as older songs "Blockhead" and "
Be Stiff
"Be Stiff" is the third single by American new wave band Devo, released in 1978 by Stiff Records. The song was taken from the sessions for '' Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!'' (1978), produced by Brian Eno. Guitarist Bob Lewis wrote the mu ...
." This gig also marked the last time Devo played "Be Stiff" until the 2009 ''
Freedom of Choice
Freedom of choice describes an individual's opportunity and autonomy to perform an action selected from at least two available options, unconstrained by external parties.
In politics
In the abortion debate, for example, the term "freedom of ch ...
'' re-release tour as well as the final performances of "When We Do It" and "Somewhere with Devo". The concert saw Devo don a new look, eschewing the aforementioned white Tyvek shirts and shorts and replacing them with multi-colored leisure suits (as seen in the artwork for the album) as well as red pompadours for the encore.
In an interview for their 1996 computer game ''
Adventures of the Smart Patrol'', Mark Mothersbaugh stated, "Around '88, '89, '90 maybe, we did our last tour in Europe, and it was kind of at that point, we were watching ''
This Is Spinal Tap
''This Is Spinal Tap'' (also known as ''This Is Spınal Tap: A Rockumentary by Martin Di Bergi'') is a 1984 American mockumentary film co-written and directed by Rob Reiner (in his feature directorial debut). The film stars Christopher Guest, M ...
'' on the bus and said, 'Oh my God, that's our life.' And we just said, 'Things have to change.' So we kind of agreed from there that we wouldn't do live shows anymore." Devo would not perform again until a reunion gig at the
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
of 1996.
Tour setlist
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smooth Noodle Maps
Devo albums
1990 albums
Enigma Records albums