Save Your Face

This mix curates Howard Devoto’s music in the period between Buzzcocks/Magazine (1976-1981) and his 1990s hiatus. 

I’m not going to brief anyone on who Devoto is. For those who don’t know, this mix is not the place to start. (Try this Spotify mix.) For those who already bow to Devoto, but who don’t remember his 1980s records, this is for you.

I rank Devoto as one of rock’s great lyricists and one of its most ambitious, unorthodox singers. His 1980s work is an excellent, organic extension of the path he was charting with Magazine. Odd compositional structures, big arrangements, dramatic storytelling, and riffs and phrases that worm their way into you.

You can sing-speak along with contemporary conviction or koan bemusement to pretty much every line Devoto ever uttered. He’s been scripting challenging one-liners for you to spin through your brain since forever. 

Devoto was an unlikely candidate for 1980s music success and failed to make a living at it. He and his collaborators didn’t run from the  aesthetic tendencies of the decade, but they made them their own. In retrospect, Devoto’s arch, erudite, baroque, contrary, take-no-idiots angle on everything resulted in ‘80s music that isn’t facile in 2021. 

Devoto released three albums in the 1980s (supported by at least two tours) and collaborated with other artists here and there. The first of the three albums, “Jerky Versions of the Dream” (1983), was developed with Magazine’s Dave Formula. Devoto and multi-instrumentalist Noko (Norman Fisher-Jones) then teamed up as Luxuria and released two albums (1988, 1990).   

This mix combines studio tracks from those albums, their b-sides, and outlying collaborations. The second “disc” presents a short collection of bootleg-derived live tracks.

90-minute mp3 mixtape zipped up here.

Disc One (studio, 64-minutes):

• Some Will Pay (for what others pay to avoid)
• Our Curious Leader
• Ticket
• Beast Box
• Public Highway
• Pound
• Redneck
• Lady 21
• Jezebel
• Out of Shape with Me
• Taking Over Heaven
• She’s Your Lover Now (parts 1 & 2)
• Railings (w/Mansun)
• Holocaust (w/This Mortal Coil)

Disc Two (live, 25-minutes):

• Mlle (live)
• Parade (live)
• Rubbish (live)
• The Light Pours Out of Me (live)
• Luxuria (live)

From Spring 1985 to Spring 1986, the Supplication jam was set free. Without the complications of Lazy Lightning or the need to land the jam at the Supplication vocals, the band enjoyed themselves thoroughly. The missing melodies crop up and here and there, as part of the jammy fabric. 

This mix compiles the period’s eight full-blown performances, which are individually and collectively an outstanding demonstration of 1980s Dead. 

I’ve used fades rather than attempting fake segues, because the band worked hard at landing or crashing the jam into all sorts of songs – Promised Land, Esau, Might as Well, Let It Grow, Don’t Need Love, Playin’ Jam. 

Those songs are beyond the scope of this mix (except Playin' Jam!), but I’ve left in the interesting transitions and faded them just before the next song bursts into full existence.

43-minute, 8-track, mp3 mix zipped up here (all dates included in tags)

My 12-year-old-self was right about at least this much of KISS. In 1976, I was listening only to the Beatles. By 1978, I was listening to Sex Pistols and DEVO. 

In 1976-1977, the turgid early KISS was becoming skilled and snappy enough to occupy the elaborate glam space they always aspired to. At the same time, the attempt to produce them into a crisp, pop, AM-radio-friendly sound was dovetailing with the trebly sound of punk/new wave. 

“Love Gun’s” sonics are closer to “Marquee Moon” than an ELO or Fleetwood Mac record, or the Ted Nugent and Nazareth albums of the day. It sounds like it was recorded ingeniously on a four-track in a garage, the drums especially bad and excellent.

It’s accidental punk – cock-rock Ramones, who are pulling it off. Pretend this was the only music they ever made - a lost band from the Max's Kansas City scene. Or, embrace the fact that KISS had become a major label success, and think of this material as their "Some Girls" moment – a lucky convergence of ironic manly camp, crunchy songs, and the zeitgeist. 

The songwriters are hitting their stride, while still trapped within the distinctive fingerprints of their creative limitations. The band can't jam, and they want hits, so they cram a lot of ingredients into their 3-3.5 minute tunes.

A minute later, KISS would become entirely fake, but for a hot second, they checked in as a fully-realized concept.

Spotify Playlist Here

“Please play at a low volume. Muzik for Insomniaks is designed to interface with your world.” - Mark Mothersbaugh  

For some reason, this wonderful, two-volume album of Mark Mothersbaugh’s Fairlight and Roland compositions has fallen off the map. I see no evidence of re-releases after 1988, and it doesn’t seem to be available for purchase or streaming anywhere official. 

This music has been a regular companion to my days, and my daughter (now 21) has been a fan of “XP137” for nearly her whole life. 

It was recorded during the period when Mothersbaugh was writing music for “Pee Wee’s Playhouse,” and not long before he started scoring “Rugrats.” His big-time movie career, including extensive work with Wes Anderson, followed. 

Cover art is by Mothersbaugh - a detail scanned from one of the posters that came with the CD edition.

28 songs, 2 hours 21 minutes

zipped up mp3 download here

Sample: XP137

DEVO put the future on tape long before they were signed and made records with Brian Eno. Before and after Eno, they were a research laboratory for the 1970s’ break with the past and the leap into the 1980s. They were also one of the best live bands of the punk/post-punk era. 

This mix offers a curation of early, unreleased material that supports the case for DEVO’s eminence. It divides into a double LP - studio and live. 

mp3 mix zipped up here

LP 1: Studio (1974-1978)

The first LP is a studio concept album that sequences primordial, weird, intense, and astounding early items into a devolved Sgt. Pepper with no commercial potential - same length, most tracks segued. It’s heavily overproduced and sonically-overdriven by the randomness of primitive recording technology and the ravages of time. Bob Dobbs/White Heat.

• Because (from The Truth About De-Volution)
• The Death of Booji Boy
• The Smart Patrol (version 1)
• Fraulein (live 1974, Akron, OH)
• Shrivel Up (demo)
• Hey Hey My My (long version)
• How Many Ropes
• Secret Agent Man (Mark M. vocals)
• Lost At Home (Tater Tot)
• U Got Me Bugged (instrumental version)

LP 2: Live (1977)

Booji and the Stooges. The selections come from February 1977 in Akron, augmented with some of the tracks the band excluded from their release of a May 1977 Cleveland show (“Miracle Witness Hour”). The tapes sit well together, and I only included really good stuff.

• Nutty Buddy
• Secret Agent Man
• Shrivel Up
• Too Much Paranoias
• Space Junk
• Blockhead
• Gut Feeling/Slap Your Mammy
• Sloppy
• The Words Get Stuck in My Throat
• Social Fools

Early DEVO:

The band had at least three or four albums of material by the time they were signed, some of which would be re-recorded for early singles and their first two albums (Q/A, Duty Now). The songs and the band’s attack changed a lot between 1974 and 1978, so the early versions are always fascinating.

Read more »

This mix is a 38-minute, instrumental edit of jammy material Dick Latvala didn’t include on Volume 7 of “Dick’s Picks” - Alexandra Palace, September 9-11, 1974.

The Save Your Face mixtape marathon began as a 1974 listening project, and it’s been a long time since I added anything to the pile delicious, unreleased music from that year. 

This mix is all-instrumental due to SBD tape flaws (“Scarlet”) and DJ preferences (“Eyes” and “Wharf Rat”). There’s nothing wrong with the singing of those songs, though nothing special about it either. 

The long, Keith-centric opening of “Eyes” made it an appealing choice to turn into a vocal-free, escalating jam. I also removed one, small, momentum-breaking passage from the jam itself.

I liked the way the jam led up to “Wharf Rat” and how the WR started, so I made the whole song into an instrumental edit, which provides a nice “Dew”/“Dark Star”-energy end to the short ride.

38-minute mp3 mix zipped up here

• Scarlet Begonias (intro & jam edit)
• Eyes of the World (instrumental edit) >
• Space >
• Jam >
• Wharf Rat (instrumental edit)

In 2020, Gang of Four made a large number of 1979-1995 live recordings available to stream on Spotify and purchase on Amazon.com.

This Spotify playlist curates the 1979 recordings - one version each of the 20 songs represented on that year’s tapes. It’s the bootleg I’d have chewed my leg off (paid $20) for back around 1979.

The first 12 tracks are the complete 2/24/79 Nashville Ballrooms, London set, which is the earliest, best sounding, and most amazing of the tapes. It documents the band four months after the release of their initial single and ahead of the recording of their first album. 

Eight songs that weren’t in the February London set are picked up from two other dates. 

Stream on Spotify here

2/24/79 Nashville Ballroom, London (full set)

• I Found that Essence Rare
• 5:45
• Anthrax
• Elevator
• Hold Up My Weekend
• Armalite Rifle
• It’s Her Factory
• Glass
• Damaged Goods
• Ether
• At Home He’s a Tourist 
• Return the Gift

8/25/79 Toronto - The Edge

• Contract (early show)
• Not Great Men (early show)
• Guns Before Butter (late show)
• Rosanne (late show)
• Can’t Stand My Baby (late show)

11/22/79 Bournemouth Town Hall

• Blood Free
• Natural’s Not In It
• Information

This mix creates a continuous, chronological, 65-minute “Slipknot!” from all (but one) of the June 1976 performances. The synchronized “Slipknot” riff appears for only 60 seconds – before the first jam and after the last. Otherwise, it’s exclusively the improvisational passages folding into one another. (I skipped June 4, because no complete soundboard recording circulates.)

1976 “Slipknots” are one of the best places to hear extended “jazz Dead” in the early two-drummer period. The approach is full of open spaces and side-trips, Mickey operating in Billy time zones. It’s not too hard to pretend that the performances are from 1974 and/or representative of an alternate-Earth’s post-1975 Dead timeline.

I’ve never been a super-fan of the June 1976 vibe and pacing as a whole, but the more open spaces of the month are almost always a distinctive treat – Slipknot, Playin’, early St. Stephen jams, the first, swirly minutes of Supplication, etc. 

65-minute mp3 mix zipped up here

• 6/3/76 (11:49)
• 6/10/76 (5:50)
• 6/14/76 (12:00)
• 6/17/76 (6:58)
• 6/19/76 (5:21)
• 6/21/76 (7:22)
• 6/24/76 (7:34)
• 6/27/76 (9:11)

This mix presents an extended version of “St. Stephen,” as played in June 1976.

Upon its return to the repertoire that month, the song often included a sizable jammy passage that concluded with the song’s reprise. 

The first three of the month are the really interesting ones, sounding to me like they could have come from or be heading toward “Supplication” – almost like it’s a leftover mood from the 1975 rehearsals/jams. 

This approach didn’t last long. By the fourth version, “Not Fade Away” begins its takeover of “St. Stephen’s” jam space. On 6/18 (not included on this mix), they played the first “SS > NFA > SS” sandwich, which reduced “St. Stephen” to just its song parts. Following that, all the June jams are “NFA”-inflected.

The mix is arranged chronologically, and you get a full blast of the audience response at the breakout on the first night. The exception to chronology is an audience-only, very NFA take, which comes last.

Because the song’s jam and final vocal section both began with a dramatic pause, the versions string together easily. Similar to the SYF May '77 edits.

38-minute mp3 mix zipped up here

• 6/9 Song > (starting with audience patch)
• 6/9 Jam (7:11)
• 6/11 Jam (4:33)
• 6/15 Jam (5:50)
• 6/26 Jam (4:50)
• 6/29 Jam (4:28)
• 6/23 Jam (6:26 aud)

Plus a bonus track: 

I’ve appended a 13-minute bonus track from a previous SYF mix that edits together three of the earliest “St. Stephen” jams, from June 1968. At that time, when the song was brand new, the jam section was under construction, as it would be again upon the song’s return in ’76.

Source note: 

Many of these ’76 shows have been released, but I only own a few on CD. So, I’ve used fan-circulating tapes across the board.

This mix attempts to find a good setting for the early ‘80s rarities “Dark Star,” “St. Stephen,” “That’s It for The Other One,” and “The Eleven” jam. I decided to flesh it out with other songs that featured in the band’s 1969 sets, with one outlier. 

The earliest track is December 1981 and the latest November 1985. During this period, the band played “Dark Star” twice (’81 and ’84), “St. Stephen” three times (October ’83), “Cryptical Envelopment” five times (1985), and an “Eleven” jam once. Some performances were slipshod, and most are in shows that aren’t particularly great in whole.

Nonetheless, there is plenty to love in the music and in joining the audience as it responds to the sudden appearances of these rare, loved songs.

The mix combines soundboard, matrix, and audience tapes – whatever version of my pick I thought put the performance across. Sequencing does an okay job of gently shifting you among the various ambiances. Some parts of the sequence offered nice opportunities for fake segues. (In the song list, below, “>” indicates a real, as-performed segue.)

Many thanks to twitter Deadheads and Heady Versions users for providing great leads on some of the supporting songs. Several of these selections have been released or have appeared on previous SYF mixes.

The mp3 files are tagged with date and source tape info for each track. 

But don’t worry about those details now. Just imagine that this was a legendary, early ‘80s second set, click download, and strap yourself in.

2-hour mp3 mixtape zipped up here

• Cold Rain and Snow
• Dancin’ in the Street
• Jam >
• Not Fade Away
• Dark Star
• The Eleven Jam
• That’s It for the Other One >
• Comes a Time >
• That’s It for the Other One
• Jam >
• St. Stephen
• Dark Star
• Space >
• Morning Dew
• It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue

Artwork by L.B. Cole.