Duty Now for the Future is the second studio album by American new wave band Devo, released on June 1, 1979, by Warner Bros. Records.
[3] By December 1976, Devo were already performing "Clockout", "Timing X" and "Blockhead" live, following the expansion of the band's line-up from a quartet to a quintet, with the addition of drummer Alan Myers (replacing Jim Mothersbaugh) and multi-instrumentalist Bob Casale.
[4] While the song selections for the band's first two albums were devised ahead of time, Mark Mothersbaugh brought in three new compositions ("The Day My Baby Gave Me a Surprize", "S.I.B.
[1] Music historian Andy Zax stated that, "On the surface, 'The Day My Baby Gave Me a Surprize' seems like one of Devo's happiest, bounciest pop confections, but a closer look reveals peculiar things lurking beneath.
"[1] The band's cover of Johnny Rivers' "Secret Agent Man" features a rare lead vocal from Bob Mothersbaugh.
A: We Are Devo!, Scott had also worked with David Bowie, most notably on The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972) and Aladdin Sane (1973).
[6] The band were excluded from the final mixing process, with Casale later stating that they "barely knew how bland it sounded", and that, for the most part, Scott did not take their suggestions.
"[15] Although Warner Bros. originally rejected the idea, saying it was too costly, Devo instructed the label to use the band's own money to pay for it.
It was used in the album artwork by simply taking it from the front page of the newspaper in the exact same dimensions, unbeknownst to the photographer.
[16] After first using it on a promotional item for Virgin Records, the band were contacted by the owners of the logo, which resulted in them acquiring the rights to the image.
[17] Casale was seemingly unaware of the author of the design until being contacted by Kaufman's son in 2024, after which a post was made to Devo's social media to commemorate him for his work.
[citation needed] The artwork used on Virgin pressings of the album in the UK, which prominently featured the "Science Boy" logo on the cover, was created by John Zabrucky, again based on a concept by Devo, with graphic co-ordination by Malcolm Garrett.
[20] A short clip of the band standing at attention and then saluting was filmed to accompany "Devo Corporate Anthem", which was used in concert performance.
[32] Dave Marsh, writing in Rolling Stone, condemned the album, feeling that "inspired amateurism works only when the players aspire to something better.
[29] Scott Isler of Trouser Press stated that the album "doesn't score as many bull's-eyes as the first but includes two anthems of malaise, 'Blockhead' and 'S.I.B.