Devo – Freedom Of Choice

DEVO's best and most consistent record, FOC is short and sweet, with four great tunes and eight good ones. As usual, it sounds like no one else with a unique sound palette, is somehow rock and roll and not rock and roll at the same time, and is provocative and funny. Who'd have thought DEVO would write an ode to overcoming adversity? On Planet Earth.

I used to really like this album. As of hearing this pressing, I love this album. It's ridiculously well mixed and mastered and persistently requires your attention. B sides became A sides outta nowhere.

These Rhino Hi Fis (I have 7) are one of the few pressings I don't feel obliged to clean prior to playing.

Bought my copy (variant 2) new in July 1990. Just sayin'

Good God, this album punches. I wasn't even a fan of Devo before I discovered this KPG cut.

No "Turn Around" or "Snowball (Single Remix)"? Arrgghhhhh... missed opportunity!

Fun but would be better for listening in the club not my living room haha.

I think my hype was too high for this one. It sounds excellent but I'm not in awe as I typically am with a KPG cut. I think I was expecting the same top-tier audio fidelity that we received with The Cars for instance. Again, this one sounds great but it's just a bit bass-heavy for my taste.
Received #495 from Rhino in November 2024. No inner groove distortion as some have reported. I use a VM540ML which excels in many ways; mitigating IGD for one.

This is a ridiculously good sounding record. (10 words now)

I have an issue on side A where the last track skips. I don't see any visible physical problem, but I do notice the runout groove is very small/narrow. My anti-skate seems fine, but I lack a blank vinyl to .
I'm planning on getting an ML stylus anyway. Hopefully that will fix the issue.

This version completely destroys my OG pressing. It is not even close.