The Future Already Happened. 5 Out of 5 Stars
DEVO caught a minor case of the sophomore slump after their brilliant debut. "Duty Now For The Future" is a really, really good album that came after a perfect one, and it does shrivel in comparison. The DEVO eyes had turned from the sound of things falling apart to the machinery that made it go. Having used up most of their "conceptual" songs for the debut, we were served up musings on love work and death. "Swelling Itching Brain" and "The Day My Baby Gave Me A Surprise" are a pair DEVO hall of famers.
This is also the home of one of DEVO's best statement-of-purpose songs, the concert fave "Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA." Declaring themselves to be "suburban robots to monitor reality," DEVO make the claim that they are here to protect both man and mutant, only to discover that Mr. DNA deems them fit to "sacrifice themselves so many others may live!" It also rocks harder than anything else DEVO ever recorded for the first part of their career. After this, the slick success of "Whip It" kind of tamed them...if you ever considered DEVO tamable.
And there's something else. I had always been annoyed by the production of the original album, and wondered why the band and producer Ken Scott chose to leave the album in a flat, murky sounding final mix. This re-issue corrects that in a serious way. While there are no indications that the disc was remixed, everything sounds sharper and more distinct. It's raised my original rating of "Duty Now..." to five stars because frankly, this sounds utterly new and exciting all over again. 
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