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''New Traditionalists'' is the fourth studio album by the new wave rock band Devo. It features the minor hits "Through Being Cool" and "Beautiful World." The sound continued in the vein of the previous album ''Freedom of Choice'', with synthesizers moving even further to the forefront and guitars becoming more subdued. Some of the tracks feature drum machines for the first time on a Devo record. In addition, the lyrics are frequently dark and vitriolic. With the success of "Whip It" and its associated album ''Freedom of Choice,'' Devo attracted a new, more pop-oriented audience that was less interested in Devo's artistic theories and intelligent lyrics. In response, ''New Traditionalists'' was intended to be a much darker, deeper and serious album. The lead-in track, "Through Being Cool," is a direct attack on new fans who didn't understand Devo's message. The name of the album was inspired by a Japanese ultra-right wing political group called The New Traditionalists. In the words of Devo bassist and co-songwriter Jerry Casale, "We became The New Traditionalists, but turned it on its ear. We appropriated the idea of that, meaning we were going to provide you with new traditions to forget about the old ones."〔(Tell Me About That Album: Devo's Live in Seattle 1981 )〕 Most of the songs on the album are darker and more direct than on previous Devo albums. The exception to this is "Beautiful World," whose message seems optimistic at first but changes as the song progresses. This is made even clearer by the song's promotional video. On "Enough Said," Devo made one of their first overtly political statements, attacking world leaders and the political process: "Take all the leaders from around the world/Put them together in a great big ring/Televise it as the lowest show on Earth/And let them fight like hell to see who's king." As with every Devo album and tour, the band developed a new look for the album, eschewing the Energy Dome headgear, and replacing it with the plastic "New Traditionalist Pomp," reportedly modeled after President John F. Kennedy's famous pompadour, though in one interview, bassist Gerald Casale claims it to be modeled on Ronald Reagan's own hairstyle. They also wore blue V-neck T-shirts with the ''New Traditionalists'' astronaut logo on the black sleeves. This shirt can be seen on the US and Australian versions of the album cover. On the European cover, Devo is seen wearing "Sleeveless Maxi-Turtleneck Sweaters." The T-shirts, turtlenecks and plastic versions of the pomps were all available through Devo's fan club catalog. ==Production problems== ''New Traditionalists'' was recorded on a then-new brand of 2" tape from 3M. Unfortunately, when Devo began recording vocals for the album, the edges of the tape had begun to disintegrate. After asking Warner Bros. if they could start over and re-record the album from scratch and being denied, Devo transferred all the work they had done to digital reel-to-reel tape and finished the album via digital recording at The Record Plant in Los Angeles.〔(Tell Me About That Album: Devo's Live in Seattle 1981 )〕 All of this resulted in ''New Traditionalists'' having a murkier and darker sound than previous Devo albums. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「New Traditionalists」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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