Freedom of Choice

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Freedom of Choice

Studio album by Devo
Released	July 1980
Recorded	1980
Genre	Post Punk / New Wave
Length	32:14
Label	Warner Brothers
Producer(s)	Robert Margouleff
All Music Guide link Sputnikmusic link
Devo chronology
Duty Now for the Future (1979)	Freedom of Choice (1980)	DEV-O Live (1981)

Freedom of Choice is the third album by New Wave musicians Devo, released in 1980 (see 1980 in music). It was highly unlike Devo's previous albums, full of synthesizers and outright synth pop elements. The album is considered to be quintessentially Eighties.

The album was produced by Robert Margouleff, famous for his synthesizer work in Tonto's Expanding Head Band and with Stevie Wonder.

On the Billboard Music Charts, Freedom of Choice peaked at #22 on the Pop Albums chart. It contains Devo's most well-known song, "Whip It", which hit #8 and #14 on the Club Play Singles and Pop Singles charts, respectively.

The group later performed an alternate version of "Girl U Want" that appeared on the Tank Girl soundtrack.

1 Covers
2 Track listing
3 Personnel
4 External link

[edit] Covers

Several songs from Freedom of Choice have been covered by other musicians, most notably "Girl U Want", which has been recorded by Superchunk, Soundgarden, and Robert Palmer.

The album's title track has been covered by A Perfect Circle, Lagwagon, Snapcase, Psychotica, and Fu Manchu. Collide and Face to Face recorded versions of "Whip It"; "Gates of Steel" was covered by Skankin' Pickle, Groovie Ghoulies, and Junkyard Dogs.

[edit] Track listing

"Girl U Want" (Casale/Mothersbaugh) – 2:55
"It's Not Right" (Mothersbaugh) – 2:20
"Whip It" (Casale/Mothersbaugh) – 2:37
"Snowball" (Casale/Mothersbaugh) – 2:28
"Ton o' Luv" (Casale) – 2:29
"Freedom of Choice (Casale/Mothersbaugh) – 3:28
"Gates of Steel" (Casale/Mothersbaugh/Schmidt/Smith) – 3:26
"Cold War" (Casale/Mothersbaugh) – 2:30
"Don't You Know" (Mothersbaugh) – 2:14
"That's Pep" (Mothersbaugh) – 2:17
"Mr. B's Ballroom" (Mothersbaugh) – 2:45
"Planet Earth" (Casale) – 2:45

(The track listing is from the CD release. This album was originally released on LP and cassette.)

The 1993 CD re-issue featured the entire Oh, No! It's Devo album and the additional tracks "Turn Around" from the Freedom of Choice sessions and "Peek-A-Boo! (Dance Velocity)" from the Oh, No! It's Devo sessions.