Like its predecessor and true to its title,
Hardcore, Vol. 2
is an indispensable item for any hardcore
Devo
fan. Featuring over an hour's worth of raw, four-track basement recordings from the years 1974-1977, the disc contains such necessities as the atmospheric instrumental
"Booji Boy's Funeral,"
the mechanized
blues
shuffle of
"37,"
the mock sports anthem
"Let's Go,"
the gleeful
bubblegum pop
parody
"Goo Goo Itch"
(revealing a surprisingly strong sense of melody), and the sheer aural dementia of
"U Got Me Bugged,"
as well as
"Be Stiff,"
which later became the theme song for the pioneering British
indie
label
Stiff Records
. Also featured are early versions of
"Clockout"
and their cover of
Lee Dorsey
's
"Working In a Coalmine."
While there are a number of misses as well -- some tracks are all robotic rhythms with no melody, and others come off as the mildly misogynistic rantings of sexually frustrated misfits -- the compilation again proves the depth of development and detail in
's satirical vision far prior to their 1978 debut album. ~ Steve Huey