* Various Artists

WE ARE NOT DEVO

(Centipede)

Devo weren't just new-wave tunesmiths, they were weird and a little nasty -- in short, actively uncool, which is why their records have stayed surprising over time. So it's a bummer to see the 13 punk bands here doing such literal-minded, cheerful, normal versions of their songs, rocking up the arrangements a little (or, in the Voodoo Glow Skulls' case, turning "Time Out for Fun" into ineffectual ska) and mostly trying to imitate Mark Mothersbaugh's inimitable yelp. Possum Dixon's woozy translation of "Mongoloid" into "El Mongoloido" is on the right track, and "Snowball" is durable enough to survive being made boppy by Don Knotts Overdrive. But if you've heard another Devo tribute -- and there have been a few -- you've heard a better one.

-- Douglas Wolk