After the flop of Total Devo, Devo had decided to give it one last try. 1990's Smooth Noodle Maps, named after a computer graphics technlogy. Devo had a new look, each member wearing a monocolored suit and a black turtleneck. Mark also wore a fedora. The music was a further evolution of the electronic dance sound of Total Devo, Shout, and Oh, No! It's Devo!. Unlike Total Devo, Smooth Noodle Maps manages to be listenable throughout. Of course, while Smooth Noodle Maps is far better than Total Devo, it is still rather unfocused and pales to their classic albums.
For the Smooth Noodle Maps tour, Devo elected to begin in Europe where sales of the album had been strongest. However, sales were not strong enough. Shows undersold, and the band began to lose money. After several shows, Devo cancelled both the European and American legs of the tour. Devo would not perform live again until 1996. Devo's contract ended with Enigma Records. While Devo would release several albums afterwards, Smooth Noodle Maps was the last album of all new material.
Devo essentially broke up with Gerald V. Casale electing to direct music videos for other bands while the rest took up work with Mark Mothersbaugh at his Mutato Muzika studio. Occasionally, Devo would unite to perform a song for a film soundtrack, but there was no solid activity from the band until 1996, when they launched a minor comeback by performing on the Lollapalooza tour. Also in 1996, Devo, apparently inspired by The Residents experiments in CD-ROM media, released a video game titled Adventures Of The Smart Patrol, which was a flop.
Smooth Noodle Maps was rereleased in 1994 on Restless Records with three remixes of Post Post-Modern Man as bonus tracks.
Tracklist:
- Stuck In A Loop
- Post Post-Modern Man
- When We Do It
- Spin The Wheel
- Morning Dew
- A Change Is Gonna Cum (Sic)
- The Big Picture
- Pink Jazz Trancers
- Jimmy
- Devo Has Feelings Too
- Dawghaus
Restless Records rerelease bonus tracks
- Post Post-Modern Man (Macro Post Modern Mix)
- Post Post-Modern Man (Neo Post Modern Mix)
- Post Post-Modern Man (Ultra Post Modern Dub)