CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
EN/FR
Search
Menu
Research dossier · Arts & Letters

Devo Presents Adventures of the Smart Patrol (album)

compilation album by Devo

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 14, 2026
Entity authorityQ4686673 ↗
Source-derived summary

Adventures of the Smart Patrol (or Devo Presents Music from Adventures of the Smart Patrol) is a compilation album featuring tracks from the 1996 Inscape CD-ROM computer game of the same name created by American new wave band Devo. It was released in 1996 by Discovery Records.

Contents

Six of the tracks had been previously released on proper Devo albums and compilations, but the album is noteworthy for containing two new Devo tracks: "Theme from Adventures of the Smart Patrol" (a studio recording of a song that had been played live at the beginning of concerts on the 1981 New Traditionalists tour) and "That's What He Said." Both songs are credited to the Smart Patrol but are performed by Devo.

Also of note is this mix of "U Got Me Bugged," a track which first appeared on the compilation Hardcore Devo: Volume 2 (1991), as it features a new vocal track by Booji Boy.

Additionally, this version of "Jocko Homo" is the 4-track demo version, previously released on Hardcore Devo: Volume One (1990). However, this version was taken directly from the audio track of the short film The Truth About De-Evolution (1976) and is thus of lesser sound quality. It also includes audio from the film sequence where a series of rapid-fire cuts spell the letters "Devo" to introduce the song, lifted from the intro of "Mechanical Man" (also found on Hardcore Devo: Volume One).

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Devo Presents Adventures of the Smart Patrol (album)” is compilation album by Devo. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Devo, Presents and Adventures, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1996, 1981, 1991, 1990—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1996-01-01. For this dossier, Devo, Presents and Adventures is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “compilation album by Devo” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4686673. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1996, 1981, 1991 and 1990.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Devo Presents Adventures of the Smart Patrol (album)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Devo Presents Adventures of the Smart Patrol (album) primary sources, Devo Presents Adventures of the Smart Patrol (album) archive and Devo research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Devo Presents Adventures of the Smart Patrol (album)”?
  2. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Devo Presents Adventures of the Smart Patrol (album)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.