Lolita Nation

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Lolita Nation
Lolita Nation (Game Theory album) coverart.jpg
Studio album by Game Theory
Released December 1, 1987
Recorded 1987
Genre Rock
Length 74:06
Label Enigma Records
Producer Mitch Easter
Game Theory chronology
The Big Shot Chronicles
(1986)The Big Shot Chronicles1986		 Lolita Nation
(1987)		 Two Steps from the Middle Ages
(1988)Two Steps from the Middle Ages1988
Back cover
Back cover
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 4.5/5 stars[1]

Lolita Nation is the fourth full-length album by Game Theory, a California power pop band fronted by guitarist and singer-songwriter Scott Miller. Originally released in 1987 as a double LP, the album will be reissued by Omnivore Recordings in February 2016 as a double CD set with 21 bonus tracks.[2]

Generally considered the group's most critically acclaimed work, the album was nominated in 1988 for a Bay Area Music Award (BAMMY) in the category of Outstanding Independent Label Album or EP.[3]

Production

For Game Theory's October–November 1986 national tour supporting the release of The Big Shot Chronicles, the band took on two new members, resulting in the line-up of Scott Miller (lead vocal, guitars), Shelley LaFreniere (keyboards), Gil Ray (drums), Guillaume Gassuan (bass), and Donnette Thayer (backing vocal, guitars). Thayer, who was then Miller's girlfriend, had been a guest musician on Game Theory's first album, Blaze of Glory.[4] This iteration of the band recorded two albums, Lolita Nation (1987) and Two Steps from the Middle Ages (1988).

Miller told the San Francisco Chronicle that, with Lolita Nation, he "wanted to throw away some of the givens. It's meant to have a lot of unexpected things happening on it without being abrasive or industrial," labeling the music "experimental pop."[5]

Critical reception and reviews

In its review of the double LP, Spin cited Lolita Nation as "some of the gutsiest, most distinctive rock 'n' roll heard in 1987," with "sumptuous melodic hooks ... played with startling intensity and precision," while simultaneously noting that the band "elected to shinny way out on an aesthetic limb" with "a thoroughly perplexing conglomeration of brief instrumental shards and stabs".[6]

Trouser Press called the album "ambitious and occasionally bizarre" with "crazy noises," writing that the new line-up "works wonders some of the time but falls flat in spots," and adding that Donnette Thayer sang "commendable lead on a few tunes, but isn't the strong counterpoint to Miller that would prevent the onset of listening fatigue."[7]

Mark Deming of AllMusic noted that the album contains "more than a few flat-out brilliant tracks",[1] while William Ham, writing for Dancing About Architecture, praised its emotional impact, insularity, and melodic virtuosity. Ham also likened Scott Miller's lyric writing to "vintage" Elvis Costello, with phrases that "careen all over the place verbally yet somehow manage to plug directly into the emotions."[8]

Rock critic Joe Harrington placed Lolita Nation at #4 on his list of the Top 100 albums of all time,[9] while Omar Ghieth of Culturespill called it flatly "the greatest album of all time."[10]

Although it garnered little commercial success upon its release, Lolita Nation became a highly sought-after collector's item after Game Theory's catalog went out of print in the early 1990s. The unavailability of Game Theory material for over two decades contributed to the band's inability to transcend what Scott Miller described as "national obscurity, as opposed to regional obscurity."[11]

Reissues

In 2014, Omnivore Recordings began a series of reissues of Game Theory's entire back catalog, remastered and enhanced with previously unreleased bonus materials. Lolita Nation, which had not been reissued on CD since the time of its initial release on Enigma, is scheduled to be reissued by Omnivore on February 5, 2016, with 21 bonus tracks that include the previously unreleased full 8-minute version of “Chardonnay," alternate mixes of other album tracks, and live covers of songs by artists such as David Bowie, the Modern Lovers, and the Sex Pistols.[2]

Track listing

All songs written by Scott Miller except where noted.

CD version

  1. "Kenneth - What's the Frequency?" – 0:46
  2. "Not Because You Can" – 3:04 (S. Miller/D. Thayer)
  3. "Shard" – 0:22
  4. "Go Ahead You're Dying To" – 0:37
  5. "Dripping With Looks" – 4:00
  6. "Exactly What We Don't Want to Hear" – 1:01
  7. "We Love You Carol and Alison" – 3:27
  8. "The Waist and the Knees" – 6:08
  9. "Nothing New" – 4:21
  10. "The World's Easiest Job" – 1:38
  11. "Look Away" – 3:20 (D. Thayer)
  12. "Slip" - 3:35
  13. "The Real Sheila" - 3:35
  14. "Andy in Ten Years" - 3:50
  15. "Watch Who You're Calling Space Garbage Meteor Mouth/Pretty Green Card Shark" - 0:18
  16. "Where They Have To Let You In" - 2:27 (G. Ray)
  17. "Turn Me On Dead Man" - 0:28
  18. "Mammoth Gardens" - 4:02 (D. Thayer/S. Miller)
  19. "Little Ivory" - 3:17
  20. "Museum of Hopelessness" - 0:10
  21. "Toby Ornette" - 2:29 (S. LaFreniere)
  22. "All Clockwork and No Bodily Fluid Makes Hal a Dull Metal Humbert / In Heaven Every Elephant Baby Wants to Be So Full of Sting / Paul Simon in the Park with Canticle / But You Can't Pick Your Friends / Vacuum Genesis / DEFMACROS / HOWSOMETH / INGDOTIME / SALENGTHS / OMETHINGL / ETBFOLLOW / AAFTERNOO / NGETPRESE / NTMOMENTI / FTHINGSWO / NTALWAYSB / ETHISWAYT / BCACAUSEA / BWASTEAFT / ERNOONWHE / NEQBMERET / URNFROMSH / OWLITTLEG / REENPLACE / 27" - 1:54
  23. "One More For Saint Michael" - 3:50
  24. "Choose Between Two Sons" - 1:32
  25. "Chardonnay" - 4:28
  26. "Last Day That We're Young" - 5:07
  27. "Together Now, Very Minor" - 3:29

Disc 2 (2016 Omnivore reissue, bonus tracks)[2]

  1. "Chardonnay" (Long Version)
  2. "Dripping With Looks" (Rough Mix w/Alternate Vocal)
  3. "One More For Saint Michael" (Live)
  4. "Carrie Anne" (Live)
  5. "The Waist And The Knees" (Rehearsal Demo)
  6. "Tiny Steps" (Radio Session)
  7. "We Love You Carol And Alison" (Radio Session)
  8. "Gimme Danger" (Radio Session)
  9. "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (Live)
  10. "Andy In Ten Years" (Rough Mix w/ Alternate Vocal)
  11. "Candidate" (Live)
  12. "Little Ivory" (Rehearsal Demo)
  13. "These Things Take Time" (Radio Session)
  14. "Roadrunner" (Live)
  15. "One More For Saint Michael" (Rough Mix w/ Alternate Vocal)
  16. "God Save The Queen" (Radio Session)
  17. "Drive-In Saturday" (Radio Session)
  18. "Public Image" (Live)
  19. "The Waist And The Knees"(Rough Mix w/ Alternate Vocal)
  20. "Together Now, Very Minor" (Radio Session)
  21. "Choose Between Two Sons"

Vinyl version

Side 1

  1. "Kenneth - What's The Frequency?"
  2. "Not Because You Can" (S. Miller/ D. Thayer)
  3. "Shard"
  4. "Go Ahead You're Dying To"
  5. "Dripping With Looks"
  6. "Exactly What We Don't Want to Hear"
  7. "We Love You Carol and Alison"
  8. "The Waist and the Knees"

Side 2

  1. "Nothing New"
  2. "The World's Easiest Job"
  3. "Look Away" (D. Thayer)
  4. "Slip"
  5. "The Real Sheila"
  6. "Andy in Ten Years"

Side 3

  1. "Watch Who You're Calling Space Garbage Meteor Mouth"
  2. "Pretty Green Card Shark"
  3. "Where They Have To Let You In" (G. Ray)
  4. "Turn Me On Dead Man"
  5. "Mammoth Gardens" (D. Thayer/S. Miller)
  6. "Little Ivory"
  7. "Museum of Hopelessness"
  8. "Toby Ornette" (S. LaFreniere)
  9. "All Clockwork and No Bodily Fluid Makes Hal a Dull Metal Humbert"
  10. "In Heaven Every Elephant Baby Wants to Be So Full of Sting"
  11. "Paul Simon in the Park with Canticle"
  12. "But You Can't Pick Your Friends"
  13. "Vacuum Genesis"
  14. "DEFMACROS"
  15. "HOWSOMETH"
  16. "INGDOTIME"
  17. "SALENGTHS"
  18. "OMETHINGL"
  19. "ETBFOLLOW"
  20. "AAFTERNOO"
  21. "NGETPRESE"
  22. "NTMOMENTI"
  23. "FTHINGSWO"
  24. "NTALWAYSB"
  25. "ETHISWAYT"
  26. "BCACAUSEA"
  27. "BWASTEAFT"
  28. "ERNOONWHE"
  29. "NEQBMERET"
  30. "URNFROMSH"
  31. "OWLITTLEG"
  32. "REENPLACE"
  33. "27"
  34. "One More For Saint Michael"
  35. "Choose Between Two Sons"

Side 4

  1. "Chardonnay"
  2. "Last Day That We're Young"
  3. "Together Now, Very Minor"

Personnel

  • Scott Miller – guitar, vocals
  • Guillaume Gassuan – bass, backing vocals
  • Shelley LaFreniere – synthesizers, backing vocals
  • Gil Ray – drums, backing vocals, guitar
  • Donnette Thayer – guitar, vocals
  • Mitch Easter – producer, engineer
  • Robert Toren – bass guitar on "Toby Ornette"
  • Eric Marshall – electronic bass drum on "The Waist And The Knees"
  • Zachary Smith – guitar samples on "The Waist And The Knees"
  • Bob Geller – assistant engineer

External links

References

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  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Copy of interview at the Wayback Machine (archived 8 November 2013).
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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