Lolita Nation

Lolita Nation
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)		 Lolita Nation
(1987)		 Two Steps from the Middle Ages
(1988)
Back cover
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [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, it is often considered to be the group's most critically acclaimed work, and in 1988 was nominated for a Bay Area Music Award (BAMMY) in the category of Outstanding Independent Label Album or EP.[2]

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.[3] 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."[4]

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".[5]

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."[6]

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."[7]

Rock critic Joe Harrington placed Lolita Nation at #4 on his list of the Top 100 albums of all time,[8] while Culturespill's Omar Ghieth called it flatly "the greatest album of all time."[9]

Although it garnered little commercial success upon its release, Lolita Nation has become a highly sought-after collector's item. Lolita Nation has not been re-issued on CD since the time of its initial release on Enigma. Game Theory's catalog has remained out of print since the early 1990s, contributing to the band's inability to transcend what Scott Miller described as "national obscurity, as opposed to regional obscurity."[10]

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

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

External links

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Deming, Mark. "Lolita Nation". AllMusic.
  2. ↑ Beebe, Greg (March 11, 1988). "Bless the Bammies". Santa Cruz Sentinel (Santa Cruz, California). p. 66. Retrieved 2014-08-13. (subscription required (help)).
  3. ↑ Miller, Scott (1982). Blaze of Glory (LP insert). Game Theory. Rational Records.
  4. ↑ Arnold, Gina (May 22, 1988). "Game Theory: 916 Pop Band Goes 800". San Francisco Chronicle. Copy of interview at the Wayback Machine (archived 8 November 2013).
  5. ↑ Wuelfing, Jr., Howard (January 1988). "Game Theory: Lolita Nation". Spin 3 (8): 24–25.
  6. ↑ Leland, John; Robbins, Ira A. (1991). "Game Theory". In Robbins, Ira A.. The Trouser Press Record Guide (4th ed.). Collier Books. p. 271. ISBN 0020363613.
  7. ↑ Ham, William (September 15, 2000). "A Lot Of Life's Best Things Are Farther Than A Zen Proverb Away". Desert Island Disc. Dancing About Architecture. Archived from the original on 2012-02-16.
  8. ↑ Harrington, Joe S. (Winter 2002–2003). "A Loaded Proposition: Joe S. Harrington Picks the All-Time Top 100 Or... Who Pulled The Trigger?". Blastitude (14): 4. Archived from the original on 2012-07-21.
  9. ↑ Ghieth, Omar (July 23, 2008). "The Boy Of My Own Dreams: The Lost Masterpiece Of The 80s Underground". Culturespill. Archived from the original on 2008-10-02.
  10. ↑ Hann, Michael (April 18, 2013). "Scott Miller may not be a household name, but his death lessens pop". The Guardian (UK). Archived from the original on 2013-11-14.