Supercalifragile
| Supercalifragile | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Game Theory | ||||
| Released | July 2017[1][2] | |||
| Genre | Power pop, jangle pop | |||
| Length | 58:22 | |||
| Label | KCM Records | |||
| Producer | Ken Stringfellow | |||
| Game Theory chronology | ||||
| ||||
Supercalifragile is the sixth and final studio album by Game Theory, a California power pop band founded by guitarist and singer-songwriter Scott Miller (1960–2013). Producer Ken Stringfellow and executive producer Kristine Chambers Miller enlisted the participation of numerous past collaborators and friends of Miller to finish the album after Miller's death, using Miller's partially completed recordings and source material.[3] A limited first pressing was released in August 2017.[4]
Background
Scott Miller was the leader and principal songwriter of the 1980s band Game Theory and the 1990s band The Loud Family. He received significant critical acclaim for albums such as Game Theory's Real Nighttime (1985) and Lolita Nation (1987), achieving cult status but little commercial success. Game Theory's catalog went out of print in the 1990s, resulting in several decades of unavailability until a series of reissues by Omnivore Recordings began in 2014.
With the exception of a collaborative album with Anton Barbeau, What If It Works? (2006), Miller took an extended hiatus from his recording career after disbanding the Loud Family in 2000. He stated later in 2006 that he had some unfinished songs for a solo album, but was doubtful that the album would ever materialize.[5] He confirmed, in a 2011 interview, that he had continued to write music despite the absence of prospects for an album, and that "ideas continue to come.... I'll write it down and I put this piece of paper that I've written it down on in a drawer. And I will sort of remember how these things would go together into songs if I ever did have an opportunity to do an album. So it's just in that nascent state, in perpetuity, now."[6]
His record label, 125 Records, revealed after Miller's death in April 2013 that he had made plans to reunite in the summer of 2013 with some of his old bandmates to record a new Game Theory album, Supercalifragile, the band's first since Two Steps from the Middle Ages in 1988.[7]
Production history
Revival of Miller's project
In September 2015, Scott Miller's wife Kristine Chambers announced that she and Ken Stringfellow had teamed to produce a finished recording from the source material for Supercalifragile that Miller had left behind in various stages of completion, "including fully-formed songs and many other ideas, sketches, lyrics, even musical gestures and snippets of found sound."[8] A preliminary decision to release the album under Scott Miller's name, using the title I Love You All,[8][9] was later reconsidered in favor of Miller's original plans for a Game Theory project.
On May 5, 2016, it was announced that the project, now under Miller's planned title Supercalifragile as Game Theory's sixth full-length studio album, would be released in 2017.[2][10] A Kickstarter campaign was created to fund the pressing and other expenses involved with completing the album, and was fully funded within two weeks.[2]
Personnel
The participants in Supercalifragile included Aimee Mann, who had written in July 2015, "I'm working on this song I wrote with Scott Miller, and hearing him sing it in my headphones is possibly the most devastatingly heartbreaking thing I've ever experienced."[11] Mann's announcement was accompanied by a photo of sheet music bearing the title, "No Love."[12]
In the summer of 2015, recording sessions that included Anton Barbeau, Jozef Becker, Stéphane Schück, and Stringfellow took place at Abbey Road Studios in London.[8]
Recording sessions with Game Theory members Nan Becker, Dave Gill, Gil Ray, and Suzi Ziegler, in late May and early June 2016, were held at Sharkbite Studio in Oakland, California.[13] Additional members of Game Theory who appeared include Fred Juhos, Donnette Thayer, Shelley LaFreniere, and The Loud Family's Alison Faith Levy.[10][2]
Other friends and former collaborators whose involvement was pre-announced include Jon Auer of the Posies, Peter Buck of R.E.M., Doug Gillard, Nina Gordon, Scott Kannberg, Ted Leo, and Will Sheff.[1][2] The final contributors also included Matt LeMay, John Moremen, and Jonathan Segel. Mitch Easter, Game Theory's former producer, played guitar, drums, and synth on the song "Laurel Canyon," and participated in the mixing of the album.[2]
Music videos
In January 2017, a video of "I Still Dream of Getting Back to Paris" was released on YouTube. Directed by Hector Di Napoli and shot at Abbey Road Studios, the release previewed the final album version with a rough preliminary mix of the audio.[14]
Track listing
All tracks written by Scott Miller, except as noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The End Precedes the Beginning" | 2:03 | |
| 2. | "All You Need Is White" | Scott Miller / Stéphane Schück | 3:56 |
| 3. | "Time Warner" | 3:18 | |
| 4. | "An Overview of Item Response Theory" | Scott Miller / Stéphane Schück | 4:18 |
| 5. | "No Love" | Scott Miller / Aimee Mann | 3:26 |
| 6. | "Valerie Tomorrow" | Scott Miller / Ken Stringfellow | 2:59 |
| 7. | "Say Goodbye" | Scott Miller / Doug Gillard | 4:02 |
| 8. | "Laurel Canyon" | 5:18 | |
| 9. | "Kristine" | Scott Miller / Will Sheff / Matt LeMay | 4:14 |
| 10. | "Between the Bottles" | Scott Miller / Jon Auer | 3:58 |
| 11. | "Always Julianne" | Scott Miller / Ken Stringfellow | 3:44 |
| 12. | "It's a Wonderful Lie" | Scott Miller / Alison Faith Levy | 4:44 |
| 13. | "Oh, Death" | Scott Miller / Ted Leo | 2:58 |
| 14. | "Exit for an Opening" | Scott Miller / Stéphane Schück | 4:57 |
| 15. | "I Still Dream of Getting Back to Paris" | Scott Miller / Stéphane Schück / Anton Barbeau | 4:27 |
References
- 1 2 Robinson, Collin (May 6, 2016). "Crowdfunded Final Game Theory Album Features Members of the Posies, R.E.M., The Both". Stereogum. Archived from the original on 2016-05-06.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 West, B.J. (May 5, 2016). "Campaign: About this project". Supercalifragile by Scott Miller's Game Theory. Kickstarter. Archived from the original on 2016-05-06.
- ↑ Sobsey, Adam (February 24, 2016). "On Music: Supercalifragile". The Paris Review. Archived from the original on 2016-04-08.
- ↑ West, B.J. (August 1, 2017). "Update #18: It's happening...". Supercalifragile by Scott Miller's Game Theory. Kickstarter. Archived from the original on 2017-08-09.
- ↑ Durkin, Thomas (August 14, 2006). "The Loud Family's Scott Miller: Better than Grease II". Glorious Noise. Archived from the original on 2013-11-01.
- ↑ Anderman, Joan (December 2011). "Scott Miller Has Drawers Full of Songs. Somebody Give Him A Deadline.". Middle Mojo. Archived from the original on 2014-01-16.
- ↑ Blistein, Jon (April 18, 2013). "Scott Miller, Game Theory and Loud Family Singer, Dead at 53". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2013-10-21.
- 1 2 3 "Scott Miller: I Love You All". Tilt.com. September 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-09-29.
- ↑ Gottlieb, Jed (November 10, 2015). "Reissues and biography boost legend of Game Theory's late leader". Boston Herald. Archived from the original on 2015-11-10.
- 1 2 Gibbs, Ryan (May 5, 2016). "Music news: Kickstarter launched for final Game Theory album". The Young Folks. Archived from the original on 2016-05-06.
- ↑ Flamm, Terry (August 3, 2015). "And Another Thing...". Broken Hearted Toy. Archived from the original on 2015-11-10.
- ↑ Mann, Aimee (July 27, 2015). "Timeline Photos" (image). Facebook. Archived from the original on 2015-11-10.
- ↑ West, B.J. (June 1, 2016). "Update #5: Half Time!". Supercalifragile by Scott Miller's Game Theory. Kickstarter. Archived from the original on 2016-06-02.
- ↑ Game Theory (January 4, 2017). I Still Dream of Getting Back to Paris (official music video). Directed by Hector Di Napoli. B.J. West's channel. YouTube.