''Distortion'' is a 1984 five-song EP by
Game Theory
Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions among rational agents. Myerson, Roger B. (1991). ''Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict,'' Harvard University Press, p.&nbs1 Chapter-preview links, ppvii–xi It has appli ...
, a California
power pop
Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, an energetic performance, and ch ...
band fronted by guitarist and singer-songwriter
Scott Miller. A remastered reissue of ''Distortion'' was released by
Omnivore Recordings
Omnivore Recordings is an independent record label founded in 2010. It specializes in historical releases, reissues and previously unissued vintage recordings, as well as select releases of new music, on CD, vinyl and digital formats. Omnivore Re ...
in November 2014 as a 10-inch EP on green vinyl,
[ with four of the songs released on CD as part of Omnivore's reissued '' Dead Center'' compilation.][
]
Production notes
''Distortion'' was recorded in December 1983 at Samurai Sound Lab in Davis, California
Davis is the most populous city in Yolo County, California. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 66,850 in 2020, not including the on-campus population of the University of California, Da ...
, a studio co-owned by the band's drummer, Dave Gill. In addition to Gill, the band included Scott Miller on guitar and lead vocals, Nancy Becker on keyboards and Fred Juhos on bass.
The EP was produced by Michael Quercio
Michael Quercio (born March 13, 1963) is an American musician. He is the founder, bassist and lead singer of The Three O'Clock, and coined the term Paisley Underground as the name of a musical subgenre.
Paisley Underground
Quercio is best known ...
of The Three O'Clock
The Three O'Clock is an American alternative rock group associated with the Los Angeles 1980s Paisley Underground scene. Lead singer and bassist Michael Quercio is credited with coining the term "Paisley Underground" to describe a subset of the ...
, who also contributed guest backing vocals. Quercio continued to contribute as a guest musician on several Game Theory albums, and became a full member of Game Theory in 1989 and 1990.
Prior to the selection of Quercio to produce ''Distortion'', Mitch Easter
Mitchell Blake Easter (born November 15, 1954) is a musician, songwriter, and record producer. Frequently associated with the jangle pop style of guitar music, he is known as producer of R.E.M.'s early albums from 1981 through 1984, and as fron ...
had been contacted, but was unavailable.[ Easter would go on to produce '']Real Nighttime
''Real Nighttime'' is the second full-length album from Game Theory (band), Game Theory, a California power pop band founded by guitarist and singer-songwriter Scott Miller (pop musician), Scott Miller. Released in 1985, the album is cited as "a wa ...
'' (recorded 1984) and all of Game Theory's later albums.
On two tracks, guitar solos were provided by Earl Slick
Earl Slick (born Frank Madeloni in Brooklyn, New York, October 1, 1952) is a guitarist best known for his collaborations with David Bowie, John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Robert Smith. He has also worked with other artists including John Waite, Tim ...
(credited as Ernie Smith), who was then a sideman for David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
.[ Slick had been introduced to the band through his family connection with engineer Dave Scott Millington.][
All five songs on ''Distortion'' were reissued on CD in 1993 by Alias Records as part of the compilation album '']Distortion of Glory
''Distortion of Glory'' is a 1993 compilation album from the band Game Theory, a California power pop band fronted by guitarist and singer-songwriter Scott Miller. Issued on CD by Alias Records, it anthologizes the band's debut album, most of the ...
''.
2014 reissue
In July 2014, Omnivore Recordings
Omnivore Recordings is an independent record label founded in 2010. It specializes in historical releases, reissues and previously unissued vintage recordings, as well as select releases of new music, on CD, vinyl and digital formats. Omnivore Re ...
announced its commitment to reissue Game Theory's recordings, remastered from the original tapes by co-producer Dan Vallor, who was Game Theory's tour manager and sound engineer during the 1980s.[ ''Distortion'' was released on 10-inch green vinyl on November 28, 2014, in a limited pressing of 1,500 copies, available only in record stores, as part of Black Friday ]Record Store Day
Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...
. On that same date, Omnivore released the ''Pointed Accounts of People You Know
''Pointed Accounts of People You Know'' is the second release from Game Theory, a California power pop band fronted by guitarist and singer-songwriter Scott Miller. Initially released in 1983 as a six-song EP, a remastered version on 10-inch cle ...
'' EP on 10-inch clear vinyl. The ''Pointed Accounts'' and ''Distortion'' EP releases included download cards.
Earlier that week, on November 24, Omnivore reissued the French compilation '' Dead Center'' as an omnibus release on CD, encompassing material from both EPs and additional tracks.[ At the request of Fred Juhos, the reissue of ''Dead Center'' omitted all songs written by Juhos, which became available exclusively on the EP releases and their associated digital downloads.][
]
Thematic notes
In 1990, Scott Miller pointed to "The Red Baron" as the song that "crystallized the style of a class of my songs I’ve called young-adult-hurt-feeling-athons."[
Analyzing the themes of Game Theory's early work, ]Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
professor Stephen Burt
Stephanie Burt (born 1971) is a literary critic and poet who is Professor of English at Harvard University. ''The New York Times'' has called her "one of the most influential poetry critics of ergeneration". Burt grew up around Washington, D.C. S ...
wrote:A teen's sense of social exclusion runs through many of Miller's early songs, but so does his enthusiasm when (to his surprise) he fits in ... These well-educated kids know better than to cast themselves as complete outcasts. Self-knowledge defeats their self-pity, but that defeat does not lead to other victories. It might not even help them get a date, despite desperate measures: "Let’s get out the Twister game and get down on all fours," suggested "Nine Lives to Rigel Five," from ''Distortion'' (1983), though its arrangements are hardly four-on-the-floor
Four-on-the-floor (or four-to-the-floor) is a rhythm pattern used primarily in dance genres such as disco and electronic dance music. It is a steady, uniformly accented beat in time in which the bass drum is hit on every beat (1, 2, 3, 4). ...
.
"Nine Lives to Rigel Five," according to AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
's Stewart Mason, "obliquely concerns one of Scott Miller's favorite topics, the disconnect between childhood wonder and adult reality."[ In the original '']Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
'' episodes of the 1960s, the star Rigel and its numbered planets had been mentioned numerous times. Mason wrote, "Anyone who was a kid during the '50s and '60s space race
The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the tw ...
had been told by no less an authority than ''Scientific American
''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...
'' that by 1984, we'd all be living on the moon and driving personal spaceships, and the fact that we're not is, on some level, still something of a disappointment."[
]
Critical response and legacy
''The Michigan Daily
''The Michigan Daily'' is the weekly student newspaper of the University of Michigan. Its first edition was published on September 29, 1890. The newspaper is financially and editorially independent of the University's administration and other stu ...
'', in a 1984 review, called ''Distortion'' "near-perfect vaguely retrograde pop, with consummately whiny adolescent vocals by Scott Miller and gorgeous tunes by the same."[ Pointing to producer Michael Quercio as a "neo-psychedelic whimsy-pop superstar," the review also cited the "addictive melody" and "lyrics of the century" in "Nine Lives to Rigel Five," and called "Shark Pretty" a "thumping must at any party."][
In the early 1990s, comparing ''Distortion'' to the earlier '' Blaze of Glory'' LP, '']Trouser Press
''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...
'' found ''Distortion'' to be "fuller, but not as fresh sounding", stating that "Miller's fey falsetto and fragile melodies" were rendered "too precious" by a "more baroque presentation."[
Conversely, ]AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
critic Ned Raggett wrote that on ''Distortion'', Scott Miller "practically defines winsome vocal sweetness spiked with bite," calling the EP "some beautiful art pop," and "one set of treats after another."[ Raggett added that "the band collectively put in great performances," crediting Dave Gill's "rumbling drum punch" and Nancy Becker's keyboard lead on "Nine Lives to Rigel Five,"][ which another reviewer called "gloriously cheesy synth-pop riffs."][
Assessing Gill's percussion on "Nine Lives to Rigel Five," ]Stephen Burt
Stephanie Burt (born 1971) is a literary critic and poet who is Professor of English at Harvard University. ''The New York Times'' has called her "one of the most influential poetry critics of ergeneration". Burt grew up around Washington, D.C. S ...
wrote, "It sounds old-school science-fictional, early-digital, like late Devo
Devo (, originally ) is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a ...
, or late Yes. The chorus imagines exile via starship, propelled by what sounds like, not a drum machine, but electronic drums, the kind with hexagonal heads."[
In the 2002 book '' All Music Guide to Rock: The Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'', reviewer Stewart Mason cited "Shark Pretty" for its "exultant charge" and "some of the band's strongest-sounding guitar yet,"][ provided by guest soloist ]Earl Slick
Earl Slick (born Frank Madeloni in Brooklyn, New York, October 1, 1952) is a guitarist best known for his collaborations with David Bowie, John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Robert Smith. He has also worked with other artists including John Waite, Tim ...
.[
Mason also pointed to "The Red Baron" as an example of the EP's "stellar material," calling it an "anguished acoustic lost-love song" with its heartbreak lightened by "keyboardist Nancy Becker's mocking 'Fifty or more' backing vocal," which tied the song's title to the ]Royal Guardsmen
A royal guard is a group of military bodyguards, soldiers or armed retainers responsible for the protection of a royal person, such as the emperor or empress, king or queen, or prince or princess. They often are an elite unit of the regular ar ...
's 1966 novelty song " Snoopy vs. the Red Baron."[ Miller and Becker's "dreamy acoustic strum and synth" in "The Red Baron" were also cited by Raggett as contributing to the "breezy sweetness of the band."][
]
Later performances
In 1999, "Nine Lives to Rigel Five" was covered by the band Gaze
In critical theory, sociology, and psychoanalysis, the gaze (French ''le regard''), in the philosophical and figurative sense, is an individual's (or a group's) awareness and perception of other individuals, other groups, or oneself. The concept ...
on their album ''Shake the Pounce''.[
]Game Theory
Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions among rational agents. Myerson, Roger B. (1991). ''Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict,'' Harvard University Press, p.&nbs1 Chapter-preview links, ppvii–xi It has appli ...
's 2013 reunion performance, a memorial tribute to Scott Miller, included "The Red Baron," and the set closed with the upbeat "Too Late for Tears" and "Shark Pretty."[
In 2014, ]Donnette Thayer
Donnette Thayer is a vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter most active in the 1980s and early 1990s indie rock scenes of Northern California. Thayer was a member of the band Game Theory, and later formed Hex with Steve Kilbey of The Church.
Sh ...
recorded a cover of "The Red Baron" for a Scott Miller memorial tribute album that remains unreleased. Thayer, who had been a member of Game Theory
Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions among rational agents. Myerson, Roger B. (1991). ''Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict,'' Harvard University Press, p.&nbs1 Chapter-preview links, ppvii–xi It has appli ...
from 1986 to 1988, released a music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
of her version.[
]
Track listing
Personnel
Musical credits
Members:
* Scott Miller – guitar, lead and backing vocals
* Dave Gill – drums
* Fred Juhos – bass, lead vocal on "Kid Convenience"
* Nancy Becker – keyboards, backing vocals
Guest musicians:
* Michael Quercio
Michael Quercio (born March 13, 1963) is an American musician. He is the founder, bassist and lead singer of The Three O'Clock, and coined the term Paisley Underground as the name of a musical subgenre.
Paisley Underground
Quercio is best known ...
– additional backing vocals
* Earl Slick
Earl Slick (born Frank Madeloni in Brooklyn, New York, October 1, 1952) is a guitarist best known for his collaborations with David Bowie, John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Robert Smith. He has also worked with other artists including John Waite, Tim ...
– guitar solos on "Shark Pretty" and "Kid Convenience" (credited as Ernie Smith)
* Gordon Beadle – tenor saxophone on "Kid Convenience"
* Michael Stoaks – trumpet on "Kid Convenience"
Production credits
* Michael Quercio
Michael Quercio (born March 13, 1963) is an American musician. He is the founder, bassist and lead singer of The Three O'Clock, and coined the term Paisley Underground as the name of a musical subgenre.
Paisley Underground
Quercio is best known ...
– producer
* Dave Scott Millington – engineer
* Dave Gill – co-engineer
* Jeff Sanders – mastering
External links
*
*
*
References
{{Authority control
1984 albums
Game Theory (band) albums