Game Theory

Lolita Nation

Omnivore Recordings

One of the greatest albums ever made, and a true lost classic. I don’t want to belabor the comparison, but the only album Lolita Nation can be compared to is Sgt. Pepper. If that album had been made in 1987, with all the advances in recording studio technology, it might have sounded like Lolita Nation.

From the first piece of music, the sound collage “Kenneth, What’s The Frequency?” comes words to live by: “You can pick the game, you can, when you know what it is you’re doing. But when you know what it is you’re doing, then you despise it.” More proof that Scott Miller, and yes, all of Game Theory, were geniuses. Because after that opening, a headspinning, yet very sensible album goes forth, influenced by James Joyce, TS Elliot, and the band’s own pop sense, making for wondrous moments in every song on the album. And also for the sound collages, including one with a title in computer code, that is just tremendous.

The newly added second disk is outtakes, rarities, demos, and live versions of selections from Lolita Nation, a disk that can stand on its own, but that also succeeds in making Lolita Nation essential for not only fans, but anyone who is curious about college rock at its peak.

For me it means even more than that. When I first bought the tape of this album in 1987, I sat down with it, wrote out what I thought the songs were about, and while I was wrong about their meanings, I did have a plot for a novel. So yes, I found I could write. Which is one of the things I love most of all about this album.

Maybe you will love this album too.

Andrea Weiss