Game Theory leader
Scott Miller never made a secret of his fondness for
Big Star, and while
Real Nighttime favored the lush but direct sound of
#1 Record, and
The Big Shot Chronicles suggested the harder-edged tone of
Radio City,
Lolita Nation plays like
Game Theory's variation on the themes of
Big Star's masterfully damaged swan song,
Third/Sister Lovers. Certainly
Game Theory's most ambitious album,
Lolita Nation was a two-LP set that combined some of
Miller's most user-friendly power pop squared off against dark, moody ruminations on betrayal, failed love, and mortality, all of it punctuated with bursts of avant-garde noise and unclassifiable studio doodling, and finally thrown into a sonic Cuisinart through
Miller's aggressive use of aural montage.
Game Theory's most challenging work,
Lolita Nation is a bit disorienting on first listen, though it finds the band playing at the very top of its form on demanding material. New guitarist
Donnette Thayer made an impressive debut, and drummer
Gil Ray and keyboardist
Shelley LaFreniere delivered outstanding performances. There are more than a few flat-out brilliant tracks, such as "Chardonnay," "The Waist and the Knees," and "The Real Sheila," alongside such head-scratchers as "Turn Me on Dead Man," "Watch Who You're Calling Space Garbage Meteor Mouth," and the 22nd track (which stubbornly defies titling).
Lolita Nation was the point where the many ideas and approaches
Miller had experimented with on
Game Theory's earlier albums finally came together in a (pardon the expression) blaze of glory, and if the album is a bit much to absorb on first listen, few rock albums of the '80s reward repeated listening more than this one.
Miller was one of the few rock musicians who often (and fittingly) cited
James Joyce as an influence, and
Lolita Nation is his Ulysses, a dense, profoundly idiosyncratic masterpiece. [In 2016, after years out of print,
Omnivore Recordings gave
Lolita Nation an impressive remastered and expanded reissue. The audio is a significant improvement over the slightly brittle sound of
Enigma Records' 1987 CD release, with a more satisfying low end and a wealth of detail difficult to discern in the original release.
Omnivore's edition is expanded to two discs, with a second CD devoted to bonus material. The high point is a 7:49 version of "Chardonnay" that was edited so that the album would fit on a single CD for the 1987 release. Most of the other bonus tracks are either rough drafts or live performances of covers, but hearing the band make its way through versions of everything from
Elvis Costello and
David Bowie to
the Stooges and
Public Image Ltd. delivers a splendid look at the many sounds that informed
Miller's musical world view. Add in an excellent oral history of
Game Theory from
Real Nighttime through
Lolita Nation and you have the definitive presentation of an overlooked classic of '80s pop.] ~ Mark Deming
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