Two Steps From The Middle Ages
Game TheoryThe success of R.E.M. and The Bangles notwithstanding, the American '80s revival of '60s-style psychedelic guitar bands seems to be well past the high-tide mark, leaving behind a debris of dwindling local scenes, struggling bands, much purely derivative music but a core of inspired second-generation paisleyana. North California's Game Theory have over six years refined a style of sweetly melodic but utterly unwhistleable granny-glassed and polka-dotted pop which draws from the quirkily beatific likes of The Lefte Banke and Love, and sets it to the sprightly '60s-derived bubblegum such as also inspires contemporary outfits like The Three O'Clock and Let's Active. Two more reference points from the turn of the '80s: The Plimsouls and THE SHOES, both sadly deceased. This, Game Theory's fifth full-length album, very charmingly recapitulates previous minor triumphs of singer-guitarist-songsmith Scott Miller's talent to amuse. His songs are whimsical both in content and delivery, and insinuate rather than stop you dead in your tracks. I suspect that the undulating voice and melodies that distinguish Scott Miller from his peers also lull one into a gently rolling mood of benign indifference. Becalmed in this soundscape, one yet senses Miller is but a moment of inspiration away from a Radio FreeEurope.
- Mat Snow
(Issue #27)(December 1988)