Tag: Game Theory

Reissues: Star Collector, TV Eyes, Game Theory

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Star Collector “Songs For The Whole Family” – Probably the best LP this classic 90’s Atlanta power pop band ever created. Now just a quick download from our friends at Futureman Records. The players are Cord Stone (Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals), Joe Giddings (Lead guitar, Vocals), Dusty Edinger (Drums, Percussion, Vocals) and Michael Brown (Bass, Vocals). This LP was a best-seller at Not Lame in its heyday, and now its quite rare. But you could still shell out a lot of cash for a copy on Amazon if you wanted.

Star Collector “Collected Stars (Live, Demo and Unreleased 1997-1999)” This is a perfect companion to the album above. Its got everything the Star Collector fan would want to complete their music collection. Another bandcamp download from Futureman Records.

TV Eyes “TV Eyes” In 2006, Jason Falkner and Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. of the legendary band Jellyfish and drummer/songwriter Brian Reitzell (Redd Kross and Air) released a new project called “TV Eyes” in Japan exclusively.  It was good move, as this was nothing like Jellyfish but an 80’s electronica dance LP, more like Devo, Gary Numan or Falkner’s solo material. The reaction wasn’t great at the time, I remember a similar outcry to the band Queen when they put out the disco LP Hot Space  years earlier. Overall it turns out it still has excellent songs and was way ahead of the curve for the EDM genre. Thank Omnivore Records and get it at Amazon.

Game Theory “Blaze of Glory”– We are still not over the death of Scott Miller who literally blazed a trail with his first album, Blaze of Glory. It showcased the sound of  power-pop done with a new-wave style and even hinted at the upcoming Paisley Underground movement. This new re-issue contains the entire 12 track album, supplemented with 15 bonus tracks—4 from Alternate Learning and 11 previously unissued tracks from Scott Miller’s archive. Again, thank you Omnivore Records and get it at Amazon.

Scott Miller passes away

powerpopaholic

Sadly, Scott Miller passed away on April 15, 2013.  Scott Miller has released more than a dozen albums with his bands Game Theory and the Loud Family, and his music has been described as “a cross between Alex Chilton, James Joyce, and the Electric Prunes” (Stereo Review) and “smart, funny, and instantly memorable” (Rolling Stone). Miller was a brilliant songwriter who’s biggest impact was during the 80’s, mixing both powerpop and new wave to craft a memorable catalog of albums. Some of these are being made public on the Loud Family website.

In addition to being a musician, Scott was an author of an insightful book Music: What Happened? In the sample chapter he describes how he found Seth Swirsky’s “Watercolor Day” –

“Certainly the Internet has changed how people find out about music, and one novelty there for my methods is what I’ll call canon triangulation. Searching around for the best new songs, I’ll do a web search on several songs that I consider indicators of good ears, and see what else is on those people’s list, and so on. I found “Watercolor Day” that way, I think on a site I want to credit with being associated with Audities, though I see I’m not able to repeat the search today.”

I can only hope that he was talking about Powerpopaholic.com — but aside from that I hope people honor Scott by playing his music today. I know I will.