I’ve been vacillating on posting this because I AM NOT OBSESSED, WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT?!?!? but what the hey: the website The Great Leap Forward is currently hosting the entirety of Game Theory’s ‘Real Nighttime’

It’s one of my favouritest albums and may be known to some here from its appearance in Hec’s Lost In The Grooves (It may also be known to some here from their knowledge of music that would put God to shame). I’m desperately trying not to pull a list of reviews that call the band’s frontman a genius so I’ll just say that the album is brimming with shimmering guitars, low-key synths, erudite lyrics and gorgeous melodies.

The album, however, is on the site… what do you call that word that’s an anagram of illegalyl (Or at least I imagine it is). If you have a compunction about that, and why should you not?, it’s worth noting that the owner of the publishing rights to the Game Theory catalogue has been approached about reissues and hasn’t cared to sell them. So unless you dole out 50 quid (as I have) for a second-hand copy, you won’t hear this album; the only people that I can see would have their feet trampled on by this are music fans lucky enough to have a copy to sell and an owner that isn’t interested enough to profit from a reissue. And if it still bothers you, and why should it not? take a song or two, give it a listen and bin it, it could well brighten the corners of your day. If you’re going to do that, I recommend ‘24’, ‘She’ll be a Verb’, ‘Rayon Drive’ (though its lyrics are unusually facile in context) or ‘I Turned Her Away’ but I especially recommend ‘Curse of the Frontierland’ or ‘Waltz the Hall Always’. They’re all awesome but the last two are especially so.

I should include one other thing since recommendations are for the people receiving them: the singer’s voice is a self-described ‘miserable whine’ and I know a couple of people that won’t listen to his songs because of it. Also, if the link isn’t kosher, I suck and I’ll remove it.

I dunno, Im fine with it. Is this Scott Miller as in Scott Miller and the Commonwealth? Cause I love those guys.

That's a different Scott Miller.

Looking through The Great Leap Forward, I'm surprised by how many great CDs are now out of print. I knew that parts of my vinyl collection are worth big bucks, but I had no idea I had CDs that were that valuable.

Ah-ha. As I re-read the blog, I thought it might be.

OH OH OH! Vinyl, right!

I have been meaning to post here an idea that I have been wondering about. I am looking to replace all of my vinyl on CD (I'm not a collector and my player died), but some of what I have on vinyl is not on CD, so I was looking at buying one of the LP players that plugs into a computer and converts the songs to MP3s. Thing is that after I am doen with my 10 or so LPs, I will be doen, so.... I was wondering if there are folks that would be interested in sharing the cost and receiving the device in turn (orginal packing to be kept for shipping). Anyone?

Can you provide a link to the player?

Just realized my turntable is more than 20 years old....

Thanks for the Game Theory link.

Once back in '88 a friend got a few free passes to see Game Theory at a tiny club in Madison. We got in early (before the doors opened) so there was just the three of us and Game Theory in the bar. They asked us if we were the opening band. They also had food, and one member of Game Theory gave me some of her spaghetti.

It was a fun show, although the place was maybe half full (it was during the Xmas semester break). I got really drunk and called in sick to work the next day.

(Hey, I don't have many "hung out with the band" stories, so I gotta share when I can....)

Just noticed there's a new show on VH1-Classic called BBC Crown Jewels which raids the BBC archives for live music programming. Looks like it's mostly the seventies and eighties, but from a variety of shows (Old Grey Whistle Test, Sounds for Saturday et al.) Faces, Lynyrd Skynyrd, AC/DC and The Police were the ones I noticed on upcoming schedules.

I'm watching the Faces from '71 and I don't know if I've ever seen a better live set from them. Of course, they were always a hit-or-miss proposition (not unlike their followers The Replacements), but when they were on - rock and roll bliss.

eta: ...and now I'm watching the AC/DC because it's the Bon Scott lineup and Angus is a freakin' maniac.

Heh. I guess more than a few of us downloaded those Game Theory tracks. Shout out: [link]

Oh, ha, that's kind of awesome.

Does anyone have Bow Wow Wow's "Aphrodisiac" they could stick up on BR? In a fit of searching fury I managed to locate all the tracks for the Marie Antoinette soundtrack (minus Vivaldi's Concerto in G, and the original music they used) on various weblogs using elbo.ws, but that was the only track I couldn't find.

if anyone wants it, too, I'd be happy to send along the tracks I found.