American Alternative music reviews

Game Theory was quite an anomaly in the early 80's - while most power pop bands wanted to sound like Cheap Trick or Rick Springfield, Scott Miller and crew were channeling Big Star to great effect, with some modern flourishes such as female backing vocals and occasional synths. Even with an early album like Real Nighttime, the first produced by pop hero Mitch Easter, Miller's songs sound accomplished and mature - although unlike his newer band Loud Family the ballads far outshine the rockers. This may be his most direct and accessible effort - I was lucky to find it for $30, snag it for anything less than $50 because it doesn't seem likely to be remastered.

Best Tracks:
"24" - After the 8 seconds of the jerky intro "Here Comes Everybody" (in tribute to Finnegan's Wake, like the liner notes), 24 kicks in with delicate acoustics and grows into a simply great song. Hilarious low volume fade out with chords from "Stairway To Heaven."
"Waltz The Halls Always" - New wave fluff that beat the pants out of Animotion or Culture Club or ABC or Depeche Mode or (you get the picture)
"If And When It Falls Apart" - Big Star's Third meets the Velvet Underground's self titled third. Beautiful song and vocals.
"I Turned Her Away" - Though Miller is often the victim of his heartless romantic interets in his songs, in this song he turns the girl away, and makes you feel even more sorry for him. Insanely catchy song that isn't just a lyrical waste.

"Couldn't I Just Tell You" - Todd and Scott should collaborate - I love this cover.

Sprinkle some of the Beatles in with some of the Beach Boys and add a Northern California sensibility. Keep the quality high.
Somehow find a way to keep the publicity low: I have no idea how.

Well, there's undoubtedly no recipe to produce a band as special as Game Theory. "Real Nighttime" is just one of many excellent works by them. A very clean one with many excellent songs. Some of my favorites are "24", "Friend of the Family", and especially "I Turned Her Away" but it's not easy to choose. The cover of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" holds its own. The cover of "Couldn't I Just Tell You" goes beyond that.

I have no music training and not such good karma but the first time I heard this (about 10 years ago) I felt I had found something very special. Still do. Some things in life are pure gift.

Don't expect this one to sound like Sonic Youth, but you can rest assured that it's fantastic. Thurston Moore sent short improv recordings of guitar noodling to a large list of experimental musicians both well known and obscure. From that he culled this great compilation which includes dramatically different takes from Alec Empire, Derek Bailey, Stereolab, V/VM, Merzbow, Echo Park, Add N to X, Twisted Science, Blur, Mark Webber (Pulp)... the contributions are as different as these artists' own works. The vinyl has additional tracks not included on the CD and vice versa. Highly recommended.

Diversity is the key here & thru a common link you can find out about a whole bunch of artists you might be blissfully unaware of, mostly it is electronic music but not of the redundant styles favoured by the masses. Track 20 has an amusing poem read by a young girl @ the start, whilst #14 has a reworking of Sonic Youth's classic Schizophrenia in techno form then more traditional. There is noise & there is ambience & there is inbetween here. Adventurous ears should go here.

A nice CD, fun to listen to. I wouldn't say it's the best CD I've ever owned (frankly, I like their Christmas stuff better), but definitely worth the money to buy it. And if you decide to buy it, buy the Christmas stuff, too. You HAVE to. Go. Now. Cruise right over to Mannheim Steamroller, Christmas boxed set, and order it right now. Now. Go. Now.

We love this CD, with its variety of instruments and the animal noises. I used excerpts to supplement a Marine Life class that I taught for Pre/K children. My sons like to listen to the musician's interpretations of animal sounds and habitats. For example, 'Everglades' allows one to think an alligator is gliding silently through the water towards its prey.

I loved Saving the Wildlife, and my kids (ages 8 - 14) loved it even more! The music is incredibly creative, mimicking the animals with charm. They have learned a great deal about music in general just from this CD alone. We talked about the need for tempo and structure, and major and minor sounds after listening to Everglades and Barbecue. We have acted out the various animals as we listened to it: imagine Wolfgang Amadeus Penguin! It remains a favorite of theirs. I am a HUGE Mannheim Steamroller fan, and this is one of my favorites. Chip Davis is definitely a genius.

One of my friends got this when it first came out. We were all sixteen at the time and this ruled our worlds. I haven't heard it since 1996, but I know every song now like the back of my hand. This CD is perfect for people looking to get into punk or learn more about it. It's a perfect soundtrack for teenage angst and rebellion. It's also great for those of us who have moved past punk to look back on our glory days of punk rock shenannigans. These songs remind me of the best times of my life. This is a must own for punk beginners, hell, it's worth it for "Right Side of my Mind" alone.

Well, if you love Gabby and the Tamps this album is absolutley for you! Some of the stuff that gets you jumppin live is right here. All of the songs are tight and flowin' just the way you like them. The Cadillac Tramps are one of Orange County's originals and this CD lives up to the Rocka-Billy/Punk attitude the band exudes on stage!!

good n noisy trash rock. the first track is a E. Neubauten cover (if you couldnt tell from the cover) and starts off on the right foot. After that its hit and miss (which can be tough with only 7 songs) but highlights do poke their ugly heads through all of the commotion...especially when julia "sings". Only get this album if you have a high threshold for noise...if your only experience with these guys is Blues Explosion, dont buy it if you liked Acme but not JSBE.

Pussy Galore, you either love them or hate them. This is an album for the people who haven't heard them yet. This shows off all the good things they can do. This is one of those albums that you can listen to start to finish if you like the band's style. Jon Spencer's vocals and the "live" sound on the album, like on all PG's CD's, just add to the listening expierence. If you like this album, you should go get their DIAL M album. That's the next best after this one.

As a longtime Eitzel fan who's been a bit disappointed with his last few efforts, I was pleasantly surprised. The Greek instrumentation adds a sort of world-music timelessness. Well worth tracking down. But try to pick it up at the UK version of this site -- saves money, even with shipping.

The first revelation here is 'Western Sky', a swooning, majestic version of the old AMC classic. Mark is playing here with a backing band of traditional Greek musicians and so you get mandolins and tzouras and pipes and zournas but what you get above all else is an intuitive feel for each track and what is required in terms of the arrangement. So, for example, 'Western Sky'is all silky and smooth whereas the following 'Here They Roll Down' is almost discordant. Perfectly so. 'Jenny' and 'Last Harbor' in particular sound exactly like you always wanted them to.
Existing fans of Eitzel will have gathered from the song titles already referred to that this a trawl through the back catalogue of his old band, the seminal American Music Club although there are treats too from the solo years, such as 'Take Courage' and 'What Good Is Love', which genuinely deserves a wider audience than the 'Lovers Leap USA' limited release it has enjoyed to date.
Don't think though that this is a case of an artist lazily going through his back catalogue one more time. Each song is transformed and the effect is one of exhilaration, almost of the artist discovering the song anew. Listening to this I'm struck by how this is the perfect marriage of Eitzel's poetry and songwriting craft to sensitive, sympathetic arrangements. No note rings false. This appreciative understanding between the players reflects, I am sure, the fact that Mark Eitzel's concerns are not individual concerns but really are universal, the universal sound.
Finally, the players tackle a song called 'Love's Humming', written by the mandolin player Manolis Famellos. Which is a fitting finale to a wonderful album.
In short, this is that rare thing : an album which would serve as an ideal introduction to newcomers but at the same time should represent an absolute delight to the long-term fans.
Oh, and one final point...Almost unbelievably, this is only a warm-up for the true follow-up to 'The Invisible Man' which may be due later this year. I, for one, can't wait.

buy this CD for two tracks,"Here They Roll Down", and "The Hula Maiden". If they don't move you to any degree, you're not worthy of any of AMC's or Eitzels's music. Oh yeah, also buy the CD because it contains their previous album "California" on it, which, if you can find in any other format (I got mine on vinyl) is worth for two other songs, "Lonely" and "Last Harbor".

This import version is really a two-for-one, with both United Kingdom (which is a decent enough album) and California (which is simply brilliant) both on one CD.

I first bought a cutout cassette copy of California, remembering the advertising campaign for it. The tagline on the ad was "California: isn't that a pretty state to be in?" Thankfully the album is indeed a pretty state to be in, with heartbreaking songwriting and appropriately borderline-sad slide guitar flourishes. It is cathartic like the best of Motown, and just as soulful.

Since most everything AMC did is now out of print, treat yourself to seeing Mark Eitzel perform the next time he's in your town. He's amazing.

We recently rented the surprsingly amusing film "The Tao of Steve". My wife and I found ourselves humming to infectious pop on the soundtrack. And "Lowe" and behold it was Eytan Mirsky!
Its pure pop from the perspective of a loser, (with women that is). If you like Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, Marshall Crenshaw, Etc...you'll like Eytan.

Great stuff, get it now and tell all your friends you were listening to Mirsky way back in 2002!

Definitely check this guy out! The entire CD is excellent! Eytan's lyrics are meaty; smart enough and witty enough to keep you coming back time after time. His music complements the lyrics quite nicely. Download the MP3 samples here and see for yourself. If you like them, you'll like the entire album. Also check out Eytan's other album, "Get Ready for Eytan".

A strong debut CD and a good introduction to the band. The songs are all strong and well executed, and it's well worth having this CD as a refernece for a band that will be breaking through into "instant stardom" any day now

To best sum it up, this band is Dave Matthews with an attitude. From cool crisp horn sections to funky piano playing, this CD offers some great VIBES that'll keep you stoked for days. What it shares with the genre of rock mixed with blues mixed with jazz mixed with soul (e.g. like Dave Matthews) is that each song is rich with subtle musical intracacies. Each listen to this, their premier CD, will reveal more about the band to love. It's an incredible buy. And they just got a major record label to sponsor their new release. It's only a matter of time before these guys achieve Dave Matthews-esque stardom, so get this before the Top 40 radio station near you plays them to death.

Greg Sage has produced another amazing album! From the powerful cover art to the ringing chords inside, I can only marvel at this man's dedication to his music. Buy this record!