I think this is the last of it. Beyond tonight's offering I think this is the last available un/under-released material I have to share by
Game Theory proper (although some GT-adjacent items may follow later). I've already given you
multiple live shows, demos for the
Big Shot Chronicles, and between 2014 and 2020 I reviewed all of Omnivore Records exhaustive reissues of GT's back catalog.
There's not much more commentary I can impart regarding
Lolita Nation beyond my
assessment of it's widely expanded, 2016 double CD reissue. It was the third in a trifecta of almost infallible, not to mention beaucoup criminally lauded full lengths, commencing with 1985's
Real Nighttime, and
Big Shot... coming hot on it's heels a year later.
Lolita, a double album, swelling with 27 new songs, landed in 1987. It wasn't their final record (that would come soon enough via the band's swan song,
Two Steps From the Middle Ages), but it seems to be the final item in the Game Theory cannon that people truly raved about. This set of 19 prototypes, whether they be actual studio demos or well-versed rehearsals, has some occasional overlap with the bonus goodies on Omnivore's revamped incarnation, but nothing excessive.
In most cases when it came to tracking the album, the versions on the finished product didn't greatly deviate from the demos, but if you're intimately familiar with Lolita... it won't take long to identify the variations and nuances. While the entire album isn't represented here, all of the major components are present and accounted for - "The Real Sheila," "Chardonnay," and no less than two versions of "The Waist and the Knees." An untitled instrumental in the middle of this whole shebang isn't particularly enlightening, but slots in seamlessly anyway. I promised myself I wouldn't reveal too much in this write-up, so I'm tempted to cut the line here. For the uninitiated, if this is your first exposure to Game Theory and/or this album, you'll be happy to learn the reissue is still available here (and presumably streaming), and the band is responsible for a rich body of work that you'd do well to explore.
01. Little Ivory
02. Slip
03. Nothing New
04. Look Away
05. The Waist And The Knees
06. The Waist And The Knees (2)
07. Andy in Ten Years
08. Not Because You Can
09. We Love You Carol And Alison
10. untitled
11. The Real Sheila
12. Dripping With Looks
13. Mammoth Gardens
14. One More For Saint Michael
15. Chardonnay
16. Last Day That We're Young
17. The World's Easiest Job
18. Exactly What We Don't Want To Hear
19. Where They Have to Let You In
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