Game Theory were only a few months old when they began recording their debut album, 1982's Blaze of Glory, in a makeshift studio in the home of singer, guitarist, songwriter, and all-around idea man Scott Miller. Blaze of Glory is in many respects the work of a band making its baby steps, but it's also a very ambitious work that represents Miller's desire to move on from his juvenilia with his previous band, Alternate Learning, and this LP sounds like a rough draft for what Miller would achieve on albums like Real Nighttime ...
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Game Theory were only a few months old when they began recording their debut album, 1982's Blaze of Glory, in a makeshift studio in the home of singer, guitarist, songwriter, and all-around idea man Scott Miller. Blaze of Glory is in many respects the work of a band making its baby steps, but it's also a very ambitious work that represents Miller's desire to move on from his juvenilia with his previous band, Alternate Learning, and this LP sounds like a rough draft for what Miller would achieve on albums like Real Nighttime and The Big Shot Chronicles. Considering it was recorded in a semi-pro home studio, the production on Blaze of Glory is assertive, and the first flashes of Miller's infatuation with audio montage and fragmented songwriting can be found here, though they're used very sparingly, and while it's clear the group was trying to emulate certain specific studio techniques of the day, the low-budget processing on the drums and the very dated synth patches doubtless have a lot to do with why Miller became reluctant to let fans hear this material in its original form (he re-recorded "Bad Year at UCLA" and "Sleeping Through Heaven" for the 1990 Game Theory collection Tinker to Evers to Chance, and most tracks from this album were remixed and/or given fresh overdubs for the 1993 collection Distortions of Glory). The grander attempts at a big sound on "The Girls Are Ready to Go" and "Stupid Heart" work only so well (and are a reminder of how much producer Mitch Easter brought to the later Game Theory albums), but more modest performances like "Mary Magdalene" and "It Gives Me Chills" are very effective indeed, and tunes like "Sleeping Through Heaven," "Something to Show," and "All I Want Is Everything" make it obvious that Miller was already a superb songwriter with a unique take on smart pop. Game Theory would grow by leaps and bounds by the time they released their next full-length album, 1985's Real Nighttime, but Blaze of Glory shows that Miller's creative vision was very much in place in 1982, even if he was still working out the mechanics of putting it on tape. [Omnivore's 2014 reissue of Blaze of Glory marked the first time the album's original mix and sequence had been heard since the initial 1982 release, and if the remastering reinforces certain flaws in the recording and mix, the best moments sound better than ever. A CD version also features 15 bonus tracks, including outtakes, live performances, and even a few songs from Alternate Learning's mega-rare Painted Windows album, and the booklet includes a superb oral history of Game Theory's earliest days, including interviews with most of the major participants. Blaze of Glory has been announced as the first in a series of reissues covering Game Theory's entire catalog, and this edition will make fans feel this band's legacy is in good hands at last.] ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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Add this copy of Blaze of Glory to cart. $20.70, new condition, Sold by Importcds rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Sunrise, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2014 by Omnivore.
Add this copy of Blaze of Glory to cart. $23.83, new condition, Sold by newtownvideo rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from huntingdon valley, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2014 by Omnivore Recordings.
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