Customer Reviews

From Ritual to Romance

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Although I have listened to the ever-entertainingly and willfully enigmatic Scott Miller and his fellow musicians since they first emerged on college radio around 1982-3, I do not usually like live albums over studio ones. This goes double for groups as intricately layered and carefully arranged as were Game Theory and Loud Family. This concert sampling's not exactly a disappointment, but seeing how it relies upon the darkest of the LF CD's the difficult to love post-breakup (yet again for SM) Interbabe Concern, for many of its tracks, it seems a bit doomed to fail by comparison with the harsh, grating, paranoic quality of that insular recording. Great to hear the Eno cover such as it was (too brief), and more covers in fact might have easily lifted the rating since they would not have had to compare with studio renditions of such inclusions.

The band is naturally more edgy and temperamental than they sound on record, and this does add a novel quality to those used to the dense LF production on their albums. Still, this is definitely one for fans only. Not bad, as I said, but for completists and certainly not beginners to LF, who are advised to start at the start with Plants & Birds etc. Still, another great album title drawing from SM's endlessly allusive and well-stocked storehouse of appropriately applied literary arcana.

Another excellent outing from Scott Miller. In light of his decision to disband the band, it makes this recording all the more precious. Hard to pick out a highlight, although the cover of the Pixie's Debaser is a smash. I would suggest another, less expensive avenue of purchasing this cd by way of the... website. The only cd worth paying $20 for is a used copy of Lolita Nation.

I enjoyed Scott previously with Game Theory and some of Loud Family. What this proves to me is that some bands are best live and some best in the studio. This one is best in the studio.