An apt song title if ever there was one
Alternate Learning — Another Wasted Afternoon
(From the LP Painted Windows, Rational Records 1981)
Alternate Learning (or ALRN, as they were also known on occasion) was Scott Miller’s first band to release anything, with a 1979 7″ EP and this 1981 LP to their credit. Those who find the first few Game Theory records to be irritatingly amateurish and new wavey will probably hate this, but I find this album a rather charming precursor to the early Game Theory sound, especially the synth break mid-song, which makes plain Miller’s fondness for what Eno brought to the first couple of Roxy Music albums. I know at least a couple of people who find the keyboards to be the primary Game Theory dealbreaker, but I’ve always thought that early-Eno comparison is a useful one: here, as on most of the GT albums, the keyboards are mostly a buzzy, needling embellishment rather than an integral part of the song.
The two changes I made to this song when I was copying the file are that I cut off the first 20 seconds or so, which are merely rainstorm sound effects, plus I raised the volume of the rest of the first minute by 700% so that you can actually, y’know, hear it.
–Stewart Mason
Martin said,
February 22, 2007 @ 2:52 am
Thanks. It’s a great song. I wish the album wasn’t so hard to get. By the way, I completely agree with your views on the keyboards in Game Theory.
Paulo X said,
February 22, 2007 @ 7:03 pm
My favorite song in the record is “Beach State Rocking”…
Pat R said,
February 22, 2007 @ 8:39 pm
Scott Miller always had a great love for Roxy Music. Game Theory did a great live cover of “Remake Remodel”.
Stu Pope said,
June 19, 2009 @ 5:38 pm
“Beach State Rocking” is indeed a good one - sort of the precursor to “Bad Year at UCLA” (which, I understand, started as “Bad Year at UC Davis,” but that didn’t have the right cadence.
I think I picked this album up in Davis, actually (at a record store where ex-Game Theory member Dave Gill was working the counter), but it was the ALRN EP that really intrigued me - especially the non-Scott Miller track, “Gumby’s in a Coma.”