Dead Center

After making their debut in 1982 with the self-produced and released album Blaze of Glory, Game Theory clearly wanted to aim for a more polished and professional sound on their next releases; for the 1983 EP Pointed Accounts of People You Know, leader Scott Miller took the band into a real studio (admittedly a modest one), and the 1984 EP Distortion found them working with an outside producer for the first time, Michael Quercio of paisley underground psychedelic heroes the Three O'Clock. The French indie label Lolita Records, then enamored of the paisley underground scene, licensed the two EPs and fashioned them into an album, Dead Center, making it the curious follow-up to Blaze of Glory, flown in from across the ocean to the group's homeland. While Dead Center doesn't cohere as an album as well as one might hope, the individual tracks shows that Game Theory were growing past the home-brewed sound of Blaze of Glory, and "Penny, Things Won't," "Metal and Glass Exact," and "Life in July" are smarter and better executed than nearly anything on BoG, while Quercio's production was a great complement to songs like "The Red Baron," "Nine Lives to Rigel Five," and "Shark Pretty" (the latter featuring a guitar solo from David Bowie sideman Earl Slick). And while Miller was clearly the leader of this band, bassist Fred Juhos, keyboardist Nan Becker, and drummer Dave Gill were more than capable accompanists who gave these songs the flavors they needed. One could certainly hear Game Theory's talent and potential on Blaze of Glory, but the material that formed Dead Center represented a major step forward for Miller and his group, and this music suggested they were maturing into the great smart pop band that would emerge on 1985's Real Nighttime. ~ Mark Deming