Real Nighttime
| Real Nighttime | ||||
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| Studio album by Game Theory | ||||
| Released | 1985 | |||
| Recorded | July 22–31, 1984 | |||
| Genre | Power pop, jangle pop | |||
| Length | 45:34 (LP) | |||
| Label | Enigma | |||
| Producer | Mitch Easter | |||
| Game Theory chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
Real Nighttime is the second full-length album from Game Theory, a California power pop band founded by guitarist and singer-songwriter Scott Miller. Released in 1985, the album is cited as "a watershed work in '80s paisley underground pop." A 30th anniversary reissue was released in March 2015, on CD and in a limited first pressing on red vinyl, with 13 bonus tracks.
The album was the group's first to be produced by Mitch Easter, who continued as the producer of all of their subsequent albums.
Real Nighttime was the last of Game Theory's albums to be recorded by the band's Davis, California-based line-up, a quartet fronted by Scott Miller on guitar and lead vocals. According to rock critic Mark Deming, "while Miller was clearly the leader of this band, the outstanding percussion work from Dave Gill, the evocative keyboards from Nan Becker, and the solid, propulsive bass of Fred Juhos played an invaluable role in making these songs work."
The original recording line-up commenced a national tour for Real Nighttime in October 1984, but before the album's 1985 release, the group went through a wholesale change in personnel, with only Miller remaining.
By early 1985, Miller relocated to San Francisco together with future Game Theory member Donnette Thayer, where he assembled a new line-up in the San Francisco Bay Area, featuring Shelley LaFreniere on keyboards, Gil Ray on drums, and Suzi Ziegler on bass. The newly formed San Francisco version of Game Theory began a new tour in 1985 in support of the Real Nighttime album, on which none of them (except Miller) had appeared. During a break in the Real Nighttime tour, this line-up recorded Game Theory's 1986 album, The Big Shot Chronicles.
Scott Miller sought out Mitch Easter to produce Real Nighttime after hearing his production work on R.E.M.'s Chronic Town, and Easter went on to have a long association with the group, producing not only the rest of Game Theory’s catalog but also the first two albums by Miller's next band, The Loud Family. According to Miller, Easter's main contribution as producer was "competency" and a bigger, more professional sound. In 2003, Miller stated, "I don’t think he and I ever clashed at all.... just suddenly we had someone who knew a lot more than I did and we were all grateful." For his part, when Easter was asked in 1999 about his favorite projects as a producer, Easter named Chronic Town and Game Theory's records, which Easter called "a lot of fun, because of the variety in the way they approached recording."
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