Don't All Thank Me At Once Paperback – November 10, 2015

"Who's gonna have a little sympathy?" is the unanswered question at the end of Scott Miller's beautiful song, "The Red Baron". At the end of Brett Milano's wonderful book, you will. Not only for Miller, who fronted at least two if not three seminal bands during the 80s and 90s and briefly in the mid 00s, but also for his family, his many dear friends and collaborators, and the legions of fans, who seem to grow (deservedly) in number each day.Miller was that kind of over-sized talent. Yet he was the center of a universe that never existed, and may never exist, but it's a universe we long for. A universe where well-crafted, meaningful (dare I say it "brainy") songs become hits, and songs like "Call Me Maybe" or "Mambo No.5" get treated with dismissal or bemusement. In the former world, Scott would have been heralded, instead of working in ever-increasing (up through his untimely death at 53) obscurity.The book does so many things well. It captures the gentle, yet firm, playful, yet distant, personality of the writer of beautiful, beguiling songs with sometimes oft-cryptic words, and ofter-cryptic chords. It details his rise from bedroom studio maven to playing parties and clubs, first at (my alma mater) UC Davis, to San Francisco, and then ... the world.But things did not go as planned. But maybe there wasn't a plan. There certainly wasn't any luck. Miller hit the scene during a weird nether-period (post new wave, pre-grunge) and lost momentum at bad times, when he needed it most. It didn't help that he changed band members with the same frequency that John Mayer changes girlfriends. And Brett Milano captures it all so well (a minor miracle): he details without seeming sensationalistic, and he treats developments, even tragic and painful ones (and there are plenty), with deft humanity. The book is a page-turner.I could go on for another seven paragraphs. Let me cut to the chase. This is a seminal work. Brett had access to people (dozens) who knew Scott first-hand; they all seem to have deep insights, and fascinating anecdotes, and they spoke to Brett frankly. Scott becomes real to us - even those of us who never met him, but wished to, dearly wished to, shake his hand and thank him for the boundless genius and talent he so generously gave to us. This book sets a high standard, and should be read by all who admire Scott and all the gifted rare rock geniuses, such as Brian Wilson and Alex Chilton who seek to show us our truer selves.

It seems silly to write a review about a book that you are unlikely to find a copy. This title needs a reprint. If there isn't a demand for it then that is a problem. Scott Miller was genius and his work was woefully neglected in his lifetime. This book does a very nice job, through timeline detail and interviews with bandmates and friends of recapping his career. A real strength is the effective communication of the energy, intent, and emotion that each recording delivered.If you are marginally familiar with his works, put them on shuffle and settle in with this book. Get versed in Game Theory and The Loud Family. Get educated in the early Alternative Learning. Right, you likely won't find a copy to read. Well, charge ahead anyway, put his works on shuffle or listen album by album. Since it is kind of pointless to talk about a book you can't locate, let me take this space to advocate for some heavy Scott Miller listening. His catalog has been reissued with loving care. The Game Theory titles, long out of print, contain additional tracks on the CD versions. I've long had a lot of his catalog on vinyl, but the new presses are fantastic and worthy of purchase. I also appreciate that the music is available for stream thru Amazon music. The live tracks and demos ending the original releases help fill in what you missed by not catching the band live.If you are new to Miller I suggest starting with The Big Shot Chronicles (Game Theory). Comparisons to Big Star are unavoidable and were likely welcome. Lolita Nation is my favorite of the lot, with its sound collages and shimmering power pop. When you want to look at the later career, give Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things (Loud Family) a listen. It will soon find permanent rotation. Now, you are a fan, go back to those early records. Enjoy Distortion, then Pointed Accounts of People We Know. Listen to late efforts Like What if it Works.You can do it all but read the darn book. Please, lets get a reprint of Don't All Thank Me At Once: The Lost Pop Genius of Scott Miller. Maybe a new edition with some of Robert Toren's (band photographer) images added.

sad but true

If you know about Scott Miller, Game Theory and The Loud Family, this book is indispensible. If you don't, I'm afraid your musical education is sadly lacking - however it is not too late! Buy or download all his astonishing music, then buy the book.

The only regrettable aspect about this book lies in its posthumous nature - appearing two years and more after the death of Scott Miller, guitarist and band-leader who was among the most gifted songwriters of his generation. Throughout the 1980s and '90s, his bands Game Theory and The Loud Family released a series of albums whose all-round consistency was matched by few comparable outfits in that unlikely though inspiring period when power pop and rock & roll merged into one.His story, fascinating and often inspiring if ultimately tragic, is the subject of this book - in which Brett Milano is as adept with the unfolding narrative as in placing Miller's career within the context of that college scene where 'indie rock' made its indelible impact. A devotee of the music scene in Boston, Los Angeles and latterly New Orleans over more then three decades, Milano is well able to capture the 'life and times' of this era with the necessary verve. His overview of Miller's music is a little inconsistent in terms of its album-by-album approach, but his observations are rarely less than insightful - not least when discussing what are arguably Miller's signal achievements - Game Theory's Lolita Nation and The Loud Family's Interbabe Concern. These discussions are balanced by the clarity with which Miller's formative years are related, while the circumstances of his death are handled with due restraint. Milano has evidently enjoyed the full cooperation of Miller's family, friends and colleagues - the contributions of keyboardist Nan Becker, singer-guitarist Donnette Thayer and, above all, drummer Gil Ray of real value in elucidating a personality whose depths and contradictions were often apparent while simultaneously out of reach even to those closest to Miller.Throughout the text, syntactical errors are few as are those partial rearrangements of sentences that have become a bugbear of the online era. The absence of a discography is hardly a problem when such information is easily accessible via the web, but an index of names might have been useful - as would a few photographs interspersed throughout a text which, at around 170 pages, is still succinct enough to take in at a single sitting. Milano's book comes well recommended by, among others, Holly George-Warren - whose riveting book on Alex Chilton (an enduring influence on Miller) appeared last year. Don't All Thank Me At Once might not quite sustain this level of excellence, but it remains an engrossing and sympathetic study: a benchmark for any future appraisal of Scott Miller's lost pop genius.