Dancing

Mike Keneally & Beer For Dolphins

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 26, 2000)
• Original Release Date: September 26, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Exowax
• ASIN: B00004XS6G
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #111,331 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist
Eccentric rock virtuoso Mike Keneally was born Dec. 20 1961 in Long Island. Largely self-taught, he plays guitar and keyboards, sings and composes and produces and does a lot of other things, all of which are fascinating to listen to and nearly impossible to describe. He played in Frank Zappa's last touring band and has appeared on a bunch of Zappa albums, has recorded or performed with XTC, Robert Fripp, Sting, Kevin Gilbert, Steve Vai, The Loud Family, Henry Kaiser, Michael Manring, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Andy Prieboy, The Persuasions and scads of others, and has been producing solo works since the early 90's.

Keneally's most recent solo album, "Nonkertompf," prompted these comments by David Fricke in Rolling Stone magazine: "I saw guitarist Mike Keneally play with Frank Zappa in the 1980s, nimbly negotiating the maestro's knotty charts, and I've watched Keneally cook hard with his twisted-fusion outfit, Beer For Dolphins. But none of it prepared me for the color and density of 'Nonkertompf,' a whirl of thirty-five instrumental miniatures, played by Keneally in their entirety and advertising not only his spicy fluency on the guitar but a flair for hot melodic sabotage rooted, yet not imprisoned, in Zappology. The music flies mad and fast, but what the hell? You have a whole century to digest it."

Keneally's other releases include 1992's "hat.", 1994's "Boil That Dust Speck," 1996's "Half Alive In Hollywood" and 1997's "Sluggo!". 1995 brought the left-field classic "The Mistakes," which found Keneally teamed with Henry Kaiser, Andy West and Prairie Prince to scintillating effect. A number of things involving Keneally have been nominated for Grammies, and some of them have won. His music invokes such rabid fan response that a group of Keneally enthusiasts from around the world joined together in San Diego during the summer of 2000 to present "Nonkerstock," their own fan-produced-and-promoted tribute to all things Keneally, culminating in a performance by Keneally and his eight-piece band, Beer For Dolphins.

This band will be issuing its new album "Dancing" in late September of this year. About Keneally and Beer For Dolphins, Matt Resnicoff wrote in Time Out New York: "This band, with such a peculiar genius leading it, is a thing to savor."

Product Description
The first Mike Keneally & Beer For Dolphins album in three years, "Dancing" is well worth the wait. Mike has invited his finely tuned eight-member unit into the studio to lay down nearly 80 minutes of the most adventurous, yet heartfelt, MK/BFD music ever.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mike's best yet -- and probably 2000's best disc so far, October 15, 2000

By	Christopher Ingalls (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I became a Mike Keneally fan the same way a lot of people did -- due to MK's association with Frank Zappa. Mike was a guitarist/keyboard player in Frank's last touring band in 1988. Since then, he's released a slew of wild, weird, and completely invigorating solo albums both under his own name and as the leader of Mike Keneally and Beer For Dolphins. While he definitely has Zappa influences all over his music, his music does have several shots of power pop a la Todd Rundgren and XTC, and his lyrics show more optimism than Zappa's. This particular release is definitely his strongest yet, with lots of full-band musical weirdness as well as some bona fide pop/rock singles. The delicious "Live in Japan" would be a Top Ten hit in a perfect world. "Joe" sounds like Todd Rundgren meets Steely Dan. "Selfish Otter" is a nod to complex, trippy 70's prog rock (complete with a wacky moog solo). "Mystery Music" is an instrumental that sounds uncannily like They Might Be Giants. Not only is this Mike's best work, it's also his most all-over-the-map, and, dare I say, the one disc he's put out so far that may actually bring him mainstream acceptance. Do yourself a favor...take a chance on this disc and pick it up today. You won't regret it...there's definitely something in here for everybody.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heads, We're Dancing, October 18, 2000

By	J. D. Mack (Silver Spring, MD USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Five Star! I could blab on and on about this album. The best place to get a sense of what this album is about is to go to Mike Keneally's web site and click on "Dance Fever" (I'm not allowed to list the url, but let's say it's pretty logical) There are several in depth reviews from fans that do not always rave about everything Mike's done. This time, however, the praise is unanimous!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars jammin', October 22, 2000

By A Customer

Again a monster of a record. Keneally always uses all the available space on the cd and as we hear he used it well. From unbelievable hooky horn lines (Tim?) on Live in Japan to Kedgeree (which somehow reminds me of The Ocean is the ultimate solution a real FZ gem) this recording keeps growing more and more since the first listen. It's all there. Grab it and dig for Zappa, Hendrix, Tony Williams Lifetime, Steely Dan and "fill in the blanks". This is the first "real" band record (aside from Half alive in Hollywood) by Mike Keneally & Beer For Dolphins and the result is stunning. While his/their first recordings are absolutely brilliant as well, here the sound of the early power trio is enhanced by new and highly skilled members giving these songs a collective feeling and adding some grateful deadish swing & looseness.