All Music Guide review.)
All Music Guide describes Half Alive In Hollywood thusly: "This is a dense, 2-CD set... To hear [Keneally] and his group Beer for Dolphins unadorned is a stunning guitar rock experience. You can't just put any trio in an unfamiliar setting and get material like this. Complex, fascinating-- musical alchemists in the conjuring process."
Like most of Mike's '90s releases, Half Alive had been out of print for years until Exowax obtained his early catalog. In the new liner notes penned for this reissue, Mike writes of his decision to follow "two distinct paths as a musical guy: meticulous and painterly in the studio, and raw and intense on stage. The power trio format was (and is) a fantastic way to explore who I was (and am) as a guitarist."
And explore he did, resulting in two full CDs worth of once-in-a-lifetime music, one CD from the studio and the other from the stage. There are no fewer than 41 tracks of terrifying sonic stunts here, all enabled by his equally intense telepathic cohorts Bryan Beller on bass and Toss Panos on drums.
The download includes pdf scans of all original artwork (including the CD itself!), along with new liner notes by Mike. And now there are two types of downloads available:
MP3: A 211.5MB zip file containing high-quality (256k variable bit rate) mp3 audio files, compatible with all mp3 players. Our mp3s provide excellent sound for most uses. The files are DRM-free, meaning that there is no anti-copying code buried in them (we trust you).
FLAC: A much larger zip file (881.2MB, roughly four times the size of our mp3s) that offers CD-quality sound, the FLAC format is for experienced users and requires additional software. The FLAC format is not supported by iTunes or Windows Media Player. More information about FLAC can be found here: http://flac.sourceforge.net.
Songs on the Half Alive In Hollywood download are:
Disc One: Live In A Studio
- Career/Quimby #1
- Bryan Is Experimenting
- Career/Quimby #2
- I Can't Stop
- Open Up!
- My Dilemma
- Spoon Guy (instrumental)
- Uglytown (Epstein-Barr Variation)
- Bryan Is Coughing
- Skunk
- Good Dolphins #1
- Good Dolphins #2
- Sort Of Performing Miracles
- 1988 In Hell
- Day Of The Cow - Part One #1
- Day Of The Cow - Part One #2
- Snowcow
- Sweating In School
- Day Of The Cow - Part Two
- The Unhappy Monologist (rehearsal)
- The Unhappy Monologist (instrumental)
- The Desired Effect
Disc Two: Live On A Stage
- Dot-Da-Da-Dot-Dot-Dot-Dot-Daaaahhhh
- Dhen Tin
- Cheddar
- The Car Song
- Top Of Stove Melting
- Aglow
- Lightnin' Roy
- Blameless
- Power To Love
- Bad Dolphins
- Immigrant Song
- Spoon Guy (vocal)
- Uglytown
- Career Politicians
- Performing Miracles
- Love Theme From Vulture Fun
- Gypsy Queen
- Scotch
- Vent (bonus studio track)