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Mike Keneally's New CD Confounds the Critics!

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Mike Keneally + Metropole Orkest
The Universe Will Provide
Favored Nations 2400

Release date: September 7

In an industry that encourages artists to repeat themselves and to copy the trends of other artists, Mike Keneally is the quintessential square peg. The guitarist, vocalist, keyboardist and percussionist learned from the master, Frank Zappa - an artist who developed a huge following despite creating a rock/classical/comedy hybrid of music that one recording label executive deemed to have “no commercial potential."

Keneally replaced Steve Vai as “stunt guitarist" for Zappa's final albums and tours in the late 1980s, and that relatively short experience has had a long and profound effect. But Keneally's new Favored Nations CD, The Universe Will Provide, was inspired by everything leading up to his first exposure to Zappa.

Recorded with the Metropole Orkest in Holland, The Universe Will Provide blends Mike's multi-instrumental talents in with a 50-piece orchestra conducted by Jurjen Hempel. Keneally composed the entire disc, orchestrating it with Chris Opperman.

“The pieces are mostly about childhood and innocence," Keneally explains. “I was never one to just sit and listen to classical music, but I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey at age six," he adds, explaining but one aspect of The Universe Will Provide. “That was a cathartic experience."

The CD's “Creative Catalyst" was Co de Kloet, a radio producer in Holland who was introduced to Keneally by Zappa. It was de Kloet, even before Keneally, who realized that Mike's blend of humor and intelligence would be perfectly showcased by the Metropole Orkest - a 60-year-old symphonic marvel that Keneally calls “the busiest working orchestra in Holland."

Featuring strings, reeds, brass, keyboards, guitars, basses, drums, and percussion, the Dutch ensemble regularly covers everything from pop and television jingles to cartoon themes and classical pieces. Which is perfect for the music on The Universe Will Provide - a 52-minute thrill-ride that opens with the guitar-and-strings composition “Blue 68" and closes with “Bullies" (a serpentining epic that goes from acoustic guitar to cartoonish orchestration before a rocking coda).

In-between, Keneally creates his version of 2004: A Music Oddity. “All of Them Were Quiet" connects the disparate worlds of symphonic string and horn sections with metallic guitar. The percussion section is turned loose on “When Drums Dream," plus the latter part of “Four Slices of Toast," the album's lengthy multi-sectional centerpiece.

Short interludes ("Insert Here," “Quiet?") spotlight the Metropole Orkest's limitless possibilities, and Keneally even salutes Jimi Hendrix by quoting “Purple Haze" during the 9/8-timed “Worrywart Spoonguy."

Keneally turned eight in 1969, an era where anything seemed possible, from cinema and politics to Woodstock and AM radio. The native New Yorker moved to Southern California, where he still resides, in 1970. The possibilities opened up even further after seeing Zappa there for the first time.

“Ever since I was nine, Frank was a great influence," Keneally says. “And I'd have to say Frank was also a classical influence, because he inspired me to investigate the work of composers who'd influenced him, including Varese, Webern and Stravinsky." Zappa's lengthy recording catalog includes several classical releases, notably Orchestral Favorites and the two-volume London Symphony Orchestra.

Keneally's post-Zappa exploits include work on the Grammy-winning tribute album Zappa's Universe, several years of virtuoso multi-instrumental work in Vai's band, numerous sessions, and a 12-year solo recording career. (In late October, the new Mike Keneally Band album “Dog" - the first album by Keneally's current working quartet - will be released.)

All of this musical activity culminates in The Universe Will Provide, which Keneally refers to in the liner notes as “a collaboration between me and my eight-year-old self."

Until now, it was impossible to envision music inspired by the combination of Stanley Kubrick, Wendy Carlos, The Beatles, Fred Rogers, Rowan and Martin, The Smothers Brothers, The Banana Splits, and Warner Brothers / Looney Tunes.

Only from the mind of Mike Keneally, and his journey from 1969 to 2004.

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