If you are a Maestro Subgum and the Whole fan and/or fond of the musical programming in the mid 90s at the Lunar Cabaret in Chicago , this new release is a treat…

A Three Disc Set!

ANIMAL ENERGY: the *(until now) unreleased recordings of Beau O’Reilly and Miki Greenberg’s Hidden Chronicles.

In 1996,Beau and Miki recorded a couple of dozen songs after Maestro Subgum ended its run …Only half of those tracks were released on an album …the rest of those studio tracks, recorded by new music aficionado jeff Kowalkoski, sat in a closet , unlistened to, until earlier this year . Mixed by Ralph Loza and producer Beau,the recordings, in addition to Miki’s piano and Beau’s vocals, featuring Carrie Biolo on vibes, Jeb Bishop on trombone, Vernon Tonge on pedal steel, Jim Becker on guitar, Damon Short on drums, Colm O’Reilly on keyboard, make up the first disc of unreleased takes and songs.

The second and third disc is taken from five shows recorded on Dat tape by Colm at the Lunar Cabaret, featuring all of the above artists with special guests Orchestra Atypica on two tracks, Paul Leisen on cello on two tracks, Maestro Subgums final grouping: Beau, Miki, Jenny Magnus, Ned Folkerth and Liz Payne on one unreleased song and Jeff Kowalkoski joining Miki on a four handed Hammer with Jenny and Kate O'Reilly jumping in on harmonies.

Many of these songs had multiple live takes to choose from but others, particularly the Maestro ‘’covers’’, were only done once or twice …in choosing the tracks, we went with great performances or rare songs, Beau's wraps were always improvised and have never been collected anywhere. Three discs, a lovely cover by Barry Lohman and Julia Williams, a nice ribbon, 25 dollars.

"These songs can suggest the lost fragments of some great, eccentric stage musical written at the revelatory intersection of two seemingly opposing styles. Indeed, by the time O’Reilly and Greenberg are heard offering an impromptu onstage explanation of their unique, mutually autonomous collaborative process, the listener has already intuited their music to be the product of two creative intelligences with very different sensibilities coming productively together." - Ira S. Murfin

"If Queen, Cole Porter, and Elvis Costello teamed up to write a 21st century music hall revue, it might sound a lot like this..." - Justin Hayford

"I found myself imagining some hyper-evolved version of cabaret music in Weimar Germany." - Amy England