Search - Free Hot Lunch :: Eat This

Wa-Hah!

Scott Hathaway | Sturgeon Bay, WI USA | 07/28/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"From the socially conscious "HOME OF THE WHALES" to the socially unacceptable "I Hate to Wake Up Sober in Nebraska," this album (what an archaic term) presents the thoughts and feelings of 3 young men from Madison, Wisconsin played in an outrageously good acoustic jazz style. Free Hot Lunch was a favorite in Madison, Wisconsin for years in the 80's and early 90's. The bands clever though twisted humor, set to hot mandolin, guitar, and fiddle acoustic jazz, and played to full houses of tequila soaked patrons, was a universal hit.
The vocal harmonys are lovely, the instrument work is impressive, the lyrics are a riot, and the Jose Cuervo is RIGHT OVER THERE, SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
Buy this CD, get in your car, set the volume on 'thunderous', and boogie down the road."

The Club de Wash is dead. Long live the Club de Wash.

Tom Brody | Berkeley, CA | 01/09/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I Hate to Wake Up Sober in Nebraska is the classic song from this album ("not a tree to mar the landscape . . . miles and miles of empty range . . . I've got Jack Daniels on the dashboard in case my Jesus lets me down). Home of the Whales is lovely, and suitable for playing to babies or to kids, before, during, and after showing them picture books about whales. I would also recommend seeking the studio album "Free Hot Lunch! Studio Sessions." Apparently it is self-produced, as the insert for "Free Hot Lunch! Studio Sessions" does not list any distributer, etc. You can easily hunt for a new copy of it on Google. "Free Hot Lunch! Studio Sessions" features Jeff Berg, John Corning, and Jeff Laramie (collectively known as Free Hot Lunch), plus a host of other accompanying musicians, and contains I Hate To Wake Up Sober In Nebraska, but also Middle of a Love Song, Mambo Man, and the lovely Phenomenon of Love. Mambo Man is probably the only pop song where the subject matter is an accountant ("data all day, data all day, data all day . . . all day . . . all day. But at night I keep having these dreams!"). Recall that Jim Post also sings a beautiful version of Phenomenon of Love on his excellent album, The Crooner From Outer Space (which also contains, e.g., Lonely Heart Don't Abandon Me, Magnolia I'm Coming Home, and Monty Python's The Galaxy). A real surprising treasure on "Free Hot Lunch! Studio Sessions" is the song, "Oreos." Oreos (about Oreo cookies) is one of the most amazing pop songs ever composed or recorded. Its style appears to be a combination of madrigal and doo-wop. To conclude, I might give 3 stars to Free Hot Lunch's "Eat This," and 5 stars to "Free Hot Lunch! Studio Sessions." Put on either of these two albums, close the eyes, and you'll be in the company of old friends at a tiny table in the Club de Wash, once again."