MP3.com is now the place to find Redundant Steaks recordings online. In addition to containing an hour's-worth of free music downloads (including a brand new extended dance version of Petrified Vomit not available anywhere else), the site also provides you with the opportunity to purchase a ridiculously inexpensive CD, Chopped Steaks, which includes 16 of the Steaks' greatest hits. GO THERE NOW.

Unless you happened to be one of the lucky few residents of Burton-Judson Courts who were privy to the Steaks' performances and original releases in 1989 and 1990 (or a member of one of the campus theater companies that used to play our tapes in their dressing rooms after their shows), you've probably never been subjected to the Redundant Steaks.

In late 1996, Ribeye began roving through the Steaks archives -- cardboard boxes full of aging cassette tapes -- parsing the back-catalog with an eye toward committing the band's best efforts to the less volatile medium of CD. Buttsteak and Cubesteak sent along contributions from their own archives, and -- armed with his trusty four-track and a hi-fi VCR -- Ribeye went about remastering the best cuts from Liquid Dwarf, Rusty Dwarf, Buster Crabbe, and Columbian Inventions, as well as some fine cuts not previously available. The result was Petrified Barbecue: Prime Cuts by the Redundant Steaks, a meaty, 72+ minute Steaks retrospective (pictured above).

Inspired by the editorial spirit of The Beatles Anthology and Star Wars: the Special Edition, the Steaks weren't afraid of trying to improve on the past. So, for the first time, listeners get to hear the lyrics to "Same Old New World," the full version of "If You Can't Be Columbus" (with the eerie spoken word middle portion), and a new mix of "Barbecue of Love" without that annoying pitch-shift that marred the beginning of LDRD.

After all of this tantalizing information, it hardly seems fair to note that these CDs aren't available anymore. At least not the first run, which sold out before it was pressed (OK, OK, so maybe we only pressed as many as were pre-ordered, but it sure sounds good, doesn't it?). Those of you who missed the chance to pre-order that now-rare release, should at least get a copy of Chopped Steaks, which includes 16 of the tracks from Petrified Barbecue (as well as some other multimedia goodies).

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