People Like Us
Welcome Abroad
Reviewed by Hervey Okkles
10/12/11

Montage music, mostly from somewhat schlocky '50s/'60s pop. It's brilliant and beautiful. (Especially fun if you know the source material, but still beautiful without.) "People Like Us" is the work of UK conceptual artist/WFMU DJ/all-around awesome person Vicki Bennett.

Inspired by that Icelandic volcano thing last year. Similar to her previous albums, if perhaps more soulful and less jokey.

Everything here is lush and weird and spooky. Imagine "Revolution 9", but made solely from the record collection of the swingingest bachelor-pad in 1962, and you've got an idea.

No FCCs.

1. (3:25) ** Honking horns, arpeggios, clips of tapping triangle from Perry Como's "Catch a Falling Star." His vocals come in, beautifully mashed against female vocal.
2. (3:09) **** "Country Roads", overlaid on itself, becoming dissonant. Bizarre choral version of "Do You Know the Way to San Jose" (xylophone and plucked harps) enter. Some Looney-Tune-type moments.
3. (0:37) ** Short-- it's the intro to "Ballad of John and Yoko" overlaid with the whistling from Guy Mitchell's "Singing the Blues." Brilliant, but short.
4. (7:38) ***** Strange, exotic version of "The Look of Love," melts into stew of fuzzy strings. Santo and Johnny! Cameo from Tippi Hedren! Ragtime piano leads into wonderfully pathetic vocal of "Nobody Does it Better," double-tracked against original. Elton John, then loops back around to beginning segment, ending with a strangle.
5. (1:49) Doo-wop and R&B stew, layering droney "Freedom" and pipey jazz.
6. (4:47) ** Doo-wop vocals against corny boogie-piano. Into some weird version of "Don't Bother Me" on a trumpet that sounds like a dying quail. Then over schlock, what sounds like a tonedeaf mouse. Fades with Alpert-esque "Strangers in the Night."
7. (2:36) ** Early '30s dance band: "Dancing in the Dark," joined by a hi-fi orchestra of same song, with odd blips here and there. Weird jump-cuts, then an awesomely corny female vocal bridge.
8. (2:57) *** Weird, gravely narration about clouds being the "cheeks of angels." Over lush strings, and also circular saws. "I've never been able to push the clouds away." I repeat, weird.
9. (3:38) "The Sound of Music" layered on top of The Doors' "The End." Compared to the rest of the album, too obvious, too simple.
10. (5:59) ** "Wonderful, Wonderful..." in an endless corny loop. Joined by "Norwegian Wood' on a harpsichord? And accordions, glissandos, schlocky piano breaks, applause, etc, etc, and it actually becomes somewhat moving, as it devolves into zombie-like chant of "I want to go home." Cameos by Bob Dylan and Animal?
11. (5:34) * Loungey strings, with background trumpet "Blue Moon." Then hep-cat finger-snapping, then more schlock, a pep rally? Pan-pipes and oom-pah, and whistled "Colonel Bogey's". A brass band does "Downtown." The Swingle Singers!
12. (2:36) * "Swing Low," with backing by Phil Spector. Chanting of "Forever and Ever"... Swamp of lounge flutes.
13. (2:15) Whistling and dilapidated piano playing. Weird bugles, or maybe party noise-makers.
14. (7:34) ** Film score creaking... with moody Satie-esque vibes. Creepy "I Can Sing a Rainbow." Majestic Lee Marvin vocals, "Born Under a Wandering Star"-- all under tent of strings and harmonica. Haunting. Really frickin' haunting.
15. (4:47) * Vaguely middle-eastern beat, joined by "Sing along-- this is a traveling song" Wry British comedy-travelogue on top, strange and detached.
16. (1:35) Clips of "Sgt. Pepper" fade unto British vaudevillian song... Marilyn Monroe...
17. (2:51) Neil Diamond, plus a shattered "Hello Goodbye" plus "Born Free." A fitting end to the email, but probably not great out of context.