When we started talking about making an Other People record, we wanted to capture the feel of how Americo and Ed sound at their gigs. But Americo wanted to play our baby grand piano for the recording, instead of the electronic piano he uses at gigs. This meant turning our house into a recording studio for a few days. We were lucky to find Mark Minnock, a recording engineer who was willing to bring his equipment out to Danbury to do just that. So for two days at the end of March, the shades were drawn, the windows were shut, the coffee table was put in the kitchen, and the 3 cats were exiled to the bedroom. Then the drums and the sound board took over the living room, with microphones and wires everywhere. The sofa became a sound barrier to isolate the drums from the piano, the piano was miked and three covers put on top to isolate it from the drums, the sound levels were set, and the band started to record. Most of the songs were done in one take, and Americo and Ed even wrote My Dearest You on the spot during a sound check. Sidney the cat came out of the bedroom to make her voice heard at the very end of Little Sunflower (listen carefully). We recorded, played it back, drank beer in the afternoon and coffee at night, ate, and recorded some more until everything was done.

We selected our favorite songs from that weekend. Most are originals, including The Other People standard Last Stop Hoboken, but we also included the dynamic version of the Beatles' Blackbird, and jazz standard Little Sunflower.

When you listen to this record, you hear The Other People the way you would hear Americo and Ed at the local bar or coffee house: having a musical conversion between the piano and the drums, deciding what to play in the moment, and generally having a good time. So enjoy -- Susan

 
From The Urban Zones of the Outer Galaxies

1. Last Stop Hoboken   4:32
2. The Kenny and Elaine Parental Crisis   3:07
3. Equal Opportunity   4:20
4. Blackbird   6:54
5. My Dearest You   6:04
6. Little Sunflower   5:51
7. Blues on Mars   3:59
8. Venus in June   5:01
9. Ancient Pharoahs   5:23

© 2007 The Other People. All rights reserved.