YOU ARE ALL MY PEOPLE by I'm Not Jim

Ever been at a cafe or a Borders and heard some folks playing some classic-rock style music that isn't bad but doesn't really stay with you when they finish? That could describe You Are All My People by the band I'm Not Jim.

This album came about when novelist Jonathan Lethem and musician Walter Salas-Humara wrote an album in two days, then developed the music with producers Chris Maxwell and Phil Hernandez. Perhaps with a bit more time, You Are All My People might have become something more original.

The songs here tend towards the electric guitar-style of music. Synthesizers are part of others, and they feel like simple programmed patterns rather than clever music. Three spoken-word pieces aim for humor and fall flat. As for the rest of the lyrics, they neither bomb nor shine, using simple rhymes and odd images (a whole song about baseball pitchers quitting; "If you get the car stuck/you can call my towtruck").

There are a few above-average songs here, but most of You Are All My People is pretty routine.

Overall grade: C
Reviewed by James Lynch (I am Jim)