US

The Peter Gabriel trademark sound is the first thing you hear as this CD starts. Lots of over emphasised , loud African tribal percussion crashing down, and Gabriel's smooth voice. There is no real rock rather a lot of pop and a very soft ballad about the Blood of Eden; a dark textured meandering slow sleeper.

The first three songs float by without raising too much ire and then the familiar single pumps out; "Stand back! Give me steam? " I always loved this song built for radio airplay, even before I had heard Gabriel era Genesis, so it has a special place in my heart with its memorable video clip and extraordinary claymation. Following on from Sledge Hammer's structure and rhythms Steam is like a twin brother right down to the quirky overblown video clip. The brass trumpet sound is bold and bright, the drums are steady, the guitars are crystal clean, and Gabriel sounds fantastic vocally, though the song is a fish out of water on this album. The melody will lock in the brain quickly and you may never get it out of your head and grow sick of it. I know that as soon as I heard it after all these years it was as familiar as the day it was rocketing up the charts. But I love the chorus, and the song has an innovative structure, and utilises a variety of musical talents. Great lyrics too; "Give me steam, real is anything you see, get a life with the dreamers dream? you know your stripper from a paint, you know your sinner from a saint, You know the quick from the dead. You know the trouble from the breaks, you know your straight line from the curve," It has some wonderful melodies. The lead break is quite innovative but the real drawcard is that infectious tune and Gabriel is so good on this. It is loud and abrasive and wakes you up if you are setling into the ambience of all the other tracks on a cold, windy night. Oh well, it is a great chartbuster and helped Gabriel gain worldwide recognition.

The following song is Only Us which brings things down considerably with an ethereal chanting and off beat time sig that chops and fractures the rhythms made by a duduk. It is a weird sound but very effective as something different from the poppy radio friendly Steam. This crawls along wrapped around the sporadic drums and ambient keys. Gabriel sings "I hear you calling, yes I can read you loud and clear, further on I go oh, the less I know, friend or foe there's only yes."

Washing of the Water follows on, and is even quieter with subtle multi layered vocals, evoking a sense of beauty and tranquillity; "River show me how to float, I feel like I'm sinking down, here in this water my feet won't touch the ground. River deep can you lift up and carry me." A lot of this has Gabriel on husky vocals and some high falsetto. "Letting go is so hard the way it's hurting now", Gabriel croons, with a lot of heartfelt emotion, "the washing of the water, will you take it all away, bring me something, take this pain away."

A groovy bassline drives Digging In The Dirt, a song I first heard on the astonishing DVD "Growing Up Live". It has a catchy hook with jangly guitar, and a great passage I always loved with Gabriel excellent on vocals, "don't talk back, just drive the car, shut your mouth I know what you are, don't say nothing, keep your hands on the wheel, don't turn around this is for real". The music on this is very well structured, an effective keyboard and brushed percussive metrics. Another definitive highlight of the album.

Fourteen Black Paintings begins with an Eastern feel on snake charmer style woodwind and howling wind effects. It transports you to a far off Mystical place instantly, and there is a gorgeous organ sound. The lyrics are quite surreal; "From a tree, from a vision," when the sound builds midway through there is a chilling atmosphere generated with echoing voices and droning keys, an off kilter drum pattern, as strange as Gabriel gets on Ovo.

Kiss That Frog takes us in another direction. Industrial pounding drums and a haunting mellotron sound, and then a friendly choppy guitar riff kicks in. this one has a whimsical nature as the title suggests about a princess and a prince who is a frog, awaiting he magic kiss, "he's wanting it so much, oh can you see the state I'm in, kiss it better, can you hear beyond the croaking, don't you know that I'm not joking". The instruments on this are terrific, weird harmonica, happy impulsive organs, funky bass, and female backing singers enhance the capricious parody.

Secret World is another track I knew from the DVD so it was familiar immediately and comforting. The spontaneity of the music with its multi layered structure is a pleasant sound. Gabriel's vocals are brought up in the mix lending itself to a more intimate setting. This is a rather sombre reflective song to close the album and one of the longest at 7 minutes or so. But it works to bring things to a satisfying conclusion.

So this is perhaps my third favourite Gabriel album after Up and Peter Gabriel 3. A lot of the songs from this are performed and played better live on the Growing Up Live DVD, although when you get used to a certain way a song is performed it is difficult at times to go back to the studio version. "Us" delivers as a personal and well developed album with some of Gabriel's best material to date that sinks into your system like osmosis.

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