US

My sentiments exactly. While "So" was a perfect combination of Gabriel's unique artistry and appealing accessible music, "Us" takes things a bit too far in the latter direction but with more emphasis on accessible than appealing unfortunately. Gabriel had so much going at this point, besides the music he was also as much a video artist as a musical one. Whereas on "So" I felt I was truly listening to a great album on its own accord, "Us" feels like the commercial aspirations and the video potential of the songs is more the concern and it suffers a bit for this. It never rises to the same level of art rock grandeur and it never delivers the same level of sheer beauty.

"Come Talk to Me" is a decent opener but certainly no "Red Rain." Likewise "Blood of Eden" is a nice song but compared to the coolness of the Bush duet "Don't Give Up" it leaves much to be desired. Quite slow and repetitive. "Steam," "Digging in the Dirt," and "Kiss that Frog" are the worst examples of pandering to the middle-of-the-road marketplace with songs that place pop catchiness ahead of any other concerns. "Washing of the Water" is one of Peter's most heart wrenching vocal performances of his career and is likely the high point of the album. The rest of the lesser known songs (Love to be Loved, Only Us, Fourteen Black Paintings, Secret World) are neither exciting nor particularly interesting. The CD booklet has one cool feature, a still shot of art to go along with each of the tracks, from various artists around the world. Here, as in the videos he made for the album, Gabriel excels at the visual. Sadly in this case, "Us" does not hold up as well as simply a listening experience. Look to his next work "Up" or his earlier master work "So" for a better Gabriel album. This one is for his fans

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