Main menu
Fretplay home Submit tabs

Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel tabs Peter Gabriel discography

Channels
Guitar channel Bass channel Guitar videos Reviews

Message Forum
Guitar forum Bass forum Bands and artists Promote your band Recent discussions All categories

Fretplay.com

Peter Gabriel guitar tabs

CD reviews

Us - Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel - Us - Peter Gabriel Audio CD

A fair review of the Peter Gabriel "Us - Peter Gabriel" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Peter Gabriel reviews here, or go back to the Peter Gabriel tabs.

Band: Peter Gabriel
Title: Us - Peter Gabriel
Rating:

Release Date: 1992-09-29
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Come Talk to Me 2: Love to Be Loved 3: Blood of Eden 4: Steam 5: Only Us 6: Washing of the Water 7: Digging in the Dirt 8: Fourteen Black Paintings 9: Kiss That Frog 10: Secret World

Formulaic snooze fest
It's probably not all that unusual to mistake weirdness for artistic and weird he definitely was. A lot of people erroneously believe that Peter Gabriel is more artistic than his successor in Genesis (the incomparable small and bald Phil Collins). Up until "So" and his newfound commercial success by virtue of the egregious "Sledgehammer", a track filled with enough dull-witted, lame sexual euphemisims to make Foreigner blush. He obviously liked the feel a little more weight in his pocket and so he chose to retrace the awkward, fumbling steps that produced "So" yet again.

It was a six year hiatus between "So" and "Us" and one would think that if nothing else PG would have come up with at least one or two new ideas, but it's obvious this guy was aiming to produce a carbon copy of "So" for what we must imgaine to be purely financial purposes.

"Steam" and "Kiss that Frog" pair up to form a vile, horrid kind of musical equivalent of siamese twins and in doing so, become the mirror image of "Sledgehammer" and "Big Time". Granted the lyrical content is different to each pair, but musically, the horns, dancey feel, and vapid pop are all the same side of the same nasty beast. The listener would not be surprised to learn that all were released as singles.

The whining duet with a female singer past her sell by date is repeated again. "Blood of Eden" with Sinead O'Connor is not as wretched as "Don't Give Up" lyrically, but O'Connor would be a downgrade from one of the Spice Girls, let alone Kate Bush.

"Come Talk To Me" is a desperate plea for communication leaving one with the suspicion that Gabriel finds himself ignored or avoided quite a lot of the time, which really needs no further elucidation as to the probable reasons why. This track is utterly unconvincing as it ineptly attempts to be the album's "In Your Eyes". Another by now obligatory yearn fest from Gabriel fails to leave the listener sharing Gabriel's pain, merely the experience of having to listen to it for over seven minutes. The live performance of this on the dvd was really laughably bad. Gabriel looking a bit like some kind of lascivious pervert dialing 900 numbers in a mock phone booth. At the end of the performance, he reached his hand out to the female singer Paula Cole (who had her back turned and appropriately seemed to ignore him) in a weird way and appeared to be striving to hit a very earnest, emotional response from the audience. Few performers do this so often so badly. On an aside, Cole who was totally unknown at the time of the Secret World tour, went on to eclipse Gabriel commercially by a long shot which must have really grated his nerves. He never could match Baldilocks Collins and now he was being usurped by his underlings.

"Digging in the Dirt" tries hard to salvage a very poorly conceived album and although it has something going for it both lyrically and musically, it learns the hard lesson that one ripe apple can't save the whole rotten bunch. It's the album's "Red Rain" and they both establish that Gabriel is capable of writing good songs it's just that it only happens once every six years.

.

Reviewer is listening to his head...this album pierces the heart.
When I read reviews like Mr. Quite simply, this is one of the most heartfelt, mystical, magical, majestic, touched-by-god albums I have ever heard. Stewart's, I honestly believe the writer must live only in the head and not the heart, and that's a shame. So many beautiful tracks, but I will never forget the magic of listening for almost three straight minutes to Gabriel singing about water. . . and more water. . . and more water. . . until he 'slips up' and one word about a woman slips out--and then the metaphorical dam bursts. "Washing Of The Water" alone makes this album worth not only the money, but worth its weight in gold.

Quality as promised, CD case wrong size
Not a huge concern just a slight annoyance. Delivery time within promised date, quality as promised but was sent with a slimline CD case and the insert separate because it wouldn't fit in a slimline. .

Just US folks
Amazon critic Rob Stewart's dismissal of the recording as "SO-lite," is certainly clever, but kind of a cheap shot. While US has received somewhat mixed reviews, I have to wonder if its only crime was that it was not a dramatic breakthrough after the six year hiatus that followed the release of SO. Yeah, the tunes designed as potential singles (whether ever released as such or not) were not quite the joyous ribaldry/anarchy of "Sledgehammer," but I'd disagree with Stewart that neithr "Steam" nor "Kiss that Frog" are also not up to the level of "Big Time," a song I thought an unworthy follow-up to "Sledge. " I find these tracks much more engaging that "BT," and they DON'T end with a dumb, adolescent joke.

Stewart and other critics scoff a bit at the "hypersensitivity" they see here. It's an understandable criticism, in a way, and I will admit that I haven't been focusing much on the lyrics myself. (My copy is an older CD, left behind--ironically enough, given the album's main themes--by my ex--and if there ever was a lyric sheet, there isn't one now). Since I haven't been hanging on every word, I can't say for sure whether there is too much confessionalism going on here. But I can say that even a tune with a potentially mawkish title like "I Love To Be Loved" turns out to be a pretty potent musical experience. It takes a certain bravery to even attempt a song like that. The fact that he pulls it off with something like aplomb is a testament to his talent.

From what I can make out lyrically, I'm pretty impressed. Gabriel is one of those songwriters who doesn't have to be cool to be cool. The songs on US have a certain inevitable feel. It's almost as though "Digging In the Dirt" and "Washing of the Water" (he's got a thing for the present participle, doesn't he?) and "Blood of Eden" HAD to come into being. These are songs that pack an emotional wallop, even before you've quite figured out what they're all about.

About those lyrics: yes, I know I could look 'em up. And I probably will get around to it one day soon. But I don't really feel the NEED to (and I am something of a word person). That alone suggests that US works beautifully on a strictly musical level. For this l istener, that's certainly the case at least.

.

One of his best
It is astonishing to me that Amazon selected the fairly negative review by Rob Stewart as their editorial choice for this record. . "Us" is surely in Gabriel's top 4. After "3/melt" and "Security," "Us" may be a tie for 3rd with his pop masterpiece "So," though it depends on mood; "Us" feels a bit more experimental than the brilliant pop of "So. "

As with most of Gabriel's studio records, it's a concept record, and the concept here is relationships. The songs chronicle the breakdown of a relationship, namely Gabriel's marriage and divorce, and the subsequent emotional and psychological journey he experiences. It begins with Come Talk to Me, written about his daughter's struggle with her parents' marital breakdown. Then there is a contiguous narrative set of songs about the frustrations, longings, complexities, passion and pain of relationships in general, and male-female in particular(Love to Be Loved, Blood of Eden, Only Us, and Steam--this last one may or may not have to do with sex as often suggested, but Gabriel himself said it was about a relationship between someone projecting a cultured, educated persona and the guy who had the frustration of knowing what she really was like). Then there is the need to eventually let go of all the baggage and be renewed (Washing of the Water). That leads nicely into what I think is an ingenious metaphor for therapy, which Gabriel was going through at the time(the stunning Digging in the Dirt, which Gabriel said was about dealing with our violent impulses). Then there is the upbeat romp about finding new love when you're "past your prime" and feeling old n' ugly, and hoping she'll see you're a good guy (Kiss that Frog); and a beautiful epic summary reflection on the tragedy that is a failed marriage (Secret World). There's also the trademark Gabriel socio-political reflection, this one a brooding worldbeat meditation on the possibility of change(14 Black Paintings).

Musically, it is not incorrect to compare the sound of the record with "So," as some have done here, but it's not quite as accessible as "So. " Although, Gabriel nicely melded his accessible "pop" sound with his more experimental spirit here. The arrangements are all solid; the sheer consistency of one good song after another throughout the record causes it to rise the top of his other work. Secret World and Digging in the Dirt are simply two of the best songs of his career (along with runner-up gems like the poignant, Gospel-inspired meditation Washing of the Water). Some of Tony Levin's cleverest bass work with Gabriel is on this record, along with some of Gabriel's most clever instrumental arrangements, and some of his most insightful and touching lyrics. Personally, it may be my favorite in his catalog. I could only give it 4 stars because "3/Melt" and "Security" get 5.

You can see a complete list of all Peter Gabriel discography, or go back to the Peter Gabriel tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.