Gabriel's most personal album

Review Score: (10/10)
"Us" is not an easy listen at first. This is easily his most personal and confessional album to date (been 7 years, Pete...). Born out of a divorce ("Secret World"), several failed relationships ("Blood of Eden") and group therapy sessions ("Come Talk to Me", "Digging in the Dirt"), Gabriel bares his soul, warts & all. Ranging from playful & sexy ("Steam", "Kiss that Frog") to confessional & pleading ("Washing of the Water").

This album is also where the ambient pop of "So" collides with the world music experiments of "Passion" and his work with WOMAD & Real World. Samples of musics from Africa, Russia and other locales deepen the already lush tracks. This could have been a disaster, but Gabriel and Lanois' production strike that perfect balance.

This is a deep album; musically, lyrically and thematically. Certainly not his most accessable album. But if you've been thru a painful breakup & a period of intense soul searching, you'll certainly identify. It takes awhile to grow on you, but once it does the rewards are plentiful.

More Reviews:

• Excellent at many levels
• Holy cow!
• Complex, Stirring, Timely, Lovely
• This album is phenomenal
• better than so!
• Great collection of music
• After the hugely
• Shallow and lame
• OK, but a little over-produced
• A masterpiece
• "Us" is "So" Amazing!
• Beautiful, haunting masterwork
• Gem from 1992
• Integral to my music collection
• My favorite of his.
• Music Critics Hate US, But Humans Generally Enjoy It
• More genius from a musical genius
• Don't be fooled. It's as strong - maybe stronger - than "So"
• Gabriel's Introspective therapy
• A pale shadow of his former self
• Happy birthday Peter Gabriel
• excellence
• Emotioally charged
• a time to heal
• Reviewers can be morons
• Absolutely adored it!
• Peter's Torch Album
• This CD was made for US
• Remastered and Vastly Improved.....
• I might have bought it...but then I heard it
• Gabriel's Most Personal Album
• Gabriel at his best
• A Gem in the 90's
• Gabriel's Follow Up to So
• incredible
• Listen to the Incredible Lyrics
• Not old Peter Gabriel
• Sometimes it's worth kissing some frogs..
• One of the best albums ever
• Pure Genius
• Beautiful
• Simply One of the Best Ever!
• gorgeous
• Excellent album!
• Gabriel does not disappoint
• Gabriel's 'dark' album, he says
• Unuttered words hold fast...
• The struggle of being human
• "Us" is not "So"
• DIFFICULT TO WADE THROUGH...
• What Can I Say?
• How many frogs have you kissed?
• Emotional landscapes and ethnic rhythms in one single album
• GREAT SOUNDS GREAT SONGS
• A beautiful, rewarding listen
• Peter Gabriel turns out to think, feel, & hurt just like US
• So-So, but not as good as So
• emotional masterpiece
• Just hearing the two singles from 1992 convinced me!
• Great songs, but...
• A great album with amazing band music that you will enjoy!
• my favourite gabriel album
• Not at all his best, but some brilliant moments
• Warning....
• Lyrical new ground
• Excellent
• listen to it, for crying out loud.
• my favourite studio LP from Gabriel
• "What could we have been thinking of?"
• Not his best, but better than most anything else..
• Simply Inspiring
• His best
• Great, great, great, great album!!!
• Very good!!!
• A complete listening experience; Gabriel at his best.
• Can I add more stars to my rating????*****************
• African musical culture holding hands with powerful Soul.
• The soundtrack for a corner of my heart.
• From Genesis To Genius
• Peter Gabriel's best!
• A profound, complex, complete, masterful Work of Art!
• Excellent and Heartbreaking
• Simply amazing!
• An intimate collage of feelings.
• If you don't have this album, Shame on you.
• Moving, compelling, outstanding!
• peter gabriel, des (SO) US !!!
• Good, popular, but "busy"