us

Peter Gabriel poured his personal pain into the diverse introspection of this pop fusion of world music with art rock. 'Us' draws heavily from Gabriel's own experience:   "I think there's a lot of me in the music, particularly the last record came after divorce and the breakup of another relationship; so there's quite a lot of that in it...I think music is partly exorcism, partly trance, and it's also fun...There's always been a division in our society: these people are the clever ones, the creative ones; and these people have to do regular jobs and they're not creative - which is bullshit. We're all born with curious, imaginative minds and capable of expressing ourselves creatively."

The sessions took place at the brand new Real World Studios from October of 1989 through June of 1992 with Gabriel co-producing with Daniel Lanois. Lanois recalls: "It's true that Peter likes detail, but he also likes performance a lot. Having watched Peter for a long time now, I know that this is the aspect of recording that he enjoys the most: giving it hell and jamming it out with the band. His attention to detail generally goes into the area of sonic creativity. He likes to break new ground sonically and I encouraged him to spend time on that."

David Bottrill was the programming engineer. He remembers the genesis of Real World Studios: "When Daniel went over to the UK in 1985 to work with Peter Gabriel on his album 'So', he called me halfway through it and I went over to assist the project. When we had finished, I stayed and worked for Peter and then he bought the property for Real World Studios. I helped him with ideas, a bit of the design and what I thought would be good to have in the studio...Those years were unparalleled for me. I learnt so much in so many different areas—it was a fantastic education. I learnt how to build a studio, but I also learnt about different styles of music; we worked on music from Africa, Pakistan, India, and all kinds of world music."

Gabriel explains: "I was never able to make records quickly. Having paid enough recording costs to purchase several studios, it suddenly occurred to me that I should get some setup that allowed me to spend whatever time I wanted recording. We built Real World the way that I'd always wanted a recording studio to be. Most studios at that time were cellars with disco lights. That wasn't an environment I found very easy or comfortable to work in. We built what I think may still be the world's largest control room so we could put a lot of musicians in the control room together rather than in the live room or a recording booth. From the word go the musicians were part of the process, although that can make life difficult for the engineer sometimes. But there's a general sense that it's a good space. We have good acousticians who control the environment. It has lots of windows that fill the studio with natural daylight. The studio is on the edge of a river, so we pointed the control room out at the water so we're looking at swans or an occasional otter rather than an irate drummer. We were getting musicians in from all over the world, so we tried to make them feel comfortable and even get the food right. Although it's in the countryside it's located by the main London to Bristol railway line. Trains often shoot through at high volume, so it cost a lot more than I anticipated to soundproof the studio...We've had these wonderful recording weeks where we would hijack a lot of the musicians from the WOMAD festival and bring in songwriters, poets, and producers. It was like a big dating agency for creative people from around the world. We kept a café going 24 hours and encouraged people to explore interesting ideas or noises and get together. It was effectively a bring-your-own studio party. Unfortunately we never found a way to make it pay for itself, so that concept died recently...I think there are two forms of creative energy. One is 'energy A', which is an analytical energy where you layer things up track by track, then zoom in and work on little details. The other is 'energy Zed', which is a Zen-like performance energy that is spontaneous and improvised and produces a different animal. Both are useful and important. The smart process involves harvesting performances then analyzing them and layering them up. Initially you might just look at rhythm, then maybe you look at melody, then harmony, then timbre. Each time you put down a layer of performance you slow it down and analyze it. Musicians need to be aware of how they work. Sometimes you just need to flip it and do it the other way and see what happens. Working backwards is an exploratory process. I love diversions and I keep on following them, which makes the process a lot longer."

The sessions included Gabriel on vocals and keyboards; Tony Levin on bass; David Rhodes on guitar; Manu Katché on drums; The Babacar Faye Drummers on sabar drums; Doudou N'Diaye Rose on drum loops; Chris Ormston on bagpipes; Daniel Lanois on shaker, guitar, hi-hat, dobro, horn arrangements, and vocals; Richard Blair on additional verse keyboards and programming; Levon Minassian on doudouk; Hassam Ramzy on tabla and surdu; Daryl Johnson on hand drum; William Orbit on programming; Bill Dillon on guitar; Wayne Jackson on trumpet; Mark Rivera on alto saxophone; Brian Eno on additional keys; Shankar on violin; Caroline Lavelle on cello and string arrangement; Will Malone and Johnny Dollar on string arrangements; Richard Evans on additional engineering, mix engineer, and mandolin; Gus Isidore on bridge guitar; Richard Chappell on bridge section mix; Leo Nocentelli on guitar; Tim Green on tenor saxophone; Reggie Houston on baritone saxophone; Renard Poché on trombone; Wayne Jackson on trumpet and cornet; Kudsi Erguner on ney flute and shaker; Malcolm Burn on horn arrangement, additional synth cello, and additional production ideas; Mark Howard on horns recording; Babacar Faye on djembe; Assane Thiam on tama and talking drum; John Paul Jones on surdu; Adzido Pan African Dance Ensemble on additional percussion loop; Manny Elias on Senegalese shakers; with technical support from Brian Eno, Mike Large, Sue Coulson, and Brian Gray; and vocals by Sinéad O'Connor, Ayub Ogada, Peter Hammill, Marilyn McFarlane, Richard Macphailand the Dmitri Pokrovsky Ensemble.

'Us' went to number eight in the Netherlands; seven in Norway; six in New Zealand; four in Canada; three in Italy; two in France, Sweden, the UK, and the US; and number one in Germany.






http://petergabriel.com/












The psychotherapeutic 'Digging in the Dirt' clawwed its way up to number fifty-two in the US, thirty-nine in the Netherlands, twenty-five in New Zealand, twenty-four in the UK, twenty-three in Australia and Germany, ten in Italy, and number one on the US mainstream rock tracks chart. The video won a Grammy in 1993 for Best Short Form Music Video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0C3DHp36zc










The funky sledgehammer-esque 'Steam' rose to number forty-eight in Germany, thirty-two in the US, twenty-nine in Australia, twenty-seven in the Netherlands, ten in the UK, seven in Ireland and New Zealand, two on the US mainstream rock tracks chart, and number one in Canada. In 1994, the video won Gabriel the Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video for the second year in a row.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt87bLX7m_o










The duet with Sinéad O'Connor 'Blood of Eden' ebbed at number seventy-three in Canada and forty-three in the UK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzdzyqbdJ1k










'Kiss That Frog' hopped to forty-six in the UK, thirty-six in Canada, and number eighteen on the US mainstream rock tracks chart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3px06j0tIM










'Come Talk to Me' describes Gabriel's struggle to communicate with his daughter.
http://www.music-love.com/index.php?view=display&id=84537&option=com_videos



Peter Gabriel - Come Talk To Me - Secret World Live from Delfin on Vimeo.








'All About Us' is a "foray into the thinking and the technology that lies behind the most popular tracks from Peter Gabriel's US album".
http://exactmovietrailer.com/All-About-Us-16-11-2008/













The 'Secret World Live' video won Gabriel another Grammy for Best Long Form Music Video in 1996.
http://www3.iconcerts.com/en/concert/peter-gabriel-secret-world-live

http://petergabriel.com/release/secret-world-live-dvdblu-ray/






'Us'
full album:

All songs written by Peter Gabriel.

"Come Talk to Me" – 7:06
"Love to Be Loved" – 5:18
"Blood of Eden" – 6:38
"Steam" – 6:03
"Only Us" – 6:30
"Washing of the Water" – 3:52
"Digging in the Dirt" – 5:18
"Fourteen Black Paintings" – 4:38
"Kiss That Frog" – 5:20
"Secret World" – 7:03

















"Plus From Us"