Customer Reviews

You Me Us

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

All Richard Thompson fans must have deeply furrowed brows. Here's this guy who puts out amazing album after amazing album and yet remains bizarrely obscure. Not only that, many of his albums fester in out of print bins. To obtain much of Thompson's work, one must rummage through piles of used CDs or order through online used dealers (true, the internet has greatly facilitated this process in the past five years). Capitol Records didn't help much by dumping Thompson around 1999 and almost immediately removing all his titles from their CD printers. Consequently, 1996's double-disc "You? Me? Us" doesn't show up too much anymore on store shelves. It remains one of Thompson's most elusive albums from his Capitol era.

Similar to most of Thompson's Capitol output, "You? Me? Us?" contains much incredible material along with a few head-scratchers. Disc one, "Voltage Enhaced", contains songs fueled by a full band. The other disc, "Nude" mainly features songs with a more folky or acoustic arrangement and feel. Both contain great material. "Razor Dance" rips in with a satire on back talking and negative gossip. In this dance, the winners hold the most effective insults. The lyrics may evoke some of the ads currently circulating for the 2004 election. "She Steers by Lightning" describes a nightmare ride where the driver uses "Milton as a road map". We all know someone that we'd like to sing "Put it There Pal" to. It spits poison sarcasm from the point of view of the used. The hilarious "Business on You" threatens an object of desire with magic mind-controlling love spells. Listen for the scream before the solo. Very funny. "Bank Vault in Heaven" lumbers in with one of Thompson's weightiest beats. It almost sounds grunge. Disc one's closer, "The Ghost of You Walks" is one of Thompson's best songs. Sometimes relationships just don't work out even when both parties want them to. They tried their hardest but to no avail. This song reflects on the feeling of being in that position. The mood fits better with the "Nude" disc, and following "Bank Vault in Heaven" it's almost an anomalous surprise.

Disc two has more sparse arrangements and feels lonely and beautiful. "Baby Don't Know What To Do With Herself" assimilates the listener into the much more melancholy environment of "Nude". A sliding bass and an acoustic guitar provide the only accompaniment to Thompson's voice at first. Later on hurdy gurdys, violins, and mandolins arrive, but the arragements remain minimalistic. "She Cut Off Her Long Silken Hair" wails longingly about lost love. "Train Don't Leave" is a bouncy ditty about potential lost love. Thompson couldn't miss a double disc set without a song about death or a killer. "Sam Jones" is classic Thompson. Lyrically and musically, it sounds like a song right out of past centuries. "Sam Jones, deliver them bones".

So why two discs? Who knows? The connection between the two discs seems obscure and a little contrived. And why include two versions of "Razor Dance" and "Hide It Away"? Both versions are great, but the album didn't need both versions to be a great album. In fact, including both versions arguably bogs down the pace. One version of "Razor Dance" would have whet any listener's appetite. Maybe Capitol tried to capitalize on the "unplugged" craze of the time?

In the end, "You? Me? Us?" contains enough great material to satisfy any Thompson fan. Those who have never heard Thompson before may be overwhelmed. Point them to "Rumor and Sigh". Converts will find their way to this album soon enough. That is, if someone brings it back into print.

Every time I start thinking that maybe the world is a beautiful place after all and that things eventually make a wondrous sort of sense, I remind myself that Richard Thompson has yet to reach a wide audience, and I must admit the universe is a dark, cold void in which we are all hopelessly doomed. That is the only way I can explain such injustice. Will the public please start picking up on this guy, so I can stop worrying about him and get on with my life?

'You? Me? Us?' has a lousy title, and is packaged in a rather overblown way -- two CDs (acoustic and electric), when it probably could have fit on a single disk. I guess this was a bid to make it seem like a big statement, definitive, just through sheer physical heft. It wasn't necessary, because this is a typically excellent Thompson album. Tracks like "Bank Vault in Heaven," "Dark Hand Over My Heart," "The Ghost of You Walks" -- these are more than good songs. They're beautiful, ferocious, heartbreaking. This isn't the work of some amusing, reliable minor craftsman; this is the work of a world-class artist whose songwriting belongs in the pantheon with Lennon, Dylan, Young, and Reed, and whose electric guitar can kick doors down. Please, buy this album before the damn thing goes out of print.

Here's how it goes. You see a Thompson double album and your expectations go through the roof. Upon first listening you say this isn't first class Thompson. But then upon third or fourth listening, when the songs start to sink in to your soul, you realize this is very, very good. On most of his albums I like almost all the songs and love one or two. On You, Me, Us I love Burns Supper. I love The Ghost of You Walks. I love Dark Hand. And there's just so much more. And by splitting the electric and acoustic material on seperate discs, it really is like two albums for the price of one. What more could you ask for?
For me, if Thompson never reaches these artistic heights again, I will be satisfied with You, Me, Us.

I seem to be in the minority, but I loved this album on first listen, and time hasn't doused my enthusiasm. I'm in favor of the two-CD concept of separating the acoustic from the "voltage enhanced." The listener can then select the disc to suit his mood. I usually choose the acoustic one, not only because it comes closest to the live RT experience, but also because it's got some pieces that rank with his all-time best. (Quite an assessment, I know.) "Sam Jones" is vintage Dark, Wry Richard; "Hide it Away" deals with an old theme in a new and beautiful way; "She Cut off Her Long Silken Hair" takes its time to describe an everyday occurrence so mournfully that you'd think someone died; and "Woods of Darney" may be the greatest ballad I've ever heard, a feature length movie in a five-minute song. Those who cherish RT's acoustic guitar and his slower, moodier songs shouldn't overlook this album. The other disc is like any other RT album: solid songwriting and razor-sharp musicianship. As for the production: Froom has botched a few albums in his day, but this isn't one of them. Even Phil Spector couldn't have ruined "You? Me? Us?". I've even got the T-shirt!

Not only is this Richard Thompson's best album, bar none (I don't care what anybody says!) it is one of the top two albums of the '90s. The songs are top-to-bottom excellent, from the 'Voltage Enhanced' disc ('Dark Hand Over My Heart,' 'Put it There Pal,' 'No's Not a Word' and 'The Ghost of You Walks' are magnificent highlights) to the 'Nude' disc ('Baby Don't Know What to Do with Herself,' 'Cold Kisses' and 'Woods of Darney' are jaw-droppingly beautiful) it is sensational. How anyone can hate this is beyond my comprehension. Open your ears and appreciate a man making the best album of his life this late in his career. No album hits me with such an emotional wallop.

Most RT albums have 6 or 7 good songs and 3 great ones. This double cd seems like two of those albums, even to having rather different production and bands. I liked the songs better when I mixed them all together on a comp tape.

Cold Kisses and Woods of Darney are two of my favorite Thompson songs ever, and there's not a bad track here. This is very near the perfection of Pour Down like Silver, Daring Adventures and Mirror Blue.

Quite simply, this is unequalled! If you like truly great singer song writers such as Randy Newman or Elvis Costello, you'll soon realise you've come to the right CD. The poetic lyrics that say so much in such a sparse way, the emotive music, the stark vocals - it's all here. I'm talking mainly about the acoustic disc, but then 50% of this is so superior to 100% of any other. This isn't for the heavy guitar RT lovers. It's for people who recognise that the very BEST music is always going to be essentially emotional, and the impact of this never fades.

There's no point rehashing the Richard Thompson "cult legend/folk-rock genius/greatest guitarist you never heard" business when reviewing his albums. If you're reading about this LP, you already know who he is.

That said, this isn't one of his better albums. The songwriting on this two-disc set is subpar by the usual RT standards, yet there are a few gems nonetheless, mostly on the "nude" (acoustic) disc, especially "Cold Kisses" and "Sam Jones." Also, as has been noted often, the sound is usually murky and undefined. The "voltage-enhanced" (electric) disc has more great electric guitar than we've heard from Richard in a while, but the songs are mostly tales of sexual obsession or jilted love, and not the best ones he's done. The album could practically be called "Diary of a Stalker," which is not necessarily the best persona for Thompson. The most offensive of the "stalker" tunes ("No's Not a Word") is redeemed musically by a guitar solo that keeps building momentum--you thinks he's running out of gas, or the track's about to fade, then Richard takes the solo to a new level. Great stuff.

Any RT fan knows that's why all his albums are musts. If the songs aren't good, at least the music will be. I was gratified by the electric guitar work after the rather restrained "Mirror Blue." But anyone with a limited amount of money to spend who has to choose between this and a classic Richard and Linda album should go for the latter.

It seems that Richard Thompson fans are deeply divided over You? Me? Us? It's an album where folks are either in the love it or hate it camp. The debate over Mitchell Froom's continual handling of production duties raged especially loudly at the time. But you know You? Me? Us? song for song and as an entire work is a tremendous feather in the cap of both Thompson and Froom. Sure, the album doesn't contain as many of Richard Thompson's fiery guitar solos, but it's the tunes man that count and they are all great. I like the fact that whether its the Voltage Enhanced disc or the balladry of the Nude disc this is a more restrained, measured for effect set of songs. Thompson's singing has never sounded better than on You? Me? Us? The lyrics contain some of his pithiest lines. I absolutely love Razor Dance (both versions), Hide it Away, Put it There Pal, The Ghost of You Walks, She Cut Her Long Silken Hair, Hide it Away, Cold Kisses, Woods of Darney etc. You? Me? Us? features a killer, great band with the following playing on various tracks: Simon Nicol (guitar), Jerry Scheff (electric bass), Jim Keltner and Pete Thomas (drums), Mitchell Froom (keyboards), Danny Thompson (acoustic bass), Suzie Katayama (cello), Sid Page (violins), Tchad Blake (guitars), Christine Collister (vocals) and Teddy Thompson (vocals). I think the two short CDs, with one more electric and the other acoustic works beautifully. The album comes with especially nice packaging, including a booklet with all the lyrics to the songs. If you truly dig Richard Thompson, You? Me? Us? must be in your collection.

I know Mitchell Froom is not overly popular, especially after this album, but RT keeps using him, OK? Get over it and move on.

Now, that that is out of the way...the main thing I didn't like about this disc is the packaging. Two CD's at about 40 minutes each? C'mon, a little pruning and this would have fit on one disc.

Musically, I loved the disc. The Ghost Of You Walks is a beautiful piece of music. She Steers By Lighting should be on a music soundtrack someplace. Razor Dance is the best song in its category - screwed up relationships. A couple songs are weaker than others, but mostly it is another convincing chapter in the RT book of life.