Peter Gabriel – All About US – review

Some time ago, it was announced that there would soon be a new video from Peter Gabriel. Of course, the first thing that went through most fans’ minds upon hearing this news was whether the release would be delayed by several months (or years) this time, or not (we remember the nerve-wracking wait for the PoV video). Now, All About US has been released.

Well, the answer to this question has been on the shelves of record stores since early November. The work, titled All About US and approximately 55 minutes long, seamlessly fits into the artist’s previously released videos. Unlike the Compilation Video (CV) released in 1987, however, the promotional videos for the songs in All About US are not simply strung together. Almost every clip contains a short introduction in which Peter comments on the songs, reports on the tricks and production of the videos, or sheds light on the recordings of the pieces.

The Video Content

The first three tracks of the cassette (Digging In The Dirt, Steam, and Blood Of Eden) are preceded by very interesting reports. For Digging In The Dirt, John Downer (a well-known nature filmmaker) explains the recording technique used; for Steam, the viewer gets an insight into the computer-animated images; and for Blood Of Eden, the artistic aspects and collaboration with Sinead O’Connor are discussed. The subsequent film shows Peter’s costumed performance at this year’s “Brit Awards”. For those of you who haven’t seen this performance yet, we don’t want to reveal too much here.

This is followed by the video for Solsbury Hill. Although it basically corresponds to the strip produced for the Shaking The Tree sampler, it has been reworked with very interesting material. In addition to film sequences that were also used as background for this piece during the Secret World Tour, there are images that obviously come from the legendary original video for this song. Peter is seen lying on his back on the floor and is also shown in close-up. However, since we don’t know anyone who really knows the original version of this material, we can only speculate about this.

After that, the video for Zaar is shown, which was rarely seen on television.

Next, we are presented with the promo for Come Talk To Me, which has not been seen anywhere before. The live images from the Secret World Tour contained in it are combined with shots of Peter’s face, which was illuminated with all possible colors. Very interesting superimpositions give this strip the finishing touch.

This is followed by Kiss That Frog, which is musically underlaid with the Mindblender Mix. The report that runs before it focuses on the production of the video, which was also used for the Mindblender Rock Motion Theatre (an “experience cinema” invented by Peter and built in the USA).

All in all

So, if you want to take a look behind the scenes of the workshops where Peter Gabriel produces his visual works of art and also want to have all the videos of the US album complete, you are without doubt well advised to purchase this cassette.

Author: Bernd Zindler
first published in German language in it-Magazin #9, December 1993