Us

Gabriel began the songs in October 1989, after Passion, and spent until June 1992 composing and recording them, mainly at Real World Studios. He usually started from a rhythm loop or programmed drum pattern and improvised chords and vocals on top. Daniel Lanois co-produced in stints of at least two weeks, with David Bottrill programming and engineering. At almost 58 minutes it was far longer than the albums that kept to the limit of a vinyl record. The themes were his divorce, his relationship with Rosanna Arquette and the growing distance from his first daughter.

He met Sinead O'Connor in Santiago, Chile, in October 1990, and invited her to Real World to sing on Come Talk to Me and Blood of Eden. Ayub Ogada, L. Shankar and Kudsi Erguner appear on Only Us. Steam, Digging in the Dirt, Blood of Eden and Kiss That Frog were released as singles, and Steam reached number 10 in the UK. The album entered the Billboard 200 at number 2 with 125,000 units in its first week, his highest debut there to that point, and in the UK it was held off the top by R.E.M.'s Automatic for the People. It was promoted with a Macintosh multimedia program called Xplora1, and the Secret World Tour followed in 1993 and 1994.

Music Week called it a stunning album of great cohesion. Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote that its melodies and rhythms reward the patient listener.