On his 1975 Arista album produced by Vini Poncia for Richard Perry, David Pomeranz had a song entitled Trying to Get the Feeling Again, which went Top Ten for Barry Manilow in 1976. A year after the release of this disc, Manilow would take the first track, The Old Songs, and go Top 15 with it -- and both tunes would hit number one on the Adult Contemporary charts for Manilow. With all due respect to Manilow, although his hit versions of these songs made the world more familiar with the important songwriter Pomeranz, hearing The Old Songs sung by the original artist on The Truth of Us is chilling. Produced by Pomeranz and Ron Halee, The Truth of Us is a treat. The late Carlos Vega, a session drummer who worked with James Taylor and others, does a nice job backing Pomeranz on this collection of middle of the road tunes. Pomeranz does a remarkable job with the song he wrote with Buddy Kaye; this version of The Old Songs should have been a hit for him as well as Manilow -- it is more subdued, and the music doesn't have the bombast and gloss that became Manilow's trademark. Ask Me to Say 'I Do' and I Will is a neat song about proposing marriage with vibes and an interesting beat. This Is What I Dreamed actually sounds like Manilow's formula, with the methodical drums, strings, subdued guitar, and middle eight almost modeled after the Manilow version of Trying to Get the Feeling Again. My Buddy and I ends side one, and it plays like a show tune, a romantic, starving-artist epic complete with Leo Sayer-ish (The Show Must Go On) sound effects; the album is dedicated to the spirit of Richard Rodgers, and this song gives a nod to that inspiration. Side two opens with the title track -- The Truth of Us is a ballad about a relationship on the rocks. Fat is about being in Fat City, like maybe those checks that rolled in from Manilow recording this tune led to a lack of inspiration; the songwriter says, "I could use some New York blues to set me right again" (that dilemma of the starving artist syndrome mentioned earlier). Old Home Town has a folksy feel, drawing parallels between a lover found at home each night to fond memories of the past, and Hit That Target is the kind of solid pop tune with great hooks that Pomeranz does best -- with its sweeping chorus and determined lyrics, this is one of the highlights of the record. The final song, Cloud of Music, like the album's first, was co-written with Buddy Kaye. The Truth of Us opens and closes with two striking pieces of music, this one more tempered, concluding the album in a mellow fashion. ~ Joe Viglione, Rovi

1		Old Songs
2		Ask Me to Say, "I Do" (And I Will)
3		This Is What I Dreamed
4		My Buddy and I
5		Truth of Us
6		Fat
7		The Old Home Town
8		Hit That Target
9		Cloud of Music

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