As with any of Thompson’s releases, 1996’s double album, You? Me? Us?, contains plenty of strong songs and innovative playing, but whatever his rationale, it’s not at all obvious that there is enough memorable material here to justify the vaguely exhausting 74-minute running time. Indeed the inclusion of versions of “Razor Dance” and “Hide It Away” — two good but not great Thompson songs — on both the electric first half and acoustic second half are suggestive of a dearth of inspiration quite at odds with the release’s capacious ambitions. You? Me? Us? isn’t a complete loss by any means — the half consoling, half threatening “Baby Don’t Know What To Do With Herself” is a classic bit of black humored misery, while “She Cut Off Her Long Silken Hair” is a purely gorgeous lost-soul lament. There’s probably a terrific Thompson single LP somewhere scattered over the 19 tracks here, but neither the artist nor longtime producer Mitchell Froom seems to know where to find it. After You? Me? Us?, Thompson would not release a new album for three years, and upon his return, it was with a new producer and an invigorated sound. In the meantime, he sounds ripe for a rethink.