Closer Than Close Import by Rosie Gaines

Closer Than Close Import

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Closer Than Close Import

Reader Reviews
I discovered Rosie Gaines after hearing her amazing vocals on her UK club hit, "I Surrender". Her power house voice turned what would have been a bland, standard dance-pop song with any other singer into a soulful club anthem. That song, however, is not on this album. After hearing her amazing voice, I set out to find more information on her. I found out that she was a protege of Prince ( i shouldn't need to explain who he is :). The only songs I could find of hers were ones she did with Prince and a couple of other club songs in the "i surrender" vein. I found out she had released this album back in 1995 on Motown, but it was long out of print. Luckily, I managed to obtain a copy of "Closer Than Close" from ebay and here I am. I was initally expecting a dance album, but what I got was far from that. What "Closer Than Close" is, for the most part, is a simple soul record. While modern day R&B singers become lost among the heavy drum beats, samples, and countless backup singers, Rosie went for a more organic apporach, meaning that the main instruments used in this album are a set of REAL drums, pianos and guitars. Rosie's voice is given plenty of room, which is always a good thing. No need for an overwhelming number of backup singers here. The album starts off with "I Want U", which was co-penned by the purple one himself. It's a very upbeat number, and even though it's over 6 and a half minutes long, it isn't tedious, and is a good opener for the album. Most of the songs here do stretch past the 5 minute mark, but, instead of being repetitve like most long songs are, Rosie keeps all the tracks floating along very well. The original version of "Closer Than Close" sounds kind of odd after hearing the club version, but after a couple of listens, the relaxed stylings of the original version are much more welcome than the pounding dance beat of the club mix. Another great track to mention is "Concrete Jungle", which sounds kind of spooky with its intro of police sirens and gun shots. The only thing I would've liked to be changed with this album is there be a couple more fast-paced songs added. However, Rosie shines on this album, as a vocalist, and intstrumentalist (she performed most of the music on this album, according to the liner notes)..... All in all, if you want to hear some REAL R&B/soul music without all the modern day gadgetry... this is for you.....

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