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So Close (Hall & Oates song)

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"So Close"
Single by Hall & Oates
from the album Change of Season
ReleasedSeptember 17, 1990
Recorded1990
GenrePop rock, soul
Length4:39 (album version)
4:11 (single version)
LabelArista
Songwriter(s)Daryl Hall, George Green, Jon Bon Jovi, Danny Kortchmar
Producer(s)Danny Kortchmar, Jon Bon Jovi
Hall & Oates singles chronology
"Love Train"
(1989) 		"So Close"
(1990) 		"Don't Hold Back Your Love"
(1991)
Music video
"So Close" on YouTube

"So Close" is a 1990 song by American pop duo Hall & Oates. It was written by Daryl Hall and George Green, and produced by Danny Kortchmar and Jon Bon Jovi. The song was released as the lead single from the Change of Season album and peaked at number 11 in the United States and number four in Canada. An acoustic version of the song also appears on the album and as a B-side of the single.

Release and reception

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"So Close" was released as a single in September 1990, and it debuted on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart the same month.[1] It peaked at number 11 in December and spent 19 weeks on the chart.[1] "So Close" was Hall & Oates' 29th and most recent single to reach the Top 40 section of the chart, although they've had songs appear outside of the Top 40 since then.[2] The song also reached number 11 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart, number 14 on the Singles Sales chart,[2] and number six on the Adult Contemporary chart.[1] The single peaked at number four in Canada[3] and ranked number 36 on RPM magazine's year-end chart.[4] It was less commercially successful in the United Kingdom, where it spent a sole week on the UK Singles Chart at number 69.[5]

Critical response

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"So Close" received generally mixed reviews from music critics. In the January 1991 issue of Spin magazine, writer Ted Friedman described the single as "overproduced" and "butchered", but added, "To hear what a gorgeous song it really is, check out the acoustic version that ends the album."[6] The Virgin Encyclopedia of 70s Music, edited by Colin Larkin, stated that producers Bon Jovi and Kortchmar "added a strong rock flavour to [Hall & Oates'] sound".[7] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote that the song was the exception on an album that he felt was "largely undistinguished, relying more on sound than songcraft".[8] A previously unreleased live version of "So Close", which appears on the 2009 box set Do What You Want, Be What You Are: The Music of Daryl Hall and John Oates,[9] was called "impressive" by Ben Ratliff of The New York Times.[10]

Track listing

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7" vinyl
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."So Close"Daryl Hall & George Green; co-written by Jon Bon Jovi & Danny Kortchmar4:11
2."So Close (Unplugged)"Hall, Green, Jovi, Kortchmar4:15
12" vinyl, CD
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."So Close"Daryl Hall, George Green4:11
2."She's Gone (Unplugged; live performance from BBC Radio 1's "Into The Night" on 3 May 1990)"Daryl Hall, John Oates4:25
3."Can't Help Falling in Love"George Weiss, Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore4:17
4."So Close (Unplugged)"Daryl Hall, George Green4:15

Notes

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On 12" version of the single:

  • Track 3: "Can't Help Falling in Love" as featured on NME compilation "The Last Temptation Of Elvis."

Chart performance

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Personnel

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The band

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Additional musicians

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "'So Close' - Hall & Oates". Billboard (Nielsen Business Media, Inc.). Retrieved 2010-06-06.
  2. ^ a b Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (8th ed.). New York: Billboard Books. p. 272. ISBN 978-0-8230-7499-0.
  3. ^ a b "RPM 100 Singles". RPM. 53 (3). RPM Music Publications Ltd. 1990-12-01. Archived from the original on 2012-10-15. Retrieved 2010-06-06.
  4. ^ "Top 100 Hit Tracks of 1990". RPM. 53 (6). RPM Music Publications Ltd. 1990-12-22. Retrieved 2010-06-06.
  5. ^ a b Warwick, Neil; Kutner, Jon; Brown, Tony (2004). The Complete Book of the British Charts (3rd ed.). London: Omnibus Press. p. 484. ISBN 978-1-84449-058-5.
  6. ^ Friedman, Ted (January 1991). "Spins". Spin. 6 (10). SPIN Media LLC: 72. ISSN 0886-3032.
  7. ^ Larkin, Colin (2002). The Virgin Encyclopedia of 70s Music (3rd ed.). London: Virgin Books. p. 162. ISBN 978-1-85227-947-9.
  8. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Change of Season - Review". AllMusic (Rovi Corporation). Retrieved 2010-06-06.
  9. ^ Graff, Gary (2009-10-08). "Hall & Oates Revisit Their Past On New Box Set". Billboard (Nielsen Business Media, Inc.). Retrieved 2010-06-06.
  10. ^ Ratliff, Ben (2009-11-27). "Thinking Inside the Box (Musically, That Is)". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). Retrieved 2010-06-06.
  11. ^ "Bubbling Down Under Week commencing 17 December 1990". www.bubblingdownunder.com. December 17, 2021. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
  12. ^ "Hall + Oates".
  13. ^ "So close".
  14. ^ "Top 100 Hit Tracks of 1990". RPM. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
  15. ^ "1991 The Year in Music" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 103, no. 51. December 21, 1991. p. YE-36. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
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