Reviewed by Tony Cummings

In retrospect, BeBe Winans' decision to drop his surname on some releases was a mistake as was his decision to sign with Motown Records and their efforts to relaunch him as a Luther Vandross-style soul man singing songs of lurve. So it was a relief to his legion of fans, and probably BeBe himself, when Motown launched its Motown Gospel label and our man's rich, vibrant baritone was heard again on songs glorifying God. The 'Up Close' part of the album title refers to the opening track "Do You Know Him", a studio cut produced by the always reliable Warryn Campbell, and near the end of the album there's a second Winans/Campbell collaboration "Lay Them Down". "Do You Know Him" was co-written by Eugene Record, who was one of the great talents in soul music with his group the Chi-Lites, and with Campbell laying down a shuffling, sinuous groove behind BeBe's vocal acrobatics it's an absolute gem. When "Do You Know Him" was serviced to radio it deserved to be a massive gospel, R&B and maybe even pop hit on a par with Mary Mary's "Shackles" but that didn't happen and instead Motown tacked the two Winans/Campbell tracks onto a number of live recordings recorded before or after "Do You Know Him". (Whether it was before or after is unclear as the sleeve unhelpfully doesn't reveal when or where the live cuts were made or even whether they came from a single concert.) They are good enough in themselves with a quality house band providing plenty of class to BeBe's vocalization's though it must be noted that putting BeBe and CeCe's best songs like "Heaven" and "Celebrate New Life" in the middle of a huge (15 minutes, 28 seconds) medley cannot hide the fact that live medleys are inevitably exercises in musical nostalgia - even though Debrah Winans does a sterling job in replicating the vocal parts of sister CeCe. Another problem is that on several of the slower songs, BeBe shows one of the problems of modern gospel in over doing the melisma and grace notes so that a song's melody gets hidden in a flurry of self-conscious theatrics. Leaving all of this aside, this album still has some memorable moments and if you haven't yet caught up with that wonderful "Do You Know Him" cut, this 2002 release is still one you may want to put in your collection.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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