{{short description|'Til Tuesday song}} {{Infobox song | name = Coming Up Close | cover = 'Til Tuesday Coming Up Close 1986 single cover.jpg | alt = | type = single | artist = 'Til Tuesday | album = Welcome Home | B-side = Angels Never Call | released = 1986 | recorded = | studio = | venue = | genre = | length = 4:08 (single version)<br>4:37 (album version) | label = Epic | writer = Aimee Mann | producer = Rhett Davies | prev_title = What About Love | prev_year = 1986 | next_title = (Believed You Were) Lucky | next_year = 1988 }} "'''Coming Up Close'''" is a song by American band 'Til Tuesday, which was released in 1986 as the second and final single from their second studio album ''Welcome Home''. The song was written by Aimee Mann and produced by Rhett Davies. "Coming Up Close" peaked at No. 59 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/til-tuesday/chart-history/hsi/|title='Til Tuesday – Hot 100 – Coming Up Close|website=Billboard|access-date=January 11, 2022}}</ref>
==Background== "Coming Up Close" was one of the earliest songs Mann wrote using an acoustic guitar rather than a bass guitar.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thebluegrasssituation.com/read/the-turns-of-humor-and-terms-of-happy-a-conversation-with-aimee-mann/|title=The Turns of Humor and Terms of Happy: A Conversation with Aimee Mann|last=McCartney|first=Kelly|website=The Bluegrass Situation|date=March 29, 2017|access-date=September 6, 2020}}</ref> Mann wrote the song during the time the band was on tour as the opening act for Hall & Oates in March–April 1985.<ref>{{cite news|last=Burn|first=Robyn Lisa|date=December 12, 1986|title='Til Tuesday's voices carry them to Button South|newspaper=The Miami Herald|page=10D}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hallandoates.de/Live_Concerts_80s.htm|title=Hall & Oates Live Concert History 80s|website=hallandoates.de|access-date=September 6, 2020}}</ref>
'Til Tuesday had wanted "Coming Up Close" to be the first single from ''Welcome Home'', rather than "What About Love". Mann told ''The Atlanta Constitution'' in 1986, "I really love 'Coming Up Close' and we did want it to be the first single. But we sort of realized that 'What About Love' was more immediate."<ref>{{cite news|last=DeVault|first=Russ|date=December 12, 1986|title=2nd album was on time for Tuesday|newspaper=The Atlanta Constitution}}</ref> The album and its two singles achieved modest commercial success in the United States, but did not live up to the expectations of Epic Records or the band. Mann told ''Cash Box'' in 1989: "'Coming Up Close' made people nervous 'cause there were no other songs like it on the charts; now there are. We could've been groundbreakers, I think, if ''Welcome Home'' had gotten the attention it deserved."<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Scoppa|first=Bud|date=February 4, 1989|title='Til Tuesday: 'Til When?|magazine=Cash Box|page=9}}</ref>
==Music video== The song's music video was directed by Bob McKinnon and produced by McKinnon and Siegel.<ref>{{cite magazine|date=December 27, 1986|title=Video Music: New Video Clips|magazine=Billboard|page=58}}</ref> It received heavy rotation on MTV.<ref>{{cite magazine|date=February 21, 1987|title=MTV Programming|magazine=Billboard|page=56}}</ref>
==Critical reception== On its release, ''Billboard'' described "Coming Up Close" as a "nostalgic rock song" and "contemplative follow-up" to "What About Love" which "incorporates elements of both country and western".<ref>{{cite magazine|date=December 20, 1986|title=Reviews: Singles|magazine=Billboard|page=65}}</ref> ''Cash Box'' considered the song to be a "country-flavored and richly textured mid-tempo track" which has "an airy, evocative ambience that yields to a riveting chorus". They praised Mann's vocal for being "earnest", "charming" and "spellbinding".<ref>{{cite magazine|date=December 20, 1986|title=Single Releases|magazine=Cash Box|page=9}}</ref> Bill Nowak of ''The Sheboygan Press'' gave the song a three and a half star rating out of four and described it as a "very fine song" which should put the band "back on track" commercially.<ref>{{cite news|last=Nowak|first=Bill|date=December 27, 1986|title=On the Record... Singles|newspaper=The Sheboygan Press|page=22}}</ref>
In a review of ''Welcome Home'', Jim Sullivan of ''The Boston Globe'' praised "Coming Up Close" as "the best song the wispy-voiced Mann has written". He added, "A gentle, countryish song, it has a catchy, calming lilt and a feeling of resonant hope."<ref>{{cite news|last=Sullivan|first=Jim|date=October 23, 1986|title=Records|newspaper=The Boston Globe}}</ref> Bill Hendersen of ''The Orlando Sentinel'' commented: "On songs like 'Coming Up Close' and 'Angels Never Call,' Mann has laid her influences and vulnerabilities on the table for everyone to see. Sure, the songs contain the all-important modern dance rhythms, but they also carry subtle country undertones that give them unusual twists."<ref>{{cite news|last=Hendersen|first=Bill|date=November 16, 1986|title=Record Jockeys: 'Til Tuesday|newspaper=The Orlando Sentinel}}</ref>
L. Kent Wolgamott of the ''Lincoln Journal Star'' considered "Coming Up Close" to be a "direct personal song, something most new bands avoid like the plague".<ref>{{cite news|last=Wolgamott|first=L. Kent|date=December 2, 1986|title=The Wallets from Minneapolis turn out imaginative album|newspaper=The Lincoln Journal Star|page=9}}</ref> Richard Thompson of the ''Santa Cruz Sentinel'' considered the "haunting" song to be "about a love affair that never takes off".<ref>{{cite news|last=Thompson|first=Richard|date=January 2, 1987|title=Records: Chantuse brings it all home|newspaper=The Santa Cruz Sentinel}}</ref> In a retrospective review of the song, Stewart Mason of AllMusic noted the "detail-filled lyrics" that "sound like a Raymond Carver story set to music", and the "haunting hints of emotions" which are "resolved in an equally elliptical but much more direct and yearning chorus".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/coming-up-close-mt0003474833|title=Coming Up Close - 'Til Tuesday|last=Mason|first=Stewart|website=AllMusic|access-date=September 12, 2020}}</ref>
==Track listing== ;7" single #"Coming Up Close" – 4:08 #"Angels Never Call" – 3:38
;7" single (Japanese release) #"Coming Up Close" – 4:08 #"Yesterday" – 3:38
;7" single (US promo) #"Coming Up Close" – 4:08 #"Coming Up Close" – 4:08
;12" (US promo) #"Coming Up Close" – 4:37 #"Coming Up Close" – 4:08
;12" (Dutch release) #"Coming Up Close" – 4:08 #"Angels Never Call" – 3:38 #"No One Is Watching You Now" – 3:53
==Personnel== ''''Til Tuesday''' * Aimee Mann – vocals, bass * Robert Holmes – guitar, backing vocals * Joey Pesce – synthesizer, backing vocals * Michael Hausman – drums, percussion
'''Production''' * Rhett Davies – producer and engineer (all tracks) * Bruce Lampcov – mixing and engineer on "Coming Up Close" and "Angels Never Call" * Mark McKenna – engineering on "Coming Up Close" and "Angels Never Call", mixing on "Yesterday" * Bob Ludwig, Bill Kipper – mastering
==Charts== {|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" |- !Chart (1986–87) !Peak<br />position |- {{singlechart|Billboardhot100|59|artist='Til Tuesday|song=Coming Up Close|rowheader=true|access-date=September 6, 2020}} |- {{singlechart|Billboardmainstreamrock|37|artist='Til Tuesday|song=Coming Up Close|rowheader=true|access-date=September 6, 2020}} |- !scope="row"|US ''Cash Box'' Top 100 Pop Singles<ref>{{cite book |last1=Downey |first1=Pat |last2=Albert |first2=George |last3=Hoffman |first3=Frank |title=Cash Box Pop Singles Charts, 1950-1993 |date=1994 |publisher=Libraries Unlimited, Inc. |location=Englewood, Colorado |isbn=1563083167 |page=[https://archive.org/details/cashboxpopsingle00down/page/351 351] |url=https://archive.org/details/cashboxpopsingle00down |url-access=registration |access-date=September 6, 2020}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|74 |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Aimee Mann}}
{{authority control}}
Category:1986 songs Category:1986 singles Category:'Til Tuesday songs Category:Epic Records singles Category:Songs written by Aimee Mann Category:Song recordings produced by Rhett Davies