''Close to Seven'' is the fifth studio album by German singer Sandra, released on 17 February 1992 by

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

Background

The album's title symbolised the upcoming seventh anniversary of Sandra's career. It was recorded in Sandra and

Michael Cretu Michael Cretu ( ro, Mihai Crețu, ; born 18 May 1957) is a Romanian-German musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He gained worldwide fame as the founder and musician behind the musical project Enigma, which he formed in 1990. Cret ...

's home studio in

Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...

, Spain, and continued a development towards a more meditative, less

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

-oriented musical style, echoing material that Sandra and Michael recorded together for the

Enigma Enigma may refer to: *Riddle, someone or something that is mysterious or puzzling Biology *ENIGMA, a class of gene in the LIM domain Computing and technology * Enigma (company), a New York-based data-technology startup * Enigma machine, a family ...

project. The male vocals were performed by Andy Jonas, also known as Andy "Angel" Hart. "

Don't Be Aggressive "Don't Be Aggressive" is a 1992 pop song by German singer Sandra. It was written by Michael Cretu and Klaus Hirschburger, and produced by Cretu. The song uses a sample of the 1990 track "Daydreaming" by Massive Attack, which in turn samples "Mamb ...

" was released as the first single from the album in January 1992, reaching the top 10 in Finland and Norway, and the top 20 in Sandra's native Germany. "I Need Love" followed as the second and final commercial single in April 1992, but was a commercial failure, becoming Sandra's first single since 1984 to fail to enter the charts. "Steady Me" was issued in June 1992 as a

promotional single A promotional recording, or promo, or plug copy, is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as ...

only in Germany. Although ''Close to Seven'' did not sell as well as its predecessors, it was a commercial success and remains Sandra's second highest-charting album in Germany at number seven. It also reached the top 20 in Switzerland and Norway.

Track listing

" (

, Klaus Hirschburger) – 4:45 #"Mirrored in Your Eyes" (Michael Cretu,

Peter Cornelius Carl August Peter Cornelius (24 December 1824 – 26 October 1874) was a German composer, writer about music, poet and translator. Life He was born in Mainz to Carl Joseph Gerhard (1793–1843) and Friederike (1789–1867) Cornelius, actors i ...

, Klaus Hirschburger) – 3:26 #"I Need Love" (Michael Cretu, Klaus Hirschburger) – 3:24 #"No Taboo" (Michael Cretu, David Fairstein) – 3:50 #"When the Rain Doesn't Come" (Michael Cretu,

Sandra Cretu Sandra Ann Lauer (born 18 May 1962), commonly known under her stage name Sandra and Sandra Cretu (), is a Franco-German pop singer who enjoyed mainstream popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s with a string of European hit singles, produced ...

) – 4:43 #"Steady Me" (Michael Cretu, Peter Cornelius, Klaus Hirschburger) – 3:57 #"Shadows" (Michael Cretu, Klaus Hirschburger) – 3:50 #"Seal It Forever" (Michael Cretu, Klaus Hirschburger) – 4:51 #"Love Turns to Pain" (Michael Cretu, Klaus Hirschburger) – 4:59 #"Your Way to India" (Michael Cretu, Klaus Hirschburger) – 6:01

Personnel

*Arranged, engineered and produced by

*Guitars by Tom Leonhard *Backing vocals by Andy "Angel" Hard *Photography by Jim Rakete *Cover art by HP Uertz and Lmp

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1992 albums Albums produced by Michael Cretu Sandra (singer) albums Virgin Records albums