He has been considered one of the best guitarists in the world since the 1970s, but that does not make Jan Akkerman a great composer. After his glory years with , he steadily built up his own oeuvre of very changeable albums. Unfortunately, this also applies to Close Beauty. It opens energetically with Spiritual Privacy that has an oriental atmosphere. Akkerman rages across the neck of his acoustic
… guitar as virtuoso as it is atmospheric. The following, Focus-like song Beyond The Horizon, in which Akkerman has hung his electric guitar, is also worth a visit. After that Close Beauty gets bogged down in somewhat colorless, melodic fusion and smooth jazz, mainly on a Spanish guitar to the crown. The funk-light of a jam like Good Body Every Evening also wants to make a lasting impression. Akkerman himself praises the fire with which this album came about in a spontaneous way. Unfortunately, with drums shrouded in dynamics-free reverberation and a production that is too good, this does not strike the listener. (MR)more