“Gonna Get Close to You” by Dalbello

On March 20, 2013, in Music, song, by mugen

I always thought this tune stood out as a kind of weird departure on the Queensryche album Rage for Order. I never realized it was a cover!

Found the original tonight by accident. Check it out:

Take THAT, Geoff Tate! Wow. The Queensryche version is pretty good, honestly. But the original by Dalbello has a creepiness and weirdness that comes from the nearly industrial beat that keeps thumping along through the song and the New Wave trappings dressing everything up. I loved Rage for Order when I found it in the late 80s, and loved it even more when I realized that it was produced by Dave “Rave” Ogilve, who produced the first half of Skinny Puppy’s discography. Here’s the Queensryche version:

They amped up the creep quality (and I wonder if Rave had any influence on the choice to cover this tune).

The gender-bending elements of the video only amplify the “single white female”-esque aspects of the song as performed by Dalbello. Tate’s androgyny in the Queensryche video isn’t quite the same, but positioning him as the stalker has a sort of vampiric quality.

Now to find more Dalbello…