Spandau Ballet

Spotification: Spandau Ballet

It may surprise you to learn that back in 1980, Spandau Ballet was a hip name to drop. Residents of London’s fashionable Blitz club, the Spandau boys were the darlings of the New Romantic scene and early singles such as To Cut A Long Story Short, The Freeze and Glow were huge club hits as well as chart successes. Outside of the club scene, however, the band’s unusual dress sense (which often included kilts, Lawrence Of Arabia-style cloaks or even, on one memorable occasion, nothing but loincloths) made them comedy figures and by the time of their third album, 1983’s True, the band had started wearing suits and ditched their dance-influenced sound in favour of more conservative pop. This catapulted them into the major league, with the True single reaching number 1 and follow-up Gold almost following suit.

1984’s Parade album was another huge success, but a hiatus while the band changed record companies lost them valuable momentum. Their last hits Through The Barricades and How Many Lies? cemented their status as MOR balladeers, despite an aborted attempt to rock out on 1988’s unsuccessful Raw single. The band split in 1990 and a high profile court case in the late ’90s, in which songwriter Gary Kemp was sued for a share of royalties by other band members, seemed to have killed off the band for good. Amazingly though, they buried the hatchet and reformed in 2009 for a tour and an album of re-recordings of their classic hits. With a movie of the band’s story Soul Boys Of The Western World due for release in 2014, our virtual mixtape gives you a chance to rediscover one of the decade’s most successful and under-rated acts.

SIDE A
01 To Cut A Long Story ShortΒ (single, 1980)
02 The FreezeΒ (single, 1981)
03 GlowΒ (single, 1981)
04 Chant No.1 (I Don’t Need This Pressure On)Β (single, 1981)
05 She Loved Like DiamondΒ (single, 1982)
06 InstinctionΒ (single, 1982)
07 LifelineΒ (single, 1982)
08 CommunicationΒ (single, 1983)
09 TrueΒ (album version, from True, 1983)
10 GoldΒ (album version, fromΒ True, 1983)

SIDE B
11 Only When You LeaveΒ (album version, from Parade, 1984)
12 I’ll Fly For YouΒ (album version, fromΒ Parade, 1984)
13 With The PrideΒ (from Parade, 1984)
14 Highly Re-strungΒ (12″ single, 1984)
15 Fight For OurselvesΒ (single, 1986)
16 Through The BarricadesΒ (album version, fromΒ Through The Barricades, 1986)
17 How Many Lies?Β (single, 1987)
18 RawΒ (single, 1988)
19 Be Free With Your LoveΒ (single, 1989)
20 Once MoreΒ (from Once More, 2009)

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