Customer Reviews

Singles Collection

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The name of the prison that held Rudolf Hess and a very artistic style of dance somehow don't work in the same sentence. I mean, Spandau and Ballet, yeah? Nevertheless, at the height of the New Romantic phase that hit pop music in the early 80's, that was the name of the British group with Tony Hadley and the Kray brothers. This collection takes their singles from 1980 up to 1984, and was released before their politically conscious Through The Barricades album.

The quick-paced and exceptional "To Cut A Long Story Short" defines their sound, computerized New Wave synths, pneumatic drums, and Hadley's resonant vocals. This was their debut single, scraping the UK Top Five, and along with MTV exposure, paved their way to a decent run on the charts for the next couple of years. The followup singles were "The Freeze" with similar sound to Missing Persons' "Walking In LA," and the more tempered "Musclebound," featuring a diluted Village People-like chorus.

"Chant No. 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)" is another danceable tune, but whose abrupt burst of horns and insistent bass lean towards funky soul. One of the better songs here, and it deserved its #3 peak. The thing about SB was this. They'd have a strong opening single, and then chartwise, the followups wouldn't measure up, although not in the case of their first album.

Two things then happened. They turned to the production team of Tony Swain and Steve Jolley, who had yet to turn Bananarama into stars. The danceable "Lifeline" was their first single under them, which made it to #7, and saw a more polished, mainstream sound while still maintaining the New Wave synths. Hadley's vocals grew richer, as evidenced by this song and the organ-dominated "Communication."

Another was the band molding Tony Hadley into an 80's crooner, as exemplified by the dreamy sound and accompanying sighing vocals on their UK #1 ballad "True," which is the song the US generally associates with them.

The more upbeat "Gold," a #2 UK hit, with its dreamy synths and insistent drumming, continued their newfound second wind, which also included "Only When You Leave," with the guitar figuring more in their sound, and the more suave "I'll Fly For You" and "Round And Round."

This collection represents the domination of dance-oriented synth pop that ruled the airwaves at the time, as well as why Spandau Ballet was an influential force in the Second British Invasion.

I've had this album on tape and just wanted to upgrade to CD. I love these hits and I'm glad they got back together. My favorite song of all time is "True"!

First of all, let me state that Amazon has the wrong cover picture for this CD. The correct cover picture has been provided above by J. Reuss and has a red background.

I have owned this CD since it came out in the 80's and have enjoyed it immensely. Spandau Ballet's music has proven to stand the test of time. Even today, "True" has been used as the background track for Nelly's current single "N Dey Say".

This CD was issued in 1985 and does not include music from "Through the Barricades". If you are looking for a true career spanning Spand's collection, pick up "Gold: The Best of Spandau Ballet". If you are just looking for their big hits, they are all included here. You can also get most of their hits on a "Back 2 Back Hits" collection featuring Spandau and Naked Eyes. However, that collection leaves off "Gold". A great way to save money and have all of Spandau's Billboard Hot 100 hits is to buy that "Back 2 Back Hits" CD which is much cheaper and download "Gold". Just a thought.

Spandau Ballet didn't have a huge American run of successful hits. Yet they still seem to capture the feel of the period. Lead by they're strongest commercial single, "True," this CD incorporates the piano led style that every 80's ballad seemed to use. It is when you look past those ballads and see the song writing and arrangements on they're less popular songs, that you start to understand why SB is one of the 80's quintessential bands. This CD isn't for everybody, but is overall a good collection.

This collection has it all spanning from their first CD "Journeys to Glory" to their last Chrysalis effort "Parade" before going into commercial travesty with Virgin Records.

Great jewels like "True", "Only When You Leave", and my absolute favorite "Gold".

A definite buy for the Spandau Ballet at heart, and with the wonderful voice of Tony Hadley you can't miss.

I have never heard of Spandau Ballet before i heard gold on the radio and i thought thats a good song so i went and bought the album and their is song VERY good songs on the Album especialy 'True' and Only When You Leave and gold are very good is well too. But the songs i don't mention are average. All in All its a pretty good Album

Spandau Ballet isn't a favorite group of mine, but there's no denying that they could write pretty good songs. Most of the material on this compilation I don't much care for, but there are a few tunes that are really good. "True" is a great song; well put together. Other notable songs are "Round and Round," "Only When You Leave," and "I'll Fly for You." The rest of the songs that I haven't mentioned are average. I mainly like the ballad material. These guys were very commercial and not very experimental really. Most of the stuff on this hits collection isn't very original. Spandau Ballet wasn't new wave; mostly just radio pop. I still think this compilation is okay though.