The Best of Spandau Ballet [IMPORT]

Spandau Ballet

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 25, 1994)
• Original Release Date: January 23, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Chrys
• ASIN: B000007403
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #119,134 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

2008 two disc (CD + PAL/Region 0 DVD) edition of the '80s superstars' 'best of' collection including a bonus DVD that compiles their best videos in one place. Spandau Ballet grew out of the same New Romantic scene that spawned Duran Duran and, for awhile, the two bands had a playful rivalry that was similar to The Beatles and Rolling Stones rivalry two decades earlier. By the mid '80s, Spandau had transformed themselves into a well oiled Pop/Soul machine with hits like 'True', 'Gold', 'Only When You Leave' and others. This collection brings together their biggest hits and videos and is sure to please long-time fans....and it's bound to get those Duran boys riled up again! EMI. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Comprehensive Collection of Their Greatest Hits, February 4, 2002

By	Danaphile "80s music lover" (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

The tracks listed by Amazon for this item are currently incorrect and should read as follows:

1) To Cut A Long Story Short
2) The Freeze
3) Musclebound
4) Chant No. 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)
5) Paint Me Down
6) Instinction
7) Lifeline
8) Communication
9) True
10) Gold
11) Only When You Leave
12) I'll Fly For You
13) Highly Strung
14) Round And Round
15) Fight For Ourselves
16) Through The Barricades
17) How Many Lies
18) Be Free With Your Love

She Loved Like Diamond is not actually on the CD as the Amazon list would suggest, but tracks 17 and 18 are two songs that weren't included in their description that are in fact present.

Not only do you get all of their biggest hit singles (including some not released in the United States), there's also a fantastic booklet that includes photos from each of their albums. For collectors this is a real find.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent CD+DVD greatest hits combo, March 24, 2009

By	John A. Bolsar "Surly" (New York City) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Gold: The Best of Spandau Ballet (Audio CD)

After much confusion as to whether or not this package was going to be released (it's not even featured on the band's official site, as far as I can tell), I finally received my copy. The CD is the same version that was released in 2001, but the DVD contains all of their music videos (that I am aware of!) and has remastered audio. Picture quality is also very good. DVD is PAL Region 0.

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Of Spandau Ballet 1980 - 1986: Sight & Sound (CD & DVD) Remastered!, May 7, 2009

By	Jason W. Bellenger (Byron Center, Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Gold: The Best of Spandau Ballet (Audio CD)

'Gold' -- The Best Of Spandau Ballet
Sight & Sound -- The Greatest Hits on CD & DVD
2008 EMI/Chrysalis release
CD is the original 2000 release
DVD is region 0, PAL format, 2008 release
UPC: 5 099922 691729
Printed in the EU

I had my eyes on this release since it's rumoured release date of August 2008. However, site after site could not confirm that it was actually in print, and some sites even confused the CD & DVD edition with the original 2000 release! I even jumped on the official site with no luck (why isn't it listed there?), and then hopped over to the official Spandau Ballet forum for info. Apparently, it was planned to be released but got canceled?

Finally, many months later I got my hands on a copy! Yep, it's real. It exists after all! I'm not sure exactly what EMI's plan behind it was since little to no information was given about it's release. A press release regarding the 25th anniversary of "True" mentioned a forthcoming DVD release, but it never went much beyond that! It's like it was designed as a hidden treasure!

So, what do you get with this CD/DVD issue? The CD in the package is the original 2000 remastered release. The DVD, on the other hand, is produced by Abbey Road Interactive and includes all the promo videos for all the songs on the 2000 CD, re-synced with the 2000 digitally remastered audio. The DVD is region 0 (region free) and PAL format, running approximately 85 minutes. So, how good is the 2000 digitally remastered sound? It's fantastic! However, I do wonder if any improvements could have been made with a fresh, new 2008 remaster from a new mastering engineer. Maybe. Maybe not.

The quality of the promo videos is very good. I would imagine that all promo videos were pulled from their original source masters. They all look great, with consideration for age and technology of the time. Credits for the promo videos are presented in the underlying sleeve of the package, whereas the liner notes are the same as the 2000 CD release.

It would have been nice for EMI/Chrysalis to have licensed the promo videos after "Through The Barricades" for the DVD. However, considering both "Fight For Ourselves" and "Through The Barricades" are owned by Sony BMG I understand that licensing further tracks from another label might not have been possible.

Nonetheless, this is the first time that all these Spandau Ballet promos, from 1980's "To Cut A Long Story Short" to 1986's "Through The Barricades", have been available on DVD. Therefore, most fans will take what they can get even if some of the promos were a bit cheesy. Actually, most of them weren't that bad in comparison to other artists' promos that I've viewed! Even the once-banned "Paint Me Down" is fun to watch simply because times have changed so much since then. It's now considered mild. No complaints here.

Also, it's worth noting that both the CD and DVD feature 17 hit singles from the band. A massive 15 of these 17 tracks reached the U.K. Top 20, whereas 10 of these cuts made the U.K. Top 10! This is quite an accomplishment for a band that is mostly known in the U.S. for their classic "True", often labeling the group as "one hit wonders" despite scoring two other U.S. Top 40 hits and international success for much of the '80s.

Most people buying this collection for "True" may be surprised by the eclectic mix of music featured here. When first discovering Spandau I was surprised that they had actually produced synth pop, new wave, and funk music before "True". Songs like the drum-heavy "Musclebound", the funky "Chant No. 1", or the synth-laced "The Freeze" are all excellent, successful singles as well. These guys have so much more to offer than "True", as evident by these early popular cuts and latter gems like "I'll Fly For You" and "Through The Barricades", with the latter track even rivaling the brillance of "True".

Only a handful of charting singles are missing from this collection -- "Pleasure", a #61 German single from the 'True' album, in addition to 3 latter Sony era hits: "How Many Lies", U.K. #34; "Raw", U.K. #47; and "Be Free With Your Love", U.K. #42 and Germany #52.

Some 20 years after the band broke up (after 1989's 'Heart Like A Sky' album) and almost 30 years since releasing their first album (1981's 'Journeys To Glory') Spandau Ballet reunited in 2009. Now is the chance to look back on this often overlooked, underrated band. Hey, they played their own instruments and wrote their own music after all! And not many singers can sing as well as Tony Hadley, right? Give these guys some credit. :) 'Gold' Sight & Sound is a great place to start for revisiting the band's back catalogue or for just discovering the band for the first time.

Now how about a deluxe remaster and reissue treatment of the band's back catalogue? Some of those 12" mixes and b-sides have never been released on CD. Now would be an ideal time!