SPANDAU BALLET - Songs and Albums
by Mark Nobes, chief editor
They achieved success with ten top 10 singles in the UK between 1980 and 1986 with "To Cut A Long Story Short", "Chant No.1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)", "Muscle Bound / Glow" (Double-A side), "Instinction", "Lifeline", "True", "Gold", "Only When You Leave", "I''ll Fly For You", and "Through The Barricades.

Spandau Ballet were inspired by the New Romantic fashion era, and their music features a mixture of jazz, funk, soul and synthpop. The peak of the band's musical career came in 1983 with the release of the album True, which gave the band their first chart hits in the U.S. This featured their biggest hits including the title track which reached #1 in the UK (#4 US) and Gold which made #2 in the UK (#29 U.S.).
Bassist Martin Kemp appeared on the British version of Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 5 during August 2012, alongside a few celebs who were well known during the 80s such as camp comedian Julian Clary and Coronation Street actress Julie Goodyear.
Hmm, nice 80s haircuts lads! On second thoughts...
Spandau Ballet were one of the most successful bands of the 80's, and released six studio albums and 17 Top 40 singles.
Spandau Ballet Albums
Studio Albums:
Year Album Title UK Chart Certified
1981 Journeys To Glory 5 Gold
1982 Diamond 15 Gold
1983 True 1 Platinum
1984 Parade 2 Platinum
1986 Through The Barricades 7 Platinum
1989 Heart Like a Sky 31 -
2009 Once More 7
JOURNEYS TO GLORY (1981)

DIAMOND (1982)
The band's second studio album (on the Chrysalis Records label) was released on 25th May 1982. It has a less polished sound than later releases and certainly isn't as well-known. However, it also had real energy and lots of exciting experimentation that is missing from later works.
The lead single Chant No.1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On) was released to promote Diamond a whole year before the album was eventually released! This was the band's fourth single release overall and reached No.3 in the UK.
Diamond peaked at No.15 in the UK and spawned three more singles; Paint Me Down (#30) Instinction (#10) and She Loved Like Diamond (#49)

TRUE (1983)

PARADE (1984)

GOLD - THE BEST OF SPANDAU BALLET
This CD and DVD comprises of 17 chart
hits which span their career from 1980-1986. The package includes ten top ten
singles alongside their more popular album tracks.
Gold, Through The
Barricades and Chant No. 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On) are all
featured alongside True, which was the band's only number one single.

THROUGH THE BARRICADES (1986)
Spandau Ballet's fifth studio album reaqched #7 in the UK and achieved Platinum sales. There was more of a rock orientated sound on some of the tracks (such as Cross The Line and Man In Chains), and this was, no doubt, to try and attract sales in the US.
Personally, I found the overall sound a bit confused and they sounded dangerously like a stadium rock band (such as Survivor) but without enough gusto to pull it off. Sadly, I feel they kind of lost their way with this album and it's a world away from the exciting Journeys To Glory.

