I always liked Spandau. I grew up in the same part of town, a few of them were ex pupils at my secondary school. And there was something about their sound I liked right the way through until Through The Barricades - which I hated!
I liked the songs, the grooves on some of their earlier tunes, Gary Kemp's guitar playing was pretty good, there were always good backing vocals and the Communication 12" was the first I ever bought. Spandau also provided a soundtrack to teenage romances.
Lyrically there were a few nuggets that still stick in my head - the 'pill on my tongue' line in True, the mildly ridiculous but true line in I'll Fly For You: "I'm just an average boy, You're more than average girl, And when you sing to me the shoo be doos, You sing so well"....Yeah, I know, it's not great but it sums up pretty much how I've felt with every girl since I was 14.
And then there was Instinction's "steal a cake to eat the moon"...what the hell was that all about? Great single though!
Anyway here's that Communication 12" which I still love and listen to now. Have a great Friday!
Spandau Ballet - Communication 12"
The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 24
10 hours ago
8 comments:
That's lovely. I've got back into the Spands through Lifeline, which I'd almost forgotten, but is, I think, my favourite of their tracks.
Oh...and Martin Kemp. Grrr.
I'm right with you on 'Through The Barricades', Simon. I'd call it shit but I'm too polite.
As for my favourite Spandau, surprisingly, it's 'Round And Round'...truly melancholy and evocative. Just beautiful.
Ah, 'These are my salad days, slowly being eaten away'...
Bugger Davy ... beat me to it!
I love Lifeline; it's one of my sing in the shower tunes!
'Gold' is also all about the LA Olympics, the BBC used it, with stunning originality, as the music for their montage sequence of the games and I bloody love montage sequences like that. I still think Chant Number 1 is my favourite, though.
I'm in the minority here, I loved Through the barricades, but find Gold and Communication unspeakably awful.
Do like Chant no.1 though...
I have a signed 12" by Spandau Ballet. The Diamonds song, I think. I should dig it out.
Anyway, in Hornby fashion:
1. Only When You Leave
2. Lifeline
3. Round And Round
4. Chant #1
5. True
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