Gold: The Best of Spandau Ballet

Producers: Tony Swain, Steve Jolley, Spandau Ballet, Richard James Burgess, Trevor Horn.
Includes lines notes by Robert Elms.
GOLD: THE BEST OF SPANDAU BALLET is the perfect introduction to the music of this pioneering British New Romantic outfit. With great concision, it traces the evolution of the band's sound, from their early trend-setting days as dance-crazed, Bowie-indebted synth-mongers ("To Cut a Long Story Short," "The Freeze") to the more visceral, funky tracks from their second album ("Paint Me Down," "Chant No. 1 [I Don't Need This Pressure On]"). GOLD covers the "mature" Spandau's rise to world stardom via the transcendent white-soul ballad "True," and their eventual transformation to straight-ahead mainstream pop merchants ("Only When You Leave," "I'll Fly for You"). The amount of ground Spandau Ballet covered in the space of a few years just shows the rate at which they were working and evolving, and GOLD captures the entire trajectory note for note.