Diamond (1982)
The Age
Friday April 20, 2007
Spandau Ballet
In breaking news on the hour, it has emerged from sources close to the New Romantic subculture in Belgium that the third-worst band of the '80s are set to reform. But not yet - they're not ready. Spandau Ballet frontman Tony Hadley - the one with the hair; well, they all had the hair but he had the hair - has revealed the highly anticipated reformation by the band, which once made a record called Reformation, could happen "in four years" to coincide with the band's 30th anniversary. Those four years will crawl - let's count the days together, let's cross them off the calendar dawn by dawn, just like prisoners of our own dire record collections.Spandau Ballet were quite good for a minute - Instinction, Chant Number One, To Cut a Long Story Short - but then the jokes started, and the songs such as True and Gold that were not so much songs as shampoo jingles and the mistakes. Suddenly, post-Diamond and with the untimely rise of their cruel rivals Simple Minds, the Ballet were often mistaken for the substandard likes of ABC (When Smokey Sings) and even Real Life, who would later be exposed as ruthless Ballet copyists of ill repute. This was as the real thing were squabbling over money in Britain's highest courts, the music long faded out, the dream dead, the bass player a cast member of Eastenders.So with the great reunion just four short years away, it's time to reassess and revise. Are Spandau Ballet, in hindsight, simply The Band You Hate To Love? Is the question "have you got any Spandau Ballet?" the worst thing a person could ever be asked? Why did they name themselves after an infamous suburb of Berlin and a girly dance? Were they just trying to be clever?
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