Track Listing

1. To Cut A Long Story Short
2. Reformation
3. Mandolin
4. Muscle Bound
5. Age Of Blows
6. Freeze
7. Confused
8. Toys

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #74638 in Music
• Released on: 2001-02-12
• Number of discs: 1

CD Description
When Spandau Ballet first appeared, they (along with such peers as Visage and Duran Duran) heralded the arrival of one of the most important UK pop-culture movements of the early 1980s--the New Romantics. The "Blitz Kids" as they were alsocalled (after the club where the scene came together) rejected the nihilism of punk and post-punk in favour of a different kind of DIY aesthetic that exalted fashion, elegance, and lush, danceable pop. It's also important to note that the New Romantic scene was initially as working-class a phenomenon as punk.
Spandau Ballet were the New Romantic standard-bearers, and their debut album merged the decadence of late-'70s Bowie and Roxy Music with the thumping beat and colourful synthesizers of disco, all filtered through a budding New Wave sensibility. This style would quickly become the standard for '80s pop (termed "the New Pop" in England). When itwas released, however, JOURNEYS TO GLORY sounded fresh, bold, and even somewhat avant-garde. Striving for a heroic and,yes, romantic stance, crooner Tony Hadley, the Kemp Brothers, and company forged a sound whose ambition still inspires decades later.

Customer Reviews

The Beginning
Long before the days of 'Gold' and 'True' and all your other faves came 1980, and the release of Journeys to Glory, Spandau's debut album. Spandau were trying to establish themselves as a cult band wearing kilts and shooting videos with gothic dancing, and the musical result of this was a wonderfully electronic album, heavily guitar based, but also featuring some wonderful vocals from Tony like the growl/wail/moan/scream thing in Reformation which sounds so fantastic and was for some reason abandoned for later recordings. It also includes an instrumental track, Age of Blows, and the singles The Freeze, Musclebound and the debut classic To Cut a Long Story Short. Perhaps not the first album to buy for the new Spandau fans, but certaintly something to get your hands on in the long run and spend whours dancing away to making wistful faces in the mirror (and practicing your growl/wail/moan/screams).

Sunrise like never before
This album is completely unforgettable. Most readers will be very familiar with the classic top ten singles, 'To Cut a Long Story Short' and 'The Freeze' but this LP really has much, much more to offer. Maybe, the boys looked back on their public image at this time and found the pretentiousness of it discomforting, which could account for their sound changing so much in subsequent releases. However, that is a reason to buy 'Journeys To Glory' rather than overlook it. Hadley's vocals are really strong and he demonstrates a willingness to experiment with it rather than just show us what a great crooner he is. It's hard to imagine how he would sing 'Mandolin' live on stage these days, but I doubt he would include the pregnant pauses and hoarse whispers that make it memorable. 'Confused' is so catchy it should be classified as an infectious disease, while 'Musclebound' has the energetic and piercing vocals of a young Samson in chains - to this day, Spandau have surely never produced a better song. The glaring omission here is 'Glow' which was actually the double-A flip side of Musclebound. It is this song that gives you the hint of direction to the more clubby sound of the 'Diamond' album that was too follow. However, let's not dwell on what isn't here but revel in what is...I cried for more!

THE DEBUT ALBUM OF SPANDAU BALLET
Spandau fronted by Tony Hadley and the Kemp brothers were one of the new 'New Romantic' bands to herald in the 80's. This 1980 album was very much there gothic phase with Tony singing much like an Opera singer. The name Spandau Ballet comes from a german wall scrawling that the band saw on a trip. They did get into some trouble with the video for 'Muscle bound' where the BBC decided not to play it on Top of the pops. All in all this is a brilliant album and well worth buying.