Title: Once More
Artist: Spandau Ballet
Genre: Pop, New Wave
Release Date: 6th November 2009
Label: Universal Music
Album Review
All you thirty-somethings, do you remember those heart-wrenching ballads such as `Through the Barricades´ and `True´? Did you dance and sing along while listening to the pop anthem `Gold´? If yes, you might be put into nostalgic mood by this announcement: 1980s cult band SPANDAU BALLET is back with its album entitled with `Once More´.
A little excursion into the band history: Formed in the late 1970s, the quintet was a New Romantic representative and called themselves THE CUT at first. Later on, the guys named it to THE MAKERS and finally to SPANDAU BALLET. That idea was born when a friend of the band saw the name scrawled on the wall of a nightclub lavatory in Berlin. They reached the international breakthrough by releasing their third album `True´ and the hit singles `Gold´ and `True´. The follow-up album `Parade´ was able to continue the success story. After the release of `Heart like a Sky´ in 1989, the band split up. This year, the British five-piece consisting of Tony Hadley (vocals), Gary Kemp (keys, guitar), Martin Kemp (bass), Steve Norman (guitar, sax, percussion) and John Keeble (drums) announced the reunion followed by the confirmation that there would be a comeback tour as well as a best of-album in autumn. Besides 11 popular tracks from previous successful releases, the long-player will also include two new songs.
Some of you now may ask what was the reason for the band’s decision to reunite and to be back with this collection of their most popular songs completely new recorded and mixed by Danton Supple who had already collaborated with COLDPLAY. Whatever the reason is however, I firstly enjoyed the prospect of listening to well-known and formerly beloved stuff. Unfortunately, I soon got somehow bored, as the new recording’s sound is rather classical and dominated by acoustic instruments. For example, `Gold´ lost its very dynamic character which made this all-time favourite that danceable. Actually, the song also seems to be grown up resulting in my impression that the album isn’t addressed to new listeners but to those who know the band from its early days. In my ears, the new arrangements aren’t really modern or innovative. `Through the Barricades´ has been turned into a sparingly instrumented acoustic guitar ballad that reminded me a bit of country music. Some strings appear on `She loved like Diamond´ as well as a saxophone line whilst the today’s `True´ sounds like a TAKE THAT version of the original track. The new song `Once More´ is a nice ballad with an anthemic refrain and well-fitting regarding the pre-Christmas period.
All in all, I was somehow disappointed after listening to the long-player as I absolutely liked the former pop-appeal, the previously used synths, the rhythmic up-tempo stuff and the stunning ballads SPANDAU BALLET had become famous for. What remains is the feeling that exceptional vocalist Tony Hadley and his colleagues delivered a shallow cover version of their own work. Nevertheless, I would like to experience them live on stage the five-piece will enter soon: After some appearances in Great Britain, they are going to play three concerts on German territory next year. Hopefully, the live appearances will be able to compensate the way too polished album’s soundscape.
Tracklist
01. Once More
02. To Cut a Long Story Short
03. Gold
04. True
05. Chant No. 1
06. I´ll fly for you
07. Only when you leave
08. Through the Barricades
09. She loved like Diamond
10. Communication
11. Lifeline
12. With the Pride
13. Love is all
Line-up
Tony Hadley - vocals
Gary Kemp - keys, guitar
Martin Kemp - bass
Steve Norman - guitar, sax, percussion
John Keeble - drums
Website
http://www.spandauballet.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/spandauballet
Cover-Picture
Rating
Music: 7
Sound: 8
Extras: -
Total: 7.5 / 10
{jos_sb_discuss:19}
Comments powered by CComment