Forty Year Friday (1983) – SPANDAU BALLET “TRUE”
It’s Forty Year Friday again. For more information on this series, please read the opening paragraph of the first post, which featured Never Surrender by Triumph.
Posted on my Facebook page Feb. 7, 2013:
It’s another Thirty-Year Thursday. This week’s featured album is SPANDAU BALLET “TRUE” which was released in March 1983. I’ve often gotten mocked by my rock ‘n roll friends for my love of Spandau Ballet, but I’ve been a proud fan ever since this album was released. Most people (in the US at least) think of them as one-hit wonders with the song “True,” but the whole album is perfect from start to finish. They released 6 albums during their ’80s heyday. Most of them are really good but this was their pinnacle. Between Gary Kemp’s songwriting and Tony Hadley’s incredible vocals (was there a better pure singer during this era?), it’s a landmark of pop music in the first half of the ’80s…at least to me. Sure, they had cheesy lyrics, slick ’80s production and quasi-serious videos, but…well, no but. That’s what made them great. Here’s “Gold,” probably my favorite of their songs, but you can’t go wrong with “Communication,” “Heaven Is A Secret,” “Lifeline,” “Foundation,” etc. Happy 30th birthday to TRUE. Enjoy.
Spandau Ballet was the first artist in my No Guilt, Just Pleasure post, where I proudly declared my love for “this slick British pop band that looked like a lounge act in their (“True”) video” and stated that “lead singer Tony Hadley possessed one of the purest voices I had ever heard.” The only other time they appeared here at KamerTunesBlog was in 2016, when I featured their 1986 album Through The Barricades in my Thirty Year Thursday series. Now I get to shine a spotlight on their most popular & successful album, which holds up incredibly well after four decades.
22 comments on “Forty Year Friday (1983) – SPANDAU BALLET “TRUE””
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KamerTunesBlog 
Like you I loved Spandau Ballet at this stage in their career and was blown away by Tony’s vocals. Perfect pop. This album takes me back to the summer of 1983 when my student days were behind me and like Spandau, my friends and I started to look a bit more sophisticated with what we wore and how we styled our hair. Such memorable songs and although for those a few years younger than me, True was THE song of the school disco/school dance. it was still a great love song for those of us in our 20s too. Written for Claire Grogan of Altered Images as Gary Kemp was a little in love with her back then (they met up often on our pop show Top of the Pops). A big thumbs up 9/10.
Back in the autumn I went to the new V&A museum here in Scotland and there was an exhibition of the work of artist David Band – he created the record sleeves for the True (single and album) and also for Aztec Camera and Altered Images. Wish I could share the pictures I took here but you’ll know them I’m sure. He saw them as accessible and affordable artworks available to a mass audience (and it financed his try passion painting).
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I am so happy to hear that you also enjoyed Spandau Ballet and appreciated Hadley’s voice as much as I do. They surely are “perfect pop.” Thanks for the tidbit about Altered Images. I don’t know much about them but it’s interesting to know about Gary Kemp’s connection. I’ve always wondered how Kemp felt about being the only songwriter while most people probably assumed the lead singer wrote everything. I’m sure his bank balance made him happy, but he also had to be jealous of the attention Tony got from the press and their fans. Interestingly, he’s been playing old pre-Dark Side of The Moon Pink Floyd material with Nick Mason for the past few years, and he’s doing a great job. I wasn’t familiar with David Band but I’ll check out the artwork he did for those other artists. Thanks for that info.
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Apologies for all the typos in my original comment – I was going too fast and predictive text takes over sometimes!
Yes, there were many fallings out and partings of the ways because of the shared writing credits whereas it was “truly” all down to Gary. He and his brother had an acrimonious court battle with the others at one point. Tony was once asked in an interview about the inspiration for the song True and of course he had no idea, and came up with a generic answer.
Wasn’t sure if you knew of Altered Images. They were Scottish and had Claire Grogan as lead singer, the “Pixie of Pop”. She is also an actress and also starred in the film Gregory’s Girl around that time – the Scottish equivalent of Fast Times at Ridgemont High!
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No worries about typos. It comes with the territory of typing so many words. I think my brain now has a filter that immediately deciphers typos, whether I read them or write them. Well done on the “truly” comment. That’s my big laugh for the day so far. What’s most disappointing about the Spandau Ballet acrimony is that they eventually got past the lawsuits and reunited for a few years (including a U.S. tour, where I finally saw them for the first & only time), but then had another falling out with Tony and briefly replaced him with a young singer. Gregory’s Girl sounds familiar. Did you write about that film at some point?
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I did write about Gregory’s Girl many years ago and having just checked back you left a comment but only because I mentioned Claire Grogan who starred in it which led me onto Scottish bands like Altered Images and Orange Juice. If you’ve never watched it I would seek it out, if only to find how different our secondary school education was from that of the students at Ridgemont High back then – vastly different. Common themes though and all the characters of school life present and correct. One of my favourite movies.
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Oh yeah, I remember discussing Orange Juice. They were so good, as is Edwyn Collins’ solo work. I will definitely give Altered Images a listen, and will keep an eye open for Gregory’s Girl. I have a feeling I will really enjoy it.
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I certainly liked the song ‘True’ but never heard any other tune by them if I recall correctly. It probably wasn’t a genre I’d want to hear an entire album of.
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Jim, I figured this music was probably way off your radar, but for pure ’80s British pop it didn’t get much better.
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Not as far off as you might think. As mentioned in my Guilty Pleasures post, I grew up on pop as much as anything else .I did like “True,” but I never had the opportunity to hear much else from that album. Hey, you’re talking to a guy who likes “Careless Whispers.” You never know
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Good points, Jim. I like that George Michael/Whem tune. Culture Club too.
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Love Culture Club.
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Alright. That’s unexpected and very cool.
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I viewed Spandau Ballet the same way I viewed Duran Duran back then. They were good musicians, I second your opinion on Tony Hadley’s voice, but the music they made wasn’t my cup of tea. Still, I can respect them.
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They’re certainly in the same musical space as Duran Duran (and ABC and Culture Club, among many other “New Romantic” bands from that era), but I think Gary Kemp’s songwriting & Tony Hadley’s vocals set them apart. I’m glad you appreciate Mr. Hadley’s voice.
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I only know Spandau Ballet based on singles I heard on the radio back in Germany at the time. In addition to “True”, “Gold” and “Through the Barricades”, I also recall “Only When You Leave”. While I liked these tunes more at the time, I still find them reasonably enjoyable – something I can’t say about all ’80s tunes I used to like at the time!
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Every one of those songs is classic ’80s British pop, and I imagine they got a lot more airplay in Germany than they did here in the U.S. By the time the Through The Barricades album came out in ’86, the U.S. label didn’t initially release it (I believe when it was released they did no promotion), and their final album never saw a U.S. release. That’s why most people consider them a one-hit wonder, although I remember “Only When You Leave” getting a decent amount of airplay here.
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Interesting! I just knew that one song (“True”) – but I went and listened to the entire album. I thought it was good – I liked “Code of Love” and “Heaven is a Secret” too. I can understand being a little put-off by the “80’s” sound/production, but the vocals and songs are good
At the time I was listening to X (maybe you will feature “More Fun in the New World” at some point) and this is kind of far from that, so it makes sense I did not listen at the time. But having the distance of time and perspective, I can appreciate it now
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I’m glad you checked out the whole album, Rob, and you weren’t completely turned off. Fortunately it came out at a time shortly before synths & drum machines took over everything. I think the ’80s over-production really kicked into high gear around ’85-’86. As for X, I used to have the Live At The Whisky-A-Go-Go album but I think I traded it in to a used record store years ago. I do have a 2-CD compilation of their music that I like but I doubt I’ll be writing about it here anytime soon. I’ve also enjoyed The Knitters, which I assume you know since it’s most of X plus Dave Alvin.
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Makes sense you don’t write about *every* album put out in 1983. I haven’t listened to their stuff maybe in 20+ years, so I’m not even sure what I think now. Just putting in time context with the “True” album. “Synchronicity’ is another one that would have been big for me around then
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I will be writing about a lot of albums from ’83. First I’m covering the albums I liked & loved back then (and yes, Synchronicity will certainly be making an appearance), followed by ’83 releases I discovered years or decades later.
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