Essential

As one of the most successful acts of the New Romantic scene of the early '80s, Spandau Ballet shot out of the gates with a string of singles that were huge hits in the U.K. and minor club footnotes in the States. Their first two albums, 1981's Journeys to Glory and 1982's Diamond swelled with funky rhythms and sophisticated, post-Roxy Music horn lines on singles like "To Cut a Long Story Short" or "Chant No. 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure)." For Spandau Ballet, this sound was a short-lived contribution to the New Romantic movement, which saw the band mining similar territory as contemporaries like Duran Duran and Human League. Subsequent albums found the band working in a smoother white soul vein, including 1983's True, the title track of which was the group's largest world-wide hit. Other international hits included on this collection are "Gold" and "Only When You Leave." Essential chooses to focus on the time frame in which Spandau Ballet was most popular on both sides of the pond, leaving out almost altogether anything after the band's first four most well-received albums. ~ Fred Thomas|