Diamond by Spandau Ballet

Spandau Ballet's Second Album - Diamond

Have you heard Spandau Ballet's second album - Diamond? I must admit that I loved the album back in the 80s when it was released, but the general public didn't really buy into it and it was not seen as a success. Trevor Horn was called in to produce their fourth single off of the album - Instinction - and he has received credit for turning Spandau's career around again following the flaying results from their singles Paint Me Down and She Loved Like Diamond.

I think this album was about trying not to get stuck in a particular pigeon hole of music - you can hear that Spandau Ballet are still experimenting with their sound and expanding beyond their club beat feel that they had in their first album - let's look at Diamond in more detail...

Diamond Album Tracks - Spandau Ballet

Spandau Ballet's second album, Diamond, had eight tracks on it and they were the following -

1. Chant No. 1 (I don't need this pressure on)
2. Instinction
3. Paint Me Down
4. Coffee Club
5. She Loved Like Diamond
6. Pharoah
7. Innocence and Science
8. Missionary

Chant No 1

Spandau Ballet's First Single From Diamond

Chant No 1 was the first single off of Spandau Ballet's second album - Diamond and shows a funkier side of the band. Gary Kemp (Spandau Ballet's songwriter) said that Chant No 1 was, in part, a homage to the soul clubs that the band used to enjoy going to when they were younger.

Unfortunately the funky 'white' soul sound of the album wasn't what the general public were looking for at the time and the album sales reflected this.

The album Diamond showcased a lot of experimental sounds, but it also helped to showcase the band, in particular Tony Hadley and Steve Norman.

Tony Hadley's voice was maturing and Chant No 1 has soulful undertones which were perfect to showcase Tony Hadley's voice. Chant No 1 was also great at showing how versatile a musician percusionist Steve Norman was. On the single Steve plays the Bongo drums as well as the Saxophone (little did he realize then that he would one day be remembered as the Sax player from Spandau Ballet).

Instinction

Spandau Ballet's Fourth Single from Diamond

Although Spandau Ballet's first single off of this Diamond album was a hit the next two were disappointing and it seemed like the general public weren't enamored with the album either. The record company decided it was time to make changes so they called in music producer Trevor Horn and got him to work on Instinction with the band.

In the words of Martin Kemp (bass guitarist) -

We gave 'Instinction' to producer Trevor Horn who really turned it on its head. It became a monster.

Spandau Ballet were back from the uncharted waters of their previous two singles and were once again on the UK singles chart.

Instinction was the first of 11 consecutive top twenty hits for the 80s New Romantic group.

Paint Me Down

Spandau Ballet's 2nd Single from the Diamond Album

Spandau Ballet released the single Paint Me Down off of their experimental second album Diamond. The biggest attention the single got was from the picture that accompanied it and the video. Unfortunately I can't find this image in creative commons so I can't legally show it to you, but the five guys were all standing looking mournful in just gold swimming briefs. It looks rather tame these days, but during the 80s it was considered pretty hot.

The fans definately gave it the thumbs up for lust appeal, but the BBC censors did not approve banning it from being played on their networks.

The banning of their video on the BBC gave the Spandau Ballet boys some infamy initially, but the poor record sales did not make the record company very happy. Paint Me Down ended Spandau Ballet's run of Top Twenty hits stalling at number 30.

Paint Me Down pretty much sums up the excitement we were experiencing at the time while Chant No.1 was a ground-breaking record and is still played in clubs today.
Tony Hadley

Coffee Club

Album Track from Diamond

You can get glimpses of other singles to come, but the whole song seems to be a mish-mash of different sounds and was very experimental - quite unlike anything else available on vinyl at the time. Some people have commented on reviews that it has an African beat and I can hear that near the beginning, but then it just builds on it's brass, although there is chanting later on which could be what they are alluding to.

Unfortunately I do think that this song has aged now, it is definitely not one of their timeless pieces, but it certainly deserves more acknowledgement that this was a band that didn't want to stick to a formula and were unafraid of experimenting. Spandau Ballet had started their journey as a cult band and this song really seems to envelop that feeling.

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Diamond by Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet - Diamond Album

Did You Know?

The album cover for Diamond was taken in London's famous Billingsgate fish market - it's true!

The market building has since been converted into offices, but in 1982 Spandau Ballet's album cover was shot there.

More on Spandau Ballet's Diamond album

Spandau Ballet's second album Diamond was released on May 25, 1982 by Chrysalis Records.

Four singles were released from this album - Chant No. 1, Paint Me Down, She Loved Like Diamond & Instinction.

The Mail on Sunday (British newspaper) summed up this album with these words -

Kicking off the album is the classic sound of Spandau 'Chant No. 1(Don't Need This Pressure On), possibly the band's finest hour, a brilliant fusion of white funk and R&B encapsulating Soho in 1981.

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She Loved Like Diamond

Third Single from the Diamond Album

Listening to She Loved Like Diamond you can get a sense of what was to come with Spandau Ballet's next album. Tony Hadley's voice is getting stronger in this commercially disappointing single off of their second album, Diamond.

Even listening to the single by itself without watching the video it is a very haunting song and although I haven't analysed what the lyrics mean I do find myself getting swept away by it and feeling quite sad at the end of the song.

I guess if I was looking for one word to sum up this song it would be - soulful.

Pharoah

Album Track from Diamond

Pharoah was never one of my favorite tracks off of this album back in the 80s when I loved it (the album), but when I listened to it recently the opening notes on the piano made me think of some of the early 90s murder mystery shows when they're building up the suspense and you just know something's going to happen!

After a few notes with just the piano the drums then come in ahead of the rest of the instruments and when all of the musical instruments are playing you hear the eastern influence of the track - in fact I almost expect to see a snake charmer - definitely more Indian than Egyptian despite the name of the song!

The first words that Tony sings by himself are "When the lights die down" and as his voice comes onto the track his tone is almost embracing of the snake charmer music that's in the background of large parts of the track.

Combine it with echo chant vocals from the others and like many of the tracks on this album it smacks of experimentation.

Then the track changes tack again and the 'heaven is weeping' vocal aspect of the song is reminiscent of some of their later singles like I'll Fly With You, as Tony imparts the same type of emotion with his voice.

As I said before definitely not my favorite album track but it does show that the band was not afraid of trying new directions with their music which was what the New Romantic movement was all about at the start.

Innocence and Science

Spandau Ballet - Diamond Album

The Eastern influence continues with this album track, I love the way they incorporated the sound of water into the music.

Missionary

Album Track from Spandau Ballet's Diamond Album

The beats used in this track are great and seem to give an almost African feel to the song.

Underrated Peak of [Spandau] Ballet's Work

According to N. Bongiorno "proteanbounceback", a reviewer on Amazon. He also says The UK New Romantics were a unique and innovative force on the music scene-incorporating cosmopolitan Mod sensibillities, Motown/Funk bassline/horns & female backup vocals, and globe-trotting world-music influences.

He continues with - "Diamond" marks a great second step for the band, the melding of metronomic synth-pop minimilism and Sinataresque-vocals heard on "Journeys" is further expanded with full-sounding snappy horns, offbeat rhythms and forays into long ritualistic eastern-influenced opus' ala the 'Innocence/Missionary" diptych.

Really I couldn't come up with words that sound anywhere near as good as his except to say - I loved the album whatever the 'critics' said about it.

S is for Spandau Ballet

As I'm sure I've eluded to in past blogs or probably just blurted out anyways - Spandau Ballet were my favorite group when I was growing up in the 80s and my wall was covered in their posters.

I would go all starry eyed over Martin Kemp and John Keeble - which one I preferred depended on what day of the week it was! As far as Spandau's music was concerned I loved all of their works from their early singles and first album - Journeys to Glory through to their hit album True and (of course) Through The Barricades, the title track of which was without doubt one of their best ever singles - it really is haunting.  I even liked their second album, Diamond, which was slammed by critics at the time.

Spandau Ballet's first album was Journeys to Glory and they tapped into the club culture with this album and it was an aptly named first album. Number one status wouldn't come until album number three which was actually referred to as the Pleasure Project although when it came to releasing it they called it True. When the single of the same name was released it hit a chord with lovers around the world and became one of the top wedding songs of the decade - oh and a number one single as well!

I wasn't allowed to go to one of their concerts until their Through the Barricades tour and I'm so glad that I was able to go to that one as it was the last tour they did together before breaking up. It was sensational, the music, the atmosphere I can really say that it was one of the best concerts that I went to as a teen.

When their reunion was announced and they said they were going to tour my hubby already knew that I would be going. Luckily for him they didn't do a show at Bournemouth where I had seen them previously and they also announced a worldwide tour. He did think that I would want to travel halfway around the world to see them (the problems with emigrating down under), I waited and read many reviews of their tour before seeing them on their Australian leg.

I was so lucky that I waited until they came 'down under' as they toured with Tears for Fears - another great 80s group and one that my hubby was also a big fan of. The night was fantastic and as my daughter had a sleepover we even got to have a lie in the next morning, life doesn't get much better :D

Did you like Spandau Ballet? What was your favorite single of theirs,mine has got to be Through the Barricades, but I did like them all!