12 Inches of Love: Spandau Ballet Edition

Here's a quick recap of how I came to this moment. Producer extraordinaire Martin Rushent died a few weeks ago. That got me into early Human League mode and, then, into the entire New Romantics scene. So, I was listening to Spandau Ballet singles from 1981 and 1982 like "Chant No. 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)" and "Instinction." From there, I naturally fell into the band's one big hit album here in America, 'True.' I get the impression that fans of the New Romantics era don't look too favorably on the band's most commercially successful year or much of anything else Spandau Ballet did after that. I'm going to try to persuade those of you in that camp to move over to the light side.

Here are my three favorite 12" singles from the band, circa 1983 and 1984. Although these followups to the U.S. smash "True" didn't do much in this country, I promise you these (along with four other singles during that two-year period) were big hits in the UK. I'll include their highest chart positions.

Spandau Ballet - Gold (12" Mix) (mp3)
No. 2 in the UK and No. 29 in the U.S. (1983)

Spandau Ballet - Communication (12" Mix) (mp3)
No. 12 in the UK and did not crack the Top 40 in the U.S. (1983)

Spandau Ballet - Only When You Leave (12" Mix) (mp3)
No. 3 in the UK and No. 34 in the U.S. (1984)

These songs can be found on Spandau Ballet's import CD
'The Twelve Inch Mixes.'