- Source: The Story: The Very Best of Spandau Ballet
The Story: The Very Best of Spandau Ballet is a greatest hits album by English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released on 13 October 2014. The compilation included three new songs that were produced by Trevor Horn. It reached number eight on the UK Albums Chart.
Background
Spandau Ballet reunited for a tour in 2009 after being apart for almost thirty years. The success of the tour led to the re-recording of their hits for an acoustic album titled Once More. Two new songs were included, one of which, the title track, reached number 82 on the UK Singles Chart, making it their first chart appearance there since 1990.
On 31 July 2014 the band announced on their website that they were "working on new material with Trevor Horn", with whom they had last worked on the 1984 charity song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" Horn also remixed Spandau Ballet's Diamond track "Instinction" in 1982. On 18 August of that year, a post on their website explained that the new material consisted of three tracks to be released in October on a compilation titled The Story: The Very Best of Spandau Ballet.
On 1 October 2014 a documentary telling the story of Spandau Ballet, which was titled Soul Boys of the Western World, had its premiere at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Release and commercial performance
The Story: The Very Best of Spandau Ballet was released on 13 October 2014. It debuted on the UK Albums Chart on 25 October and spent 14 weeks there, during which time it peaked at number 8. It also got as high as number 9 in Scotland, number 13 in New Zealand, number 22 in Australia, number 24 in Italy, number 26 in Ireland, number 54 in Spain, number 102 in Belgium and number 281 in Japan.
Reception
Timothy Monger of AllMusic said, "The real draw here is the addition of three new songs recorded with legendary producer Trevor Horn", who, in his opinion, returned the band to its "classic, soulful" sound on these tracks.
Track listing
*2010 Remastered Version
**2003 Remastered Version
Personnel
John Keeble – drums, percussion, backing vocals
Gary Kemp – lead guitar, keyboards, synthesizers, piano, backing vocals
Martin Kemp – bass guitar, guitar, backing vocals
Steve Norman – saxophone, guitar, percussion, keyboards, backing vocals
Tony Hadley – lead vocals, keyboards, synthesizers, percussion