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Track Listings
| 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 |
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Spandau Ballet's second of six albums certaintly isn't the most popular. It certaintly isn't the most well-known. And up until now, when it has been SOOO kindly re-released, it was so lowly thought of that it sank to collector's item rarity. The only person I knew with the unbelievable luck to have it on CD had payed an extremely large sum of money (for a CD) to get it from Australia. But now here we are. Diamond includes four of Spandau's hit singles: the massive Chant No.1 which was sampled on a song called 'Touch Me' a few weeks ago and reached the no. 1 slot, Paint Me Down; the video of which was banned on Top of the Pops, Instinction; produced by Trevor Horn, and finally the haunting She Loved Like Diamond. The other songs took on a more experimental feel, with African (Coffee Club), Egyptian (Pharoah), Indian (Innocence and Science) and Chinese (Missionary) influences. Certaintly towards the end of the album, you forget where you are and indeed who you are. I+S in particular belongs on a sleep-inducement or medidtaion CD. I get very upset when people tell others that Diamond isn't very good. What they mean is, it's not very commercial. Which it isn't. But in my experience commercial is a bad word, and Spandau Ballet's Diamond would be a fine example of what talent, creativity and originality hold over commerialism.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I agree whole-heartedly with Mr P.A.Lawrie. This remaster is brilliant and far superior to the somewhat disappointing "Journeys to Glory" flawed remaster. Spandau Ballet had a great knack of doing the 12" thing proper when others were knocking out lame extended and tampered with versions of otherwise great songs. A Spandau 12" somehow felt like the definitive whole story and this release includes these sonic gems alongside a very interesting handful of live tracks and a song I'd forgotten about called "Gently" which was great to hear again.
I love the fact that when on vinyl the a-side of this album had a clubby brit-funk feel then as the you get settled into the b-side it goes off into experimental ethnic territory proving what an interesting creative force the band had become at this point. I recall them performing a live rendition of "Pharaoh" on "Swap shop"(British kids tv programme)and thinking"what's this?It's brilliant and very strange". They obviously thought nothing back then of making such a bold statement as to play an obscure album track on a teenybop show.
I urge anyone with a fleeting interest in Spandau Ballet to do yourself a favour and buy this CD. It captures a band when they were still in their cool/cult phase which to my tastes was their superior phase.
I love the fact that when on vinyl the a-side of this album had a clubby brit-funk feel then as the you get settled into the b-side it goes off into experimental ethnic territory proving what an interesting creative force the band had become at this point. I recall them performing a live rendition of "Pharaoh" on "Swap shop"(British kids tv programme)and thinking"what's this?It's brilliant and very strange". They obviously thought nothing back then of making such a bold statement as to play an obscure album track on a teenybop show.
I urge anyone with a fleeting interest in Spandau Ballet to do yourself a favour and buy this CD. It captures a band when they were still in their cool/cult phase which to my tastes was their superior phase.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This has always been my favourite Spandau album (but then again ABC's second album - Beauty Stab is my favourite of theirs so what do I know?
What I love about both this and Beauty Stab by ABC is that both albums show that the artist were willing to wrongfoot their fans and do something different from their first albums.
Side 1 (i.e. the first four songs on the CD) were very much dance/funk pieces and show Spandau embracing brass sounds while side 2 (the next four songs) veer off in a more experimental direction. I seem to remember that people hated songs like "innocence and Science" at the time and wondered what the heck the guys were up to.
However songs like "Pharaoh" are simply sonically and rhythmically superb despite being less immediate than the excellent singles.
The remaster sounds less 'warm' than the original vinyl (especially when compared to box of 12" singles version of the album which sounds fantastic). However as remasters go this is very good. And it certainly sounds less dull than the original CD release of Diamond.
It is also great that the special versions of the tracks that were part of the 12" box version of the album have finally been released on CD.
I'm less happy with the packaging though. Something more like the boxes that the Duran Duran albums are getting would have been more appropriate. Or at least not damaging the original artwork with the ugly "special edition' text would have been something - but that's me being picky.
All in all a well worthwhile release with lots of extras.
What I love about both this and Beauty Stab by ABC is that both albums show that the artist were willing to wrongfoot their fans and do something different from their first albums.
Side 1 (i.e. the first four songs on the CD) were very much dance/funk pieces and show Spandau embracing brass sounds while side 2 (the next four songs) veer off in a more experimental direction. I seem to remember that people hated songs like "innocence and Science" at the time and wondered what the heck the guys were up to.
However songs like "Pharaoh" are simply sonically and rhythmically superb despite being less immediate than the excellent singles.
The remaster sounds less 'warm' than the original vinyl (especially when compared to box of 12" singles version of the album which sounds fantastic). However as remasters go this is very good. And it certainly sounds less dull than the original CD release of Diamond.
It is also great that the special versions of the tracks that were part of the 12" box version of the album have finally been released on CD.
I'm less happy with the packaging though. Something more like the boxes that the Duran Duran albums are getting would have been more appropriate. Or at least not damaging the original artwork with the ugly "special edition' text would have been something - but that's me being picky.
All in all a well worthwhile release with lots of extras.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Spandau's Diamond.
I was a little apprehensive,to say the least,ordering a copy of this special editon.Especially after reading the reviews for the "Journeys to Glory" reissue(which I'm still... Read more
Published 21 months ago by DJ Control
Excellent
My favourite Spandau era. This contains rare alternate mixes of some of the tracks e.g. Chant N.O. 1, and both sides of the twelve inch version of Paint Me Down as particular... Read more
Published 23 months ago by I. C. Thackray
WOW
Always loved this album...even when it wasn't cool...oh wait..it's still not cool. That's ok. I still love it. I always loved the 2nd side...which would be SLLD and on. Read more
Published on 7 April 2010 by Elizabeth A. Hardel
Last great Spandau album before the sellout!!!!!!!!!!!!
Unlike Journeys to glory this remaster sounds SUPERB!!! Great clarity in both treble and bass. It includes all the singles, b-sides and rarities and shows the direction they should... Read more
Published on 9 Mar 2010 by Mr. P. A. Lawrie
Not mainstream - that is why it's so good!
Personally I have never understood mainstream. Spandau's tracks such as 'True' and 'Gold' are decent pop tunes but so uninteresting. Read more
Published on 24 Jan 2010 by Stuart Cox
OK - but it was the eighties
Bought this because I loved Spandau as a New Romantic in the eighties. Having played this again the album seems dated and I was disappointed. Read more
Published on 23 Oct 2004 by ICrashIn2000
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