It was 40 years ago this month that Spandau Ballet signed their first recording contract (see pics below) and within a month had released their first single To Cut A Long Story Short. To mark this landmark anniversary, the band are releasing a new Best Of album, 40 Years: The Greatest Hits.

The 3CD set features all the hits, fan favourite album tracks as well as 12” versions, and a previously unheard cover of the Simon & Garfunkel classic The Boxer recorded in 1990 with producer, arranger and film composer Michael Kamen. 

Spandau Ballet were, of course, one of the most commercially successful bands of the 1980s, and during their career notched up 23 hit singles and spent a combined total of in excess of 500 weeks in the UK charts, achieving album sales of over 25 million worldwide.

40 Years: The Greatest Hits will be released on 3CD and 2LP vinyl on 27 November, just in time for Christmas. So you know what to ask Santa for now, don’t you…

Photography by Graham Smith

3CD TRACK-LISTING

CD 1 – Hits             

  1.     To Cut a Long Story Short           
  2.     The Freeze           
  3.     Musclebound
  4.     Toys           
  5.     Glow
  6.     Chant no. 1           
  7.     Paint Me Down           
  8.     Coffee Club           
  9.     She Loved Like Diamond           
  10. Instinction           
  11. Lifeline           
  12. Communication           
  13. Heaven is a Secret           
  14. True
  15. Gold           
  16. Pleasure           
  17. Only When You Leave           
  18. I’ll Fly for You  

CD 2 – Hits              

  1.     Highly Strung           
  2.     Revenge for Love           
  3.     Round & Round
  4.     Fight For Ourselves
  5.   Swept
  6.   Cross The Line
  7.   Through The Barricades
  8.   How Many Lies? – Remastered           
  9.   Raw           
  10. Be Free With your Love           
  11. Crashed Into Love           
  12. Empty Spaces           
  13. The Boxer            
  14. Once More           
  15. This Is The Love           
  16. Soul Boys           
  17. Steal                       

CD 3 – 12″ Mixes           

  1.     To Cut A Long Story Short           
  2.     The Freeze           
  3.     Glow            
  4.     Chant No 1            
  5.     Paint Me Down            
  6.     Lifeline
  7.     Communication            
  8.     Gold            
  9. Fight for Ourselves            
  10. Cross The Line            
  11. Raw

 

2LP TRACK-LISTING

Side A

  1.     To Cut a Long Story Short
  2.     The Freeze
  3.     Musclebound
  4.     Chant No. 1 (I Don’t Need This Pressure On)
  5.     Instinction
  6.     Lifeline

Side B

  1.     Gold
  2.     True
  3.     Only When You Leave
  4.     I’ll Fly for You

 Side C

  1.     Communication
  2.     Highly Strung
  3.     Round & Round
  4.     Fight For Ourselves
  5.     How Many Lies?

Side D

  1.     Be Free With your Love
  2.     The Boxer
  3.     This Is The Love
  4.     Through The Barricades