Diamond - Spandau Ballet > Reviews > Diamond in the rough

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Average
Lyrics	Dire
Quality and consistency of tracks	One hit and lots of B-sides
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Average
Value for Money

Advantages:	Chant
Disadvantages:	Everything else

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

While Journeys To Glory, Spandau Ballet’s first album, was greeted by a fairly tepid critical response, their second album, Diamond got a severe panning. The album came out in two versions, a standard package, and a boxed set of four 12 inch dance mixes - a very unusual packaging ploy. On the LP, side one sported the epic Chant No 1 and three other upbeat numbers, but side two was deliberately experimental. Lifting ideas wholesale from the likes of Japan, tracks like Innocence And Science and Missionary mingled Indian and oriental sounds, with dripping water sounds behind the slow, monotonous vocals.

The band defended their work as being intended to be film music and an attempt to get out of the Duran Duran league by trying out different styles. But adverse critical reaction and the relative failure of two further singles taken from the album - Paint Me Down which reached 30 and She Loved Like Diamond (49) caused a swift reassessment and regrouping for later albums.

Chant is a sublime slab of dance funk and a must have, with Beggar and Co’s brass section flashing all over it. It was a massive hit and stands out from the rest of the stuff here like a true diamond.

Best advice is get the single - dump the album.