Q Magazine Cuts Spandau Ballet's Electroclash Story Short

The re-branding of 80s pop band Spandau Ballet as godfathers of electroclash through their triple CD box set Reformation has run into immediate problems with an unusually harsh review in Q magazine.

"The clubbing explosion of the 90s was a reaction against the pretension, elitism and finally the flabbiness of the New Romantic generation, not a progression from it," said Andrew Harrison.

"Spandau Ballet's tragedy is that they set out as the solution but ended as the problem."

The review coincided with a Guardian interview with the band's songwriter Gary Kemp which pointed out that "few acknowledge the part the group played in the development of dance music and club culture." However, the same article highlighted the difficulties the band still face.

"Gary Kemp is a man on a mission. He wants to force a reappraisal of Spandau Ballet, to rescue them from retro-kitsch hell and show that they were more than the sum of their recent appearances on I Love The 1980s TV nostalgia-fests and School Disco compilations."

Reformation is out now on EMI and is worth checking out for one of the three CDs which contains original extended remixes of original London club tunes Chant No 1, The Freeze and To Cut A Long Story Short (though sadly not Musclebound).

http://www.spandaugold.com
Tags

• spandau ballet