SPANDAU BALLET - TRUE

TRUE

SPANDAU BALLET

SONGWRITER: GARY KEMP

COUNTRY: U. K.

ALBUM: TRUE

LABEL: CHRISALIS RECORDS

GENRE: NEW WAVE/POP

YEAR: 1982

 

          Spandau Ballet (/ˈspændaʊˈbæleɪ/ SPAN-dow BAL-ay) were an English pop band formed in Islington, London, in 1979. Inspired by the capital's post-punk underground dance scene, they emerged at the start of the 1980s as the house band for the Blitz Kids, playing "European Dance Music" as "The Applause" for this new club culture's audience. They became one of the most successful groups of the New Romantic era of British pop and were part of the Second British Invasion of the Billboard Top 40 in the 1980s, selling 25 million albums and having 23 hit singles worldwide. The band have had eight UK top 10 albums, including three greatest hits compilations and an album of re-recorded material. Their musical influences ranged from punk rock and soul music to the American crooners Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett.

              The band's classic line-up featured Gary Kemp on guitar, synthesiser and backing vocals, his brother Martin Kemp on bass, vocalist Tony Hadley, saxophonist Steve Norman and drummer John Keeble. Gary Kemp was also the band's songwriter. Their debut single, "To Cut a Long Story Short", reached Nº.5 in the UK in 1980. It was the first of ten UK Top 10 singles. The band peaked in popularity in 1983 with the álbum True, with its title track reaching No.1 in the UK and the top five in the US. In 2011 it received a BMI award as one of the most played songs in US history with four million airplays. In 1984 they received a Brit Award for technical excellence and were the first act to be approached by Bob Geldof to join the original Band Aid line-up. In 1985 they performed at the Live Aid benefit concert at Wembley Stadium.

           In 1990 the band played their last live show before a 19-year absence. In 1999 Hadley, Norman and Keeble launched an unsuccessful case in the High Court against Gary Kemp and his Reformation Publishing Company for a share of the band's songwriting royalties. Spandau Ballet reformed in 2009 for The Reformation Tour, a sell-out "greatest hits" world tour. In 2014 their archive-only feature-length documentary biopic, Soul Boys of the Western World, was world premiered at SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. It was officially screened at the Rome, Ghent (Belgium) and NYC Doc film festivals and received its European premiere at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

           In 2017 Hadley announced his departure from Spandau Ballet. A year later, the band announced singer and actor Ross William Wild as their new frontman for a series of European live dates and a one-off show at Eventim's Hammersmith Apollo. In May 2019, Wild tweeted that he had quit the band "to pursue my own music with my band Mercutio", while Spandau bass player Martin Kemp confirmed there were no further plans for Spandau to tour without original singer Hadley.

            True is the third studio album by the English new wave band Spandau Ballet. It was released on 4 March 1983 on Chrysalis Records. While Spandau Ballet's first two albums earned them European popularity, True made them worldwide stars and was heavily influenced by jazz, soul and R&B. and charted in numerous other countries around the world.

            A remastered version of "True" was released on 3 July 2003 to commemorate its 20th anniversary. It was re-released as a single CD with the original eight tracks along with the music video for "Gold" and some home video footage of the band. The original 8-track album was also issued on the high-resolution super audio CD format as a Hybrid SACD (in stereo only). In 2008, the album was given away free with copies of the Daily Mail newspaper. In June 2010, a special edition was released on 2 CDs and DVD as part of the 2010 Spandau Ballet reissues series, featuring remastered 12" remixes and B-sides, plus a live concert.

So true funny how it seems

Always in time, but never in line for dreams

Head over heels when toe to toe

This is the sound of my soul

This is the sound

 

I bought a ticket to the world

But now I've come back again

Why do I find it hard to write the next line

Oh I want the truth to be said

 

Huh huh huh hu-uh huh

I know this much is true

Huh huh huh hu-uh huh

I know this much is true

 

With a thrill in my head and a pill on my tongue

Dissolve the nerves that have just begun

Listening to Marvin (all night long)

This is the sound of my soul

This is the sound

 

Always slipping from my hands

Sand's a time of its own

Take your seaside arms and write the next line

Oh I want the truth to be known

 

Huh huh huh hu-uh huh

I know this much is true

Huh huh huh hu-uh huh

I know this much is true

 

I bought a ticket to the world

But now I've come back again

Why do I find it hard to write the next line

Oh I want the truth to be said

 

Huh huh huh hu-uh huh

I know this much is true

Huh huh huh hu-uh huh

I know this much is true

This much is true

I know, I know, I know this much is true.