Spandau Ballet - To Cut a Long Story Short

Spandau Ballet are a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk, jazz, soul and synthpop.

They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles and four Top Ten albums in the UK between 1980 and 1990. The band split acrimoniously in 1990 but announced their reunion in March 2009, complete with a tour that began in October 2009.

The band was formed in 1976 and was originally called 'The Cut', with Gary Kemp and Steve Norman on guitar, later saxophone and percussion. They were joined by John Keeble. John was followed by bass player Michael Ellison. Tony Hadley, who knew Norman, then joined as lead singer.

After a few months, Richard Miller replaced Michael Ellison on bass, before Kemp's brother, Martin Kemp, finally took over the role, joining the band a couple of years later.

The band was involved in a major bidding war, but eventually signed to Chrysalis Records and released "To Cut a Long Story Short", produced by the electronic musician Richard James Burgess. Released just ten days after the band emerged from the studio in order to meet the huge demand created by the buzz they had established, "To Cut a Long Story Short" was an instant British top 5 hit in 1980.

This was followed by hits with "The Freeze", "Musclebound" and the well-received and Gold-certified album Journeys to Glory in 1981. The sound of Journeys to Glory was typified by chanted vocals, a splashy snare drum sound, strongly rhythmic guitar parts and a lack of guitar solos; the hallmarks of what would become known as the New Romantic sound and the sound of the early eighties.

They won international fame with their third album True in March 1983. The album topped the charts all around the world, and launched several international hit singles, such as "Gold" and the aforementioned title track which reached number 1 in several countries.

To Cut a Long Story Short is a 1980 song by Spandau Ballet. It was their first single and reached number 5 on the UK singles chart. It appeared on the album Journeys to Glory.

The single is described as minimalist spiky synth pop and compares its style as reminiscent to early Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark with a dirty, overdriven synth sound and a stomping Gary Glitter-like backbeat. Though largely forgotten today due to Spandau Ballet's later change in style towards a slick, soul-pop the reviewer considers that it might fairly be considered a minor lost classic of the early-'80s U.K. synth pop scene.

" The above text is a mashup from Wikipedia."