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Spandau Ballet - Parade (1984)
Outside it's bad weather, the elements are raging, meteors are splattering on the windows, and what's better than picking up a telescope and looking back into your memories? So, down with a Cuba Libre and another skeleton in vinyl in the closet.
Second episode same party, same sea, October 30, 1984. As you know I only review albums that I have intensely experienced. An album must have been worn out, it cannot be evaluated except by the test of time: if it ages well, if it withstands comparisons and if it is not resold in second-hand markets for half a euro.
So, even if the Spandau weren't among my favorite bands, I had read a terrible review in Rockstar of the single Only when you leave, big voice like that of Philip of Edinburgh of the unpleasant singer - it was defined. Yet Parade spun around my ears since that distant late 1984. Reason? At my delayed friend's party there were always new musical innovations, - the Spands reached the top of the charts only in mid-1985, so it was a novelty to play it as a background at a party. It wasn't like today, where an mp3 immediately travels around the world, back then records and tapes had long promotional launches, with sometimes unpredictable results. So, same couch, same group of 80s cool guys, and Emanuela, the self-proclaimed cousin of Max aka Retard: just like the script from last year, the lady with a face like her bottom, comes back to me with a candid: Hi, do you remember me? - yes, yes, I say, and then? We seemed like actors from a movie, Last Year in Marienbad, petrified in the same gestures of the previous year.
The moment was crucial, under a spotlight of psychedelic light from the house, green color, this cute bitch in a tight light brown velvet leopard jumpsuit, and the classmates watching me, waiting for my moves and especially knowing about the missed opportunity from the previous year... I look at Enzo who with an affirmative look tells me in Morse code: Go on, what are you waiting for, who cares, don't you see how cute she is, put aside your pride..." And Roberto telepathically says to me: do as you please, but this time act tough, it's she who looks for you, not you..."
In short, between the crossfire of glances from friends, my withdrawal dark circles, and the green spotlight, I opted for an okay, let's pretend I'm falling for it again. So Emanuela and I sit on a couch, she apologizes for the year before, blah blah, that she was seeing someone else and was undecided, blah blah, and then to my surprise she says "listen, let's go talk over there, a little more alone?" And I increasingly with the playboy look from our area- okay.
In short, I saved face, everyone at the end saying the girl fell for it, Rivoli no longer misses a beat, oh yes, it didn't deny the reputation of one of the coolest in school...
And while she talked and talked, I loved and hated her, and on the Technics platter, Parade was looping, I don't know who the hell put that 33... and I was so concentrated on making out with her that I almost didn't hear the album. Tony Hadley's tenor voice, the Kemp brothers' guitars, fake funky rock, fake like the 80s economic boom, seasoned with cotton candy sax sprinkles by Norman, sailed as the background of the most boring yuppie lounge party of the era. Yet, among the Campari and some late hour flashes of lucidity, Highly strung struck me, a bit less I'll fly for you, dramatic Nature of the beast, beautiful, and then Revenge for love - my revenge..., Always in the back of my mind, the poignant With the pride. The whole album flew by like that, less beautiful than the previous True, the real masterpiece of the Spands, but I can't help but remember it with pleasure precisely for its disengagement and its purely 80s frivolity. Beautiful and formal songs, well played and well arranged, clean like Roxy Music without Eno, the more commercial ones, with lyrics that remind of seventeen-year-olds writing furtive love poems under the desk during class.
How did it end? Because I immediately sensed that Manuelita tended to have a foot in two shoes, the story lasted very little. I've always wondered if our timid story was influenced by the enormous distance between our neighborhoods that were at opposite ends, I, Nuovo Salario, she at Eur. But today I wonder: were the Spands the poor cousins of Duran? Guys, live the Spands rocked, their concert at the Eur sports hall in '87 was better than Duran's at the Flaminio stadium. I swear, I was there.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Only When You Leave (05:12)
Laying in the after glow,
I only want to learn what you know,
But now you're leaving...
How many hearts must you break?
How many calls must I make?
But now you're leaving...
In this world, all that I choose has come unbearable
But love is in your touch
Ooh, it's killing me so much
Only when you leave
I need to love you
And when the action has all gone
I'm just a little fool enough to need you
Fool enough too long
Only when you leave, you'll leave in danger
Oh, I'll make sure that you pay
So give a little passion to a stranger
And take this soul away
I only want to make this things last,
So how could this have gone so fast?
And now you're leaving...
How many times must I learn?
It' s only when you've gone that I burn,
And now you're leaving...
In the end, all that I left has come unbearable
It's hard to change your mind,
So leave it all behind
Only when you leave
I need to love you
And when the action has all gone
I'm just a little fool enough to need you
Fool enough too long
Only when you leave, you'll leave in danger
Oh, I'll make sure that you pay
So give a little passion to a stranger
And take this soul away
02 Highly Strung (04:11)
This is the song of little Jo
she's not the girl I used to know
forever screaming all the day and night
she used to be a diplomat
but now she's down the laundromat
they washed her mind
and now she finds it hard
I know her name
but now she never seems the same
she don't talk to me
'cause she can't take no sympaty
because she's highly strung
oh highly strung, she's undone
highly strung
she's stepping out upon the ledge,
she's got a gun against her
she's wired up to blow
the power line
she's walking out upon the knife
she'll take you to the edge of life
just like the song,
the pressure is on again
I know her name
but now she never seems the same
she don't talk to me
'cause she can't take no sympaty
because she's highly strung
oh highly strung, she's undone
highly strung
this si the song of little Jo
she's not the girl I used to know
03 I'll Fly for You (05:37)
Passion take the wind
and break me from this tie
we're mortals on the earth
oh but God's up in the sky
I haven't got a clue
I haven't got a thing
but what I give to you
is all that I could bring
I'll give you all my time
that's everything to me
you know my only crime
is this flight of fantasy
Chorus:
because I've nothing else here for you
and just because it's easier than the truth
oh if there's nothing else that I can do
I'll fly for you
because I've nothing else here for you
and just because it's easier than the truth
oh if there's nothing else that I can do
I'll fly for you
Passion take the wind
and break me from this tie
we're mortals on the earth
oh but God's up in the sky
I haven't got a clue
I haven't got a thing
but what I give to you
is all that I could bring
because I've nothing else here for you
and just because it's easier than the truth
oh if there's nothing else that I can do
I'll fly for you
because I've nothing else here for you
and just because it's easier than the truth
oh if there's nothing else that I can do
I'll fly for you
I'll fly for you
I'll fly...
I'm just an average boy
you're more than an average girl and
when you sing to me the 'shoo be doos'
you sing so well
and don't you know that when I'm under you
I'm overjoyed
because I've nothing else here for you
and just because it's easier than the truth
oh if there's nothing else that I can do
I'll fly for you
because I've nothing else here for you
and just because it's easier than the truth
oh if there's nothing else that I can do
I'll fly for you
I'll fly for you
I'll fly for you
I'll fly
06 Always in the Back of My Mind (04:30)
Oh, you're always in the back of my mind .
nothing ever changes,
oh, I wish to god it did
just another drink and you'll be gone.
2 a.m. raining again.
i saw you making faces in the river.
only me, down by the quay.
just a sad reflection that I give you.
oh, I thought time would burn it.
burn it down to the ground.
just a little breeze and you'll be strong
driving home, all on my own.
just a passenger in all that we lost
satisfy, oh, lord don't deny,
I see your face in the everything that's near 'cause.
oh, you were always in the back of my mind
oh, I have all the memories,
the winter of '82.
when down upon the ice you saw me melt.
washed up on the rocks again,
oh, don't you know that it's so damn hot
and the things you do.
oh I won't ever learn.
oh I won't ever learn.
oh, you were always in the back of my mind.
07 With the Pride (05:32)
Just leave me with the pride
that I worked for
now they've taken the reason away
just leave me with the pride
that I worked for
today
build on rock, or build on sand,
they're never gonna lend a hand
so nothing grows or nothing stands
I can't take any more
I can't take any more
there's not a lot of space for me
but I've still got my dignity
I've got my price
don't say I'm free
I can't take anymore
I can't take anymore
but I'm hungry
I could eat anything
but I'm hungry
oh, let's dance, oh, let's swing
and all that I hear are the words that she sings
now they've taken it all
now they've taken it all
I'd rather take this cure for life
than make myself a sacrifice
if living is to pay the price
I can't take anymore
I can't take anymore
it takes a while to understand
when your eyes are full of sand
when only time is in your hands
I can't take anymore
I can't take anymore
but I'm hungry
I could eat anything
but I'm hungry
oh, let's dance, oh, let's swing
and all that I hear are the words that she sings
now they've taken it all
now they've taken it all
just leave me with the pride
taht i worked for
now they've taken the reason away
just leave me with the pride
that i worked for
today.
08 Round and Round (05:29)
I don't have to be so wise
you're just my fantasy
and I will fantasize
something more or less to make this things started
we're the artisans
and we've been crafted
I wanna be your magical mystery
I wanna be your final history
this is the news
nothing's ever been so wild
all that I get to do
is what I give to you
this is all about the circles we've found
and through the ups and downs
it goes round
oh I was just beginning to grow strong
she was only eighteen summers long
we were the news
Round and round it goes
and oh don't you know
this is the game that we came here for
round and round it goes,
and don't you know
This is the news of my life
oh I was just beginning to grow strong
she was only eighteen summers long
we were the news
Round and round it goes
and oh don't you know
this is the game that we came here for
round and round it goes,
and don't you know
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