Spandau Ballet – release ‘Glow’- rare track live performance unheard since 1982

Spandau Ballet have unearthed another gem ahead of the release of their definitive early-years collection, “Everything Is Now – Vol 1: 1978-1982“, on October 10 through Parlophone.

Today they unveil a live version of ‘Glow’, unheard since it was first broadcast on 8th May 1982 as part of a BBC In Concert recording at the Paris Theatre, Regent Street on 17th April 1982.  The song was written around the time their first album Journeys To Glory was being finished. It was too late to be included and the original studio version, was released as a double-A side with “Musclebound” in early 1981 and made the top 10 in the UK chart and was a hit internationally. It appears on the new box set, which contains the full Paris Theatre, ‘BBC In Concert’. It received a positive critical reception and marked a change in direction for the legendary band.

Songwriter Gary Kemp had experienced a surge in DJs playing funk in Soho clubs in late 1980 / early 1981. He had reference points of US artists Fatback Band and Dr. Buzzard in mind when composing “Glow”.  Wanting to remain at the forefront of club culture, the song acted as a ‘bridge’ stylistically to ‘Chant No. 1 (I Don’t Need This Pressure On)’.

Gary Kemp said: “I sat with my guitar in my bedroom, and with the sound of the Fatback Band and Dr. Buzzard in my head, I ground out a groove and made an attempt to write a song that combined funk with the stark European music that we had created already. The result was ‘Glow’.

“Steve, the most natural musician in the band, took to the congas and bongos as though he’d played them in an earlier life, and within a few days we had the song’s staccato groove hammering through our rehearsal room in London Bridge. We were desperate to record it and get it out, announcing our credentials and proving that we were at the epicentre of Soho nightlife.”

CLICK TO PRE-ORDER EVERYTHING IS NOW – VOL 1: 1978-1982

Artwork by original band graphic designer and Blitz Kid Graham Smith