40 Years: The Greatest Hits is a greatest hits album by the English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released in 2020. The collection includes every song issued as a single by the band to that point, although the original recording of "Instinction" from the 1982 Diamond album was chosen over the hit remix by Trevor Horn. Their 1990 recording of "The Boxer" made its debut here. Other tracks from their first five albums were also included along with several mixes of their hits that were released as 12-inch singles.
Background The one song on the collection that had not been released before was a cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Boxer". After their 1989 album Heart Like a Sky and its four singles performed poorly in the UK, the band decided to record a song under the pretense of beginning to work on a new album in order to receive a payment from their record company. Lead guitarist and songwriter Gary Kemp was not interested in coming up with new material, so they chose to record "The Boxer". Lead singer Tony Hadley thought the song was a bad choice for them and "hated" their recording. In his 2009 autobiography I Know This Much: From Soho to Spandau, Kemp wrote, "The final product was, not surprisingly, bland, with nothing about it that might suddenly reverse Spandau's limp exit from grace."
Release and commercial performance 40 Years: The Greatest Hits was released on 27 November 2020. On 10 December 2020 it spent its first of four weeks on the UK Albums Chart in its peak position at number 15. On 22 March 2024 it received Silver certification from the British Phonographic Industry for reaching 60,000 sales.
Critical reception
Alex Green of the Belfast Telegraph wrote that the compilation "shines the spotlight on a band obsessed equally with social commentary and pure, unadulterated pop", and concluded that it "remains both an effective entry point for new listeners and a reminder of Spandau Ballet's surprising breadth."
Track listing
All tracks on disc three were taken from the 12" single recordings, except the "Chant No. 1" Remix, which was released with the Diamond 12" box set in 1982.
Personnel John Keeble – drums, percussion, backing vocals Gary Kemp – lead guitar, keyboards, synthesizers, piano, backing vocals Martin Kemp – bass guitar, guitar, backing vocals Steve Norman – saxophone, guitar, percussion, keyboards, backing vocals Tony Hadley – lead vocals, keyboards, synthesizers, percussion
Charts + Chart performance for 40 Years: The Greatest Hits Chart (2020) Peakposition
Certifications
Notes
References
Bibliography