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Lifeline (Spandau Ballet song)
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Wikipedia article
"'Lifeline'" is a song by English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released on 24 September 1982 as the first single from what would be their third album, 'True' (1983). The song confirmed the band's intent to transition from dance music to pop that was hinted at with their previous single, "Instinction". Some band members found an enjoyable chemistry with "Lifeline" producers Tony Swain and Steve Jolley that was lacking in recording sessions with previous producers. The new song received mixed reviews but reached number 7 on the UK Singles Chart. It was also their first single to chart in the United States, missing the 'Billboard' Hot 100 but charting on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 at number 8. The music video for the song received airplay on the U.S. cable channel MTV.
Background
"She Loved Like Diamond" was the third single from Spandau Ballet's second album, 'Diamond', but after its number 49 showing on the UK Singles Chart in early 1982, the band feared that their future was in jeopardy.: In early 82 we released another track from the album, She Loved Like Diamond, in the hope that would turn things round The single stiffed anyway It was a disaster. We were in Belgium when the news came through and it sent us into panic mode. It didnt take a genius to work out that if things carried on like this it could soon be game over for Spandau Ballet. They hired Buggles founder Trevor Horn to remix the 'Diamond' track "Instinction" in order to have another single to promote the release of the LP, but Spandau guitarist/songwriter Gary Kemp was concerned about putting the most pop-sounding song on the record in the hands of a pop producer. Spandau Ballet made a point of representing their peers in the London club scene that began with their first album, 'Journeys to Glory',: Every seminal moment in British youth culture had had a band or artist that represented it: skiffle Lonnie Donegan punk the Sex Pistols. We knew, even then, that Blitz and all it entailed and encouraged was going to be an important chapter in the story of London youth and their street-found fashions; and so, in a basement studio on Islington's Holloway Road, the Angel boys were busily trying to create a band who'd embody this latest twist in the tale. but after the "Instinction" remix went to number 10, Kemp found that the nightclub crowd was no longer interested in their music, which meant he no longer had to focus solely on what they wanted to hear. In his autobiography 'I Know This Much: From Soho to Spandau', he wrote, "The freedom of not having to write just for Soho meant I could dive into that great big reservoir of pop, deep with melody and soul, and hopefully surface with the pearls I wanted. Where previously it had been about riffs and grooves, this time it would be about melody and chords." He also averred that Spandau Ballet "felt no shame in embracing" a pop audience.
The band attempted to continue their work with Horn, who was especially interested in a new song Kemp had written called "Pleasure", but after a day of rehearsals in which drummer John Keeble was unable to satisfy Horn's demands, the new producer was ready to replace him. Kemp rejected the idea, and Horn decided to end his work with the band. Kemp told 'Smash Hits' magazine in 1982, "We couldn't have worked with Trevor because he was too overpowering, too dogmatic." The band's manager, Steve Dagger, suggested producers Tony Swain and Steve Jolley, who had recently worked with Bananarama, so the band presented the duo with several songs Kemp had finished writing. The plan was to have them produce just one single to get a sense if they were right for the group before committing to anything more, and although "Communication" was considered, the song Jolley chose for their assignment was the "up-tempo, more obvious pop sing-along" "Lifeline". Spandau Ballet was credited alongside Jolley and Swain as producers of "Lifeline" as well as their next album, 'True'.
Recording
The band discovered some chemistry with their new producers during the recording of "Lifeline", which took place in Paddington at Red Bus Studios in August 1982. Kemp found affinity with Swain, who did his own engineering; Kemp joined him at the mixing console to discuss the sounds and arrangements. Lead singer Tony Hadley, who had clashed with 'Diamond' producer Richard James Burgess, felt much more comfortable with Jolley, who became the sole producer of his vocals. Because of what Hadley went through while recording 'Diamond', Kemp stayed out of the vocal recording sessions for "Lifeline"; he found that Jolley's love of soul music gave him insight as to how to soften Hadley's voice with methods different from what Burgess had tried and that the focus became "the story being told within the song".
Critical reception
"Lifeline" received mixed reviews upon its release. Johnny Black of 'Smash Hits' found fault with the lyrics and complained that Spandau Ballet "wail[ed] in a manner barely distinguishable from notable Californian leisure-lovers like the Eagles". 'Record Mirror's Mark Cooper lumped it in with "classy, well-produced funk ballads with strong choruses and no personality" and summarized it as "hummably bland". Mark Phillips for 'Rip It Up' described it as "in its way not unpleasant, but very white and insipid and not likely to win them any new fans". When the song was released on the album 'True', Ira Robbins of 'Trouser Press' wrote that the album's "two impressive numbers, 'Communication' and 'Lifeline', both match stylish presentation with solid songwriting and a modicum of soulful crooning." In a review of the band's concert at New York's Savoy in 1983, Kim Freeman of 'Billboard' magazine thought that "'Lifeline' was an upbeat orchestration that came off beautifully live".
In a retrospective review on AllMusic, Stewart Mason also criticized the lyrics but still opined that "Lifeline" was their "first truly great single". He praised the fact that "Hadley wisely dials back his occasionally pompous, stentorian delivery for a more relaxed vocal style more in keeping with the relaxed pop-R&B groove" and that the backing vocals "include an exceedingly catchy vocal hook decorating the breaks between the chorus and verse".
Release and commercial performance
"Lifeline" was released on 24 September 1982 and peaked at number 7 on the UK Singles Chart, number 11 in Ireland, number 33 in New Zealand, and number 68 in Australia. In the 4 June 1983 issue of 'Billboard', it became their first single to come close to the pop chart in the U.S. when it began its first of two weeks "bubbling under" 'Billboard's Hot 100; it got as high as number 108. In that same issue it also began 6 weeks on the magazine's Dance/Disco Top 80 chart paired with "Communication" and eventually reached number 58.
Music video
.Kemp acknowledged that the clothes they wore for the "Lifeline" music video were "drab" and that the shift to pop left them "caught in a moment of not knowing what to wear". He bemoaned the fact that director Russell Mulcahy, who had worked with them on most of their previous videos, was busy working with Duran Duran and unavailable to film the clip for "Lifeline". Instead, Steve Barron directed the video, filmed on 7 September in a hayloft in a rural part of Britain. The establishing shot that opens the video, however, shows a row of buildings along Shad Thames, and there is a recurring motif of a red beam of energy that is occasionally shown travelling along utility pole wires until the end of the song when it blasts through the window of the Java Wharf building in which the band plays.
"Lifeline" was listed on the reports that MTV provided to 'Billboard' that indicated what videos were in rotation on the cable network and made its first appearance there in the 7 May 1983 issue, which indicated that it had been added to their playlist as of 27 April.
Aftermath
In his autobiography 'Pop Stars in My Pantry: A Memoir of Pop Mags and Clubbing in the 1980s', music journalist Paul Simper detailed Graham Smith's reactions to a couple of singles by Spandau Ballet, who initially wanted to make "white European disco music" to appeal to the patrons of the Blitz, a weekly Tuesday night club the band had been attending. Smith, a Blitz regular who had designed the cover art for Spandau Ballet's first two albums and their singles, encountered Simper while delivering the cover he had produced for "She Loved Like Diamond" and was already losing interest in the band, but upon receiving a copy of "Lifeline" several months later, Smith was visibly disappointed as he played a cassette of the new "mop-top-flavoured" song for Simper, who concluded, "Spandau were no longer making records for the cool kids."
Formats and track listings
*'7-inch single'
# "Lifeline" 3:20
# "Live and Let Live" 3:46
*'12-inch single'
# "Lifeline" 5:17
# "Live and Let Live" 5:29
Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes for 'True', except as noted:
'Spandau Ballet'
* Tony Hadley lead vocals
* Gary Kemp guitar and backing vocals
* Martin Kemp bass
* Steve Norman saxophone and percussion
* John Keeble drums
'Additional Musicians'
* Jess Bailey - keyboards
'Production'
* Tony Swain producer
* Steve Jolley producer
* Spandau Ballet producers; sleeve
*Graham Smith sleeve
*Andy Earl photography
Charts
References
Bibliography
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