Leslie Felperin 

Soul Boys of the Western World review – Spandau Ballet rock doc falls flat

Fans of Spandau Ballet will love this nostalgic documentary, even if it would be nice for more depth, writes Leslie Felperin
  
  

Spandau Ballet: Soul Boys of the Western World
Scripted … Spandau Ballet: Soul Boys of the Western World. Photograph: PR

Here’s another weekly dose of rock doc, this time with an 80s group. Spandau Ballet, five London lads who played Live Aid, helped spearhead the New Romantic movement before moving into more soul-inflected pop, and made such karaoke classics as Gold, True and Through the Barricades. Cut from the same template as the recent Rolling Stones doc Crossfire Hurricane, this unspools miles of archive footage narrated by band members, who sometimes sound like they’ve been interviewed (Tony Hadley) and sometimes like they’re reading from a script (especially Gary Kemp). Fans of the band will undoubtedly love the package, which puts the group front and centre. T hose who are more agnostic about the music but nostalgic for the period will enjoy the peripheral material, flouncy collars and hilarious mullets – although it would have been nice to have heard from some of the producers, for example, who made their sound so distinctive.

 

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