The Singles Collection (Spandau Ballet album)

Spandau Ballet had their first pop hit in the US in 1983 when their number 1 UK single "True" reached number 4 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100. Their next single, "Gold", went to number 2 in the UK "Only When You Leave", the first single from their next album, Parade, went to number 3 in the UK and also made the top ten in several other countries but only managed a number 34 showing in the US. They eventually sued Chrysalis for breach of contract in 1985 because they felt they had "not received the 'support and promotion' stipulated" therein. Chrysalis released The Singles Collection during the dispute but only notified them of the album a week before it was in stores. An out-of-court settlement was reached in which Chrysalis was given access to their back catalog but had no rights to any new recordings. ==Release and commercial performance==

The Singles Collection was released on 4 November 1985 and entered the UK Albums Chart on 16 November to begin a 54-week run, during which time it peaked at number 3. It reached double platinum certification from the British Phonographic Industry on 16 December of that year for reaching the 600,000 units of shipment threshold. It got as high as number 2 in New Zealand, number 3 in Australia, number 9 in Spain, number 17 in the Netherlands and number 32 on the European Albums chart. ==Critical reception==

The Singles Collection had mostly negative reviews from music magazines upon its release, the one exception being Smash Hits, whose William White described it as a "plainly-packaged compilation" that gave "everyone an opportunity to appreciate Gary's consistently developing talent as a songwriter." Nancy Culp of Record Mirror was not as terse in her review: Retrospective reviews were more complimentary. Dave Thompson of AllMusic described it as "excellent". Paul Evans wrote a brief summary review of most of the Spandau Ballet album discography in The Rolling Stone Album Guide and gave The Singles Collection two-and-a-half stars out of five while describing it as "an all right greatest hits package ". ==Track listing==

All tracks are written by Gary Kemp and taken from the 7" single recordings. • Same version also released on 12" single • Same version also released on original album The 12″ Collection Initial copies of the vinyl album included a limited-edition bonus disc titled The 12" Collection. All tracks were taken from the 12" single recordings, except the "Chant No. 1" Remix, which was released with the Diamond 12" box set in 1982. ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==