Soul Boys of the Western World

I really enjoyed this celebrity-documentary that took a close-up look at the rise and fall of the British, new wave, pop sensations, Spandau Ballet during the 1980s.This first-rate presentation contained some really great archival footage, looking back at the music/youth scene in London during the height of the New Wave music craze.

A truly deep dive into the formation, rise and fall of one of the biggest bands of the '80s. The story is exactly what you'd expect - the same as every other band in the history of music - but the real power of this documentary is just how genuinely era-defining their music was.

This poor boy from the eastern world was absolutely enamored with the Spandau Ballet music documentary "Soul Boys of the Western World" on the infamous 80's New Wave Band. I will definitely musclebound my review with puns; why?

Can't believe nobody has written anything about this awesome movie yet! It was very well cut and edited- 2 hours long and not a single boring bit.

Greetings again from the darkness. Director George Hencken's biopic on the British band Spandau Ballet provides not just an in-depth look at the band's roller-coaster history, but also a timeline of musical changes beginning in the late 1970's.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning In Islington, North London, at the height of the glam/punk rock era, four boys, including two brothers, came together to form their own band, Spandau Ballet, who , influenced by the soul/blues music they had grown up on, developed their own distinctive style, in music and fashion, that came to be known as the New Romantic trend. They notched up a string of chart successes throughout the 1980s, starting with the enigmatic To Cut a Long Story Short, all the way to their seminal 1983 chart hit and enduring favourite True.

Without a doubt - When speaking about the British music scene of the 1980's - ("blue-eyed soul" rockers) Spandau Ballet (amongst several other notable bands) were the ones who, most definitely, helped shape and define that unique era in pop music history.Impressively directed by George Hencken - "Soul Boys Of The Western World" tells the intriguing and eye-opening story of the meteoric rise, the double-crossing fall, and the eventual (but at first reluctant) reunion of Spandau Ballet.

80's pop music "trendsetters" Spandau Ballet -- an arguable term if you look at their limited supply of #1 hits and garish taste in stage fashion versus the street clothing the world around them is seen wearing in archive footage featured herein -- are given bog standard rock doc treatment in SOUL BOYS OF THE WESTERN WORLD, an overlong, not particularly revelatory and utterly TV-worthy "behind-the-music-but-not-too-deep"-style documentary about the self-possessed members of the group. Their stereotypical ascent to international stardom from blue collar roots during particularly tumultuous times in Britain, their handful of hit songs, eventual breakup, largely-forgotten court battle and successful 2009 reunion are covered via extensive vintage clips and painfully canned voice-over from the band members (so rehearsed-sounding, in fact, that a writer should probably have been credited), but the whole thing is soft-pedaled to the degree that it becomes obvious the subjects are participating largely to drum up interest in yet another reunion circa the film's release in 2014.