The band wanted the album to sound more like how they played together live, and their guitarist/songwriter Gary Kemp came up with material that he felt would be more appropriate for the arenas in which they performed now since they were attracting larger audiences.

The first of four top-20 singles from Parade, "Only When You Leave", received the most praise from them and was the most successful, reaching number 3 in the UK and the top ten in several other countries, but its lacklustre chart performance in the US caused a rift between the band and their record company.

They moved to a new label and hired new producers for their next studio album, Through the Barricades, which was another attempt at the arena rock sound that they were unable to achieve on Parade.

Band mentioned that David Hockney had recently painted the backdrops for a new version of the Parade ballet, which inspired Kemp: "I suddenly saw the album as a touring show.

Once Kemp had completed writing the songs, the band rehearsed for two months in a Shepherd's Bush studio, working on the arrangements and learning "each other's parts backwards".

Instead he consulted with Band, who painted a banner of the profile of a man standing and pointing straight ahead with one hand while the other provides a visor for his eyes.

He is followed by Carmen Miranda, Chinese dragons, American Revolutionary War soldiers, Mardi Gras revellers and several other characters portrayed by celebrities and friends and family members of the band.

Number One journalist Paul Simper was recruited into dressing like Uncle Sam, and the fathers of Spandau Ballet—Stan Keeble, Pat Hadley, Tony Norman and Frank Kemp—carried a trade union banner.

[16] Band dressed for the cover photo as a harlequin, a character borrowed from Hockney's Parade[17] that he used to decorate the album label and sleeve in the same way the dove was used for True.

They also noted,[38] Gary Kemp's guitar playing is more evident than in the past as on the integral fills in "Highly Strung" and the album's first single, "Only When You Leave".

The sound is always crisp, and the arrangements are well-executed with the expert hand of Tony Swain behind the board.Most of the music magazines, however, were critical of the album, the exception being Smash Hits, whose Ian Birch loved "Only When You Leave" and proclaimed, "The other seven songs grow more distinctive with every play.

Spandau don't exactly take True the logical step further but instead shuffle sideways and manage to bring the parade to a glittering, schmaltzy dead halt.

She wrote, "It seems that the more capable they become as musicians, the lighter, tinnier and blander their songs become," and tried couching additional complaints by apologizing: "Sorry, but this is bland, tedious, softly accessible pop rock for housewives with no depth, no feel, no soul.

"[33] Kurt Loder of Rolling Stone echoed her sentiments by insisting that the band's "English-soul-boy roots … have little to do with soul and everything to do with mid-Seventies dance-floor disco."

[35] J. T. Griffith of AllMusic also compared it to their previous effort, writing that "it comes close to recapturing the stylish, white soul sound of the True LP.

[51] The music video focused on the song's theme of revenge by presenting Hadley in a relationship with a femme fatale and included an Alfred Hitchcock look-alike as a way to salute the late film director.

[q] Reviews ran the gamut, with one critic pronouncing it "a winner",[57] another calling the lyrics "uninspired",[33] and yet another proclaiming it "[t]heir best single in ages" but finding the title and use of the saxophone "inappropriate and awkward".

[62] The music video was shot in Hong Kong because the band felt its population density matched the song's theme regarding emotional tension.

Kemp was displeased with the peak chart positions in the US for "Only When You Leave" as well as "Communication", the last single released there from True,[70][t] and blamed the low numbers on a conflict between Chrysalis founders Chris Wright and Terry Ellis distracting them from promotional efforts.

[76][v] Upon the release of Through the Barricades, Kemp explained to Simper how Parade failed to achieve the live sound they wanted: "I think we were a bit afraid of making a big jump after True.