At the time, Smyth said that he didn't feel he could go on stage and be "Chas Smash" after having just released "A Comfortable Man", a serious album that was as much therapy for him as it was a musical endeavour. He pulled out of what was supposed to be the first tour by the full 7 piece for several years at quite short notice - it was reported at the time that this was done via e-mail and/or text message. IIRC, it was this that caused the bust-up, the manner and the timing rather than anything else. Smyth never quite got the chip off of his shoulder from being excluded from the official line up around the first album and not being on the front cover of One Step Beyond - if you have the edition of the Divine Madness DVD with the commentary from Smyth, Barson and Foreman (the latter recorded separately), he references this several times.
Quality! Barso's the lynch pin to Madness' music so him and Suggs alone together is a real treat. Life on Mars was lovely, not a bad pianist, eh?
Prior to the other day, I had never heard anything by this band except Our House (unless MTV played others in their earliest years, of which I have no recollection), but I stumbled across some of their hits on YT and liked quite a few of their hits I checked. Videos are all hysterical as well. They are band you could tell had a blast back in the day. Just added about 10 songs from iTunes to my music collection. Always love finding "new" old stuff.
You're in for a treat. Look out for the Divine Madness compilation. It's full of great singles from their original run before reforming.
Try the album Rise and Fall, it's a classic. Although they were referred to as the nutty boys, they were seriously good. If you prefer more ska styling try their debut One Step Beyond. The first 5 albums are very good.
Noted. I plan to check out all of the hits and singles I didn't get to yet. Looks like The Rise and Fall was never released here in the States. That is odd. Might be hard to find.
Interesting. It's on Spotify - but I don't think the tracks are licensed for the US: Spotify Link--> The Rise & Fall You could start with the US "Madness" compilation. That includes a good portion of it: Spotify Link--> Madness Cheers, Paul
Geffen Records took about half of the Rise & Fall tracks and added half a dozen earlier UK hits, to make an appealing collection for the US market. It's a solid LP and was probably a lot of North American listeners' first introduction to the group. In any case, I sort of envy you discovering them for the first time. They're definitely a band where you can start by enjoying the hits (and videos) but you'll find a lot of great album tracks and B-sides as you dig deeper. Madness (Madness album) - Wikipedia
Madness via "The Young Ones". "Our House" is a lotta fun ( when we were in The UK a coupla years back, The Royals had this nugget played by the marching band outside of Buckingham ). But I think "House of Fun" is even better.
Rise & Fall is indeed a classic but it's also the album where we started to see a more serious side to them and this continued with later albums, particulary Keep Moving and The Liberty of Norton Folgate (both of which are great albums by the way). But if it's the nutty side to them that has drawn you in you may prefer to start with their first three albums, One Step Beyond, Absolutely and 7. And I agree, Divine Madness is the singles compilation to start first. Later editions came with a DVD of all the videos too.
In 1979 I started working at an ad agency that had the Rowntrees Nutty account (it was/is a stick of toffee covered with peanuts). I got a letter from their manager asking for sponsorship for Madness (aka the Nutty boys). I’d never heard of them so I binned it without asking anyone else. Dick Rowe to play me.
I don't do Spotify, but thanks for the recommendation of the compilation. Duly noted. I have read differing opinions on how good their albums are (some have called them a good singles band and nothing more, while some swear their albums are loaded with deep cuts), so I am curious to see how it pans out for me. House of Fun was an instant favorite and I have listened to that several times a day since hearing it for the first time the other day. That video is so damn entertaining as well. The nutty side seems to be what I like more so far, but Michael Caine seems like a more serious song and I really like the melodies in that one, so I suspect I will like plenty from both sides.
I totally get it! Personally, I use Spotify for: Listening to my albums at work without carrying gigs and gigs of AAC/MP3s around. Making weird playlists of albums that don't exist - it's the new way to send a mixtape! Test driving albums that are out of print. This is a great way to see if I need to hunt them down or not. Hearing the bonus cuts on Super deluxe editions - e.g. The Beatles White Album - that I can't afford to buy. As far as the Madness US compilation, I have a first press, on vinyl. It's great. I eventually picked up the core British catalog (including The Rise & Fall) on CD here: Madness - The Business (The Definitive Singles Collection) Madness - The Lot and added other albums along the way. Cheers, Paul
I get that, but I have almost 12,000 songs in my iTunes, nearly 5,000 of which are on my iPhone (all MP3's in very high quality), so I constantly have those songs in the palm of my hand. And while I am not a huge playlist guy, I will sometimes make fun ones in iTunes and upload them to my phone.
Ah - yes - I have no Apple in my life. It looks like the US iTunes store matches the Spotify library - it often does. Bummer that you can't get The Rise & Fall in the US. Cheers, Paul
By the way - I never hear much about this album: Madness - Madstock! It was one of the first Madness CDs I got - along with Divine Madness - and was the first inkling I had that the band just hadn't stopped after Mad Not Mad. Later I found this one too. A track from it was on the Divine Madness video collection - so I had to find a copy: The Madness - The Madness I see we've mentioned it before - I will admit - I haven't thought about it in a long time. I might have to give it a re-listen. I do remember digging I Pronounce You quite a bit. Cheers, Paul
Well, actually they had stopped after Mad not mad. The band broke (doing a last track "Waiting for the ghost train"), some of the guys tried to go on as "The Madness" but it didn't really work. So there was a long break off of Madness. Until Madstock! In August 1992 they gave two reunion-concerts, which were the basis of the Madstock-album (and VHS). The Concert was broadcast here in Germany one time (weeks later) and I luckily consciously recorded it direct to DAT, I still prefer that recording (a breakdown and restart on "Wings of a dove" and a different take on "Madness" featuring Prince Buster plus a longer version of their later to be released live-single "The harder they come") to the official album, always hated the tinny sound of the audience, poor mixing on that one. From then on Madness still stayed together, with different "pauses" of single nutty boys...
Yeah, that's always so subjective. There are a ton of artists I have explored based on liking their hits and then found that everything else they did was weak. Will be curious to hear your thoughts.
I've seen a couple of times recently on eBay the Portuguese 7" of Night Boat To Cairo which contains a demo version of the song instead of the regular version and that this is the only place to hear it and that the band wouldn't allow it to be included on any of the recent reissue CDs of the albums. Can't find it online anywhere to listen to though and don't really want to shell out the £25/30 that they usually go for. Anyone heard/got it?
I will post them when I get to the obscure stuff. As for the hits so far, I am liking most of them a lot. Wings of a Dove is so ridiculously odd, yet it works. One Step Beyond and House of Fun were both instant grabbers, a) because they are good songs, and b) the videos are awesome. They do the slower more melodic songs pretty well, based on what I've heard. Michael Caine took a few listens, but now it is stuck in my head. My Girl and It Must Be Love are both very nice. Shut Up has become a favorite. Love the piano in that one. Baggy Trousers and Night Boat to Cairo both sound solid tunes, but neither is one I reach for yet. Our House goes without saying, as I have known that song for 37 years now. Tomorrow's Just Another Day is starting to grab me as well. Lots of good stuff so far.
I always liked that single. There's a "ballad" version, sung by Elvis Costello, that they included as a b-side on the 12" single. It felt pretty revelatory at the time -- and I still quite enjoy it.
It was difficult to find here for a long time. I never heard it until I bought the original CD when I did a semester abroad in London in the 1990s, but I’ve seen the recent double-CD reissue in stores on occasion. And the original LP as well.
