Madness & Solo Albums Poll!!

Pick your 5 favourite Madness / Solo Albums

 

I only know the albums up to "Mad Not Mad" so I picked the first five.

 

What about Can't Touch Us Now and Cathal Smyth's A Comfortable Man? Lee Thompson has another long player as well. Then there is that Thompson/Foreman Nutty Boys Crunch! effort. Any more?

 

Dangerman Sessions is great.

 

The first four and the magnificent The Liberty of Norton Folgate.

 

oh yeah I was sure I’d missed a few. Can’t believe I missed Crunch mind you!

 

There's only one, nothing I've heard of theirs touches One Step Beyond.

 

The same for me, although I thought Wonderful might have done a bit better in the poll (so far)

 

@OneStepBeyond

This seems up your alley.

 

Loved One Step Beyond back in the day, but over the years, Absolutely takes top spot for me these days. The Rise and Fall and Norton Folgate are fine albums too. The last 2 releases have been a tad over-produced for my liking, although it is great that they are still making records at all. Miss Chas Smash as well. Cheers!

 

That's just down to too few choices and too many fine Madness albums. They've never released a duffer.

 

You are of course, not wrong... thank you! I will get onto this in a moment..

Well, if anyone had heard them all and still only chose the first five, I would have no criticism of that.

 

Absolutely is my go-to, but I'll listen to the first four or Liberty of Norton Folgate anytime.

 

Picked my 5 of what was there, but Oui Oui, Si Si, Ja Ja, Da Da would be replaced by Can't Touch Us Now if it was listed!!

 

So, I'll rank my favourites then...

#1 Has to go to both OSB and The Rise & Fall. Both massively affected me when I heard them and have stood the test of time best I would say. The production on TRAF is just stunning IMO and it has the songs to match. OSB still seems as fresh as the day I first heard it and for the three forum members who are not yet aware lol, it was the first chart LP I ever bought. Hence the username and avatar.

#3 is easily Absolutely. Again, so fresh sounding and perhaps their most fun album although it has its suitable dark moments too. Disappear, I've always thought could have been yet another hit single.

#4 is Wonderful. I've said it time and time again, if you like this band a fair bit and don't have a copy - you are missing out in a big way IMO. When I heard Lovestruck on the radio all the time back in '99 it took me right back to being a kid. But more than that, it's a really strong album and they are so on form here, it's ridiculous!

#5 was a tough one. I went for Mad Not Mad because it does have enough great singles alongside album tracks to maintain the consistancy of quality that I feel Madness were so great at. And again, the production is marvelous - probably the best in that respect of all their albums but not overdone or cheesy. Gorgeous.

For the fifth, the other contenders were Dangeman sessions which I think is seriously underrated, or 7 with Keep Moving just a little behind. The last two do have a couple of slightly weaker tracks apiece, I think but I never skip them in any case.

Breifly... I won't go through the remainder but a few other likes and thoughts here...

I thought Can't Touch Us Now was superb so I got the LP as soon as it was released. I don't play it all that often but when I do I enjoy it lots. Norton Folgate I like a good bit but I still need to keep at it until it REALLY clicks, going by how it is generally rated - very often people say its their best. And I'm definitely a fan of Suggs' Lone Ranger... easy to forget it's a solo album for a number of tracks but I have no other solo releases, I have to admit.

Yes, I've been a big fan since day one but mainly it is for the years when they were really massive here and they slipped off my radar circa 1984 because my tastes were perhaps changing and I suddenly wasn't clamouring for every single as soon as they were issued because maybe I didnt quite see where they wee going anymore. No matter because I've certainly made up for it and got most the singles one way or the other since then - albums of course too. Not so much into the deluxes and so on... nothing like an obsessive collector becuase the original LPs are best for me anyway but I have certain CD comps for varying reasons.

Nothing in their catalogue I'd say I dislike and I certainly hope they carry on for many years to come!

 

Grear overview...I cant believe I missed Can’t Touch Us Now!!!

 

Thank you.

Not to worry - very unlikely it would have been in anyone's top 5 in any case.

 

Which one would you recommend post-1985?????

 

As I stated above, it would definitely be in mine!!!

 

Liberty of Norton Folgate & Wonderful. The rest are good, if not amazing. None are crap. To be honest I don't play them much. I haven't heard The Madness, but that doesn't count!

 

I picked the first 5 but Rise & Fall is my favourite.

 

Ah sorry - it was getting late last night and I was tired but I nearly typed that someone would soon be along to prove me wrong. I was right lol.

I'm glad you are such a fan of it though.

 

Wonderful, would be the first I reccomend. Wow, I just wish Norton Folgate would do for me what it has for a lot of other people. I'll play it again today.

The Madness is decent... different of course but the price the CD usually goes for is insane... when I decided I needed the rest of their albums to have for my collection circa 2012, I waited and waited months... probably well over a year and eventually got it used for about £8 with p&p but there have been times when it has been over £40 - no chance! Probably best listen to it online and then have some serious patience lol. But I think it's fair to class it as a 'footnote' in thoer history more than anything.

I thought I'd just mention Madstock. I have them separately on CD and DVD. The DVD is a lot of fun - not wide-screen due to its age, which may be worth noting. But the band and certainly the audience get well into the spirit of things with just about every hit you can think of with one or two 'deep cuts'. If you desire more of the latter, You Tube has some very good TV shows they performed on in the 80s. But the show itself is all nice and jolly as you would hope for. The CD should be one you can get for almost nothing used, so why not? Probably a good 'un for the car for you drivers out there! Or there is the later repackage with both formats in.

 

I do have the Madstock DVD but haven't watched it in years. I had the vinyl back in the early 90s. I wish I'd kept that.