Madness Albums

[Glendora Spink]

Madnessis a compilation album by the British ska/pop band Madness. It was issued primarily for the North American market in order to capitalise on the top 10 success in the United States of their hit single "Our House" from the 1982 album Madness Presents the Rise & Fall, which had not been available there.

The album contains every UK single from "Grey Day" to "Tomorrow's (Just Another Day)," with the exception of "Driving in My Car," which has never been issued on any US compilation. However, the album was also issued in Japan where "Driving In My Car" replaced "Rise & Fall".

Rolling Stone's J. D. Considine gave the album a rave review, saying that it introduced the best tracks from Madness's earlier albums to an American audience, while leaving out any songs with insular British cultural references. He praised the uniquely British "economy and wit" of the melodies and the sobering lyrics, remarking that "Madness offers up all of the clichs of traditional British entertainment - but with a twist, revealing the hard realities behind the soothing illusions."[2]

Madness are an English ska and pop band from Camden Town, north west London, who formed in 1976. One of the most prominent bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s two-tone ska revival, they continue to perform with six of the seven members of their original line-up.[1] Madness's most successful period was from 1980 to 1986, when the band's songs spent a total of 214 weeks on the UK Singles Chart.[2][3]

Madness have had 16 singles reach the UK top ten, including "One Step Beyond", "Baggy Trousers" and "It Must Be Love", one UK number-one single "House of Fun" and two number ones in Ireland, "House of Fun" and "Wings of a Dove". "Our House" was their biggest US hit, reaching number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2000, the band received the Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors for Outstanding Song Collection.[4]

The core of the band formed as the North London Invaders in 1976, and included Mike Barson (Monsieur Barso) on keyboards and vocals, Chris Foreman (Chrissy Boy) on guitar and Lee Thompson (Kix) on saxophone and vocals.[5] They later recruited John Hasler on drums and Cathal Smyth (better known as Chas Smash) on bass guitar. Later in the year, they were joined by lead vocalist Dikran Tulaine.[5]

This six-piece line-up lasted until part-way through 1977, when Graham McPherson (better known as Suggs) took over the lead vocals after seeing the band perform in a friend's garden.[6] Tulaine went on to be an actor.[7] Smyth, who left after an argument with Barson, was replaced by Gavin Rodgers, Barson's girlfriend's brother.[6] McPherson was kicked out of the band for choosing too often to watch Chelsea instead of rehearsing.[8] Thompson left the band after Barson criticised his saxophone playing.[8]

By 1978, the band had allowed McPherson to return as a vocalist after he had filled in temporarily for Hasler (who had taken over vocals when McPherson was removed).[8] Thompson returned after patching things up with Barson. Drummer Dan Woodgate (Woody) and bassist Mark Bedford (Bedders) also joined the band, replacing Garry Dovey and Rodgers, respectively.[8] After briefly changing their name to Morris and the Minors,[9] the band renamed itself as Madness in 1979, paying homage to one of their favourite songs by ska and reggae artist Prince Buster.[10] The band remained a sextet until late 1979 when Chas Smash rejoined and officially became the seventh member of Madness as a backing vocalist and dancer.[10]

During 1979, the band began to attract a live following in London, being regulars at the Dublin Castle in Camden Town.[11] The band's first commercial recording was the Lee Thompson composition "The Prince".[10] The song, like the band's name, paid homage to their idol, Prince Buster. The song was released through 2 Tone Records, the label of the Specials founder and keyboardist Jerry Dammers.[10] The song was a surprise hit, peaking in the UK music charts at number 16.[10] Madness toured with fellow 2 Tone bands the Specials and the Selecter, before recording their debut studio album.

That debut studio album, One Step Beyond... was released by Stiff Records.[10] The album included a re-recording of "The Prince" and its B-side "Madness", and the band's second and third singles: "One Step Beyond" and "My Girl". The title song was a cover of the B-side of the 1960s Prince Buster hit "Al Capone". The One Step Beyond... album stayed in the British charts for 78 weeks, peaking at number 2.[10][12] Smyth performed on the album but was not an official member of the band at the time of the album's recording or release. He would formally join Madness a few weeks after One Step Beyond... was issued in October 1979.

After the release of "My Girl", the band felt that they had exhausted the material from One Step Beyond..., and did not want to release any more singles from the album.[13] However, Dave Robinson, head of Stiff Records, disagreed.[13] Eventually, a compromise was made, and the band decided to release an EP featuring one album track and three new tracks.[13] The result was the Work Rest and Play EP, which was headlined by the song "Night Boat to Cairo", from the One Step Beyond album.[13] The EP reached number 6 in the UK Singles Chart.[13]

A drama-documentary film titled Take It or Leave It was released in 1981, featuring the band members playing themselves in a re-creation of their early days to the then-current period.[16] Live recordings of Madness performances as well as those by other 2 Tone bands were used in the 1981 documentary film and soundtrack album Dance Craze.

In 1981, the band's third studio album, 7, reached number 5 in the UK Albums Chart and contained three hit singles: "Grey Day" (no. 4, April 1981), "Shut Up" (no. 7, September 1981), and "Cardiac Arrest" (no. 14, February 1982).[17] In an article in 1979, Chris Foreman explained that the band's music would move with the times, and change styles as time goes on.[18] This was shown to be the case, as unlike the two ska-filled, fast-paced albums that preceded it, 7 was something of a change in direction. Suggs' vocal performance changed significantly, and his strong accent from the previous studio albums had been watered down.[citation needed] The album strayed from the ska-influenced sound of One Step Beyond... and Absolutely and moved towards a pop sound; a trend that continued with subsequent studio albums.

Near the end of 1981, Madness released one of their most recognised songs: a cover of Labi Siffre's 1971 hit "It Must Be Love".[17] The song climbed to number 4 in the UK, and in 1983, the song peaked at number 33 in the US charts.[17][19] In 1982, Madness released their only number 1 hit to date, "House of Fun"[20] and also reached number 1 in the album charts with their first compilation, Complete Madness (1982).

In November 1982, they released their fourth studio album, The Rise & Fall, which was well received in the UK, but did not get an American release. Instead, many of its songs were included on the US compilation Madness (1983), including "Our House", which was their most internationally successful single to date. "Our House" reached number 5 in the UK music charts and number 7 in the US charts; it was also performed on The Young Ones.[21] Many reviewers compared The Rise & Fall to the Kinks' The Village Green Preservation Society (1968),[22] and it is at times retrospectively considered a concept album. The album also featured "Primrose Hill", which was more similar to the Beatles song "Strawberry Fields Forever", containing similar psychedelic imagery and a layered arrangement.[23]

"Britain, home of the brave new world of pop, has kept lobbing them over. One need only look at the current charts, which are flecked with such dauntless new-music wunderkinds as Eurythmics and Madness."

In 1983, their single "Wings of a Dove" peaked at number 2 in the UK charts, followed by "The Sun and the Rain" (no. 5, November 1983).[25] Their following studio album, Keep Moving, peaked at number 6 in the UK Albums Chart, and two singles from that album reached the top 20 in the UK Singles Chart.[26] The album received some good reviews, with Rolling Stone magazine giving the album four out of five stars, applauding the band's changing sound.[27] This was an improvement as the last album reviewed by the magazine, Absolutely, was heavily criticised.[15]

On 5 October 1983 the band were rehearsing and discussing a possible television series, which was being written for them by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis. Barson then informed the band that he would not be able to take part, as he was tired of the music business and wanted to spend more time with his wife. They had recently relocated to Amsterdam.[25] Barson agreed to finish recording the album Keep Moving; he left after playing for the last time with the band at the Lyceum Ballroom on 21 December 1983. James Mackie[28][full citation needed] took Barson's place appearing with Madness on the US television show Saturday Night Live on 14 April 1984. After leaving the band, Barson returned to the UK for the filming of two music videos as he had played on the tracks, "Michael Caine" and "One Better Day". Barson finished live performance with the band in 1983, and officially left the band in June 1984, following the release of "One Better Day".[26] Paul Carrack took Barson's place whilst the band toured America in early 1984. The six remaining members left Stiff Records and formed their own label, Zarjazz Records, which was a sub-label of Virgin Records.[26]

In 1985, the label released the band's sixth studio album, Mad Not Mad. Barson's usual keyboard parts were filled by an emphasis on synthesisers provided by Steve Nieve of the Attractions. In later years, frontman Suggs has described the album as a "polished turd".[29] The album reached number 16 in the UK charts, which is the band's lowest position on the album charts to date. Despite the poor chart showing, the album was listed as number 55 in NME's "All Time 100 Albums".[30] The singles for the album fared even worse, with "Yesterday's Men" peaking at number 18 in the UK charts. The subsequent singles, "Uncle Sam" and "Sweetest Girl", failed to make the top 20, which was a first for Madness singles.

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