Madness Central Newsletter: Issue 13
Kevin Tizzard
27th December 2009- 1st December 2010.
Welcome to the 13th edition of the Madness Central weekly newsletter.
If you've missed the previous issues you can catch up by viewing the groups archive at:
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/madness-central-newsletter?hl=en
Contents:
1. Latest News And Information
2. New Videos from MadtubeMTV
3. www.retro-madness.co.uk - This week's Special Offer
4. Gig review: Edinburgh's Hogmanay: The Concert in the Gardens
5. Madness Central Updates: The Nutty Caption
6. Belfast Review: Wordmagazine.co.uk
7. Contacting Madness Central
8. Newsletter Subscription Details.
===========================================================
1. Latest News And Information
===========================================================
# It Must Be Gov
The British government have tapped Suggs to star in a 1 million advertisement for Direct.gov, a push to encourage people to access public services online. The advertisement, base on Madness’ version of “It Must Be Love”, has been criticised for using taxpayers’ money on the star-studded advert during the current downturn in the economy. Voiced by Oscar-winning actress Dame Helen Mirren and directed by Steve Bendelack (whose credits include Little Britain and Mr Bean’s Holiday), the advert also stars Honor Blackman, Christopher Biggins, and Nick Moran ...
Read the complete blog at:
http://madness-central.com/blog/?p=853
You can view the advertisment in its entirety at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/video/2009/dec/29/suggs-directgov
# Radio 2 Stays Forever Young
Madness Makes the Radio 2 Playlist. The week starting 26 December sees the forthcoming Madness single “Forever Young” taking a slot on Radio 2’s B-List ...
Read the complete blog at:
http://madness-central.com/blog/?p=850
# You’ll have to wait another week to be Forever Young
Forever Young release date pushed back. In what may be the shortest news blog entry ever, it's been announced the January 11 release of the forthcoming Madness single "Forever Young" has now been pushed back to January 18 ...
Read the complete blog at:
http://madness-central.com/blog/?p=852
===========================================================
2. New Videos from MadtubeMTV
===========================================================
The Official YouTube Channel has seen a host of uploads in the past few days including on stage performances at the London 02, Belfast and Dublin and short clips of the band members wishing fans a Happy New Year.
You can view all recent uploads by visiting the official Youtube page at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MadtubeMTV
===========================================================
3. www.retro-madness.co.uk - This week's Special Offer
===========================================================
This week's offer is for a vinyl 12" of the second (and last?) ever single to be released in the UK by Chris and Lee's band the Nutty Boys / Crunch! ...Magic Carpet from 1996.
The title track was written by Suggs, Lee and Chris and the other tracks are Magic Carpet (remix), Danger Zone and Hereditary - two classic tracks not available anywhere else except this single.
The 12" is still in brand new / mint condition, never been played and even includes a 7 page press pack. For this week only we are reducing the price from £7.50 to £4.99. UK postage (which will cost us approx £3 inc packing and Paypal fees) is completely free to you, so effectively you are buying this record for just £1.99! Postage outside the UK is extra.
Click the link below and you will find the 12" about 1/3 of the way down the page. We still have a handful of Stiff Records books left over from last week's deal so we are holding their bargain price of £13.50 for one more week, you will find them near the top of the same page.
Happy 2010!
Chris & Emma of Retro-Madness
===========================================================
4. Gig review: Edinburgh's Hogmanay: The Concert in the Gardens
===========================================================
Source: The Scotsman
http://living.scotsman.com/features/Gig-review-Edinburgh39s-Hogmanay-The.5951151.jp
Published Date: 02 January 2010
By David Pollock
IT SEEMED strange, in the context of this event, to make up for the lack of big-name breakthrough Scottish bands in 2009 by asking possibly the most London-centric pop group in history to headline Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations. Yet any doubters' minds would have been put at ease within the first few minutes of Madness' set.
The ten-piece Camden ska-pop orchestra appeared in a blaze of pomp and swagger, their matching black suits bringing to mind the Blues Brothers with Cockney accents, their backing singer Carl Smyth (aka Chas Smash) bellowing the introduction to One Step Beyond.
Previously, the crowd had been entertained by the also smartly-dressed Codeine Velvet Club, although this new project from Fratellis singer Jon Lawler and Glasgow-based singer-songwriter Lou Hickey didn't quite capture the imagination in the same way as previous breakthrough Scots artists like Glasvegas or Paolo Nutini have managed at this
event. Similarly, London garage-rockers turned inoffensive pop moppets Noisettes have not exactly defined 2009 with their sound, although Don't Upset the Rhythm and Never Forget You were perfectly serviceable hits which entertained the crowd here, along with a closing cover of T-Rex's Children of the Revolution.
This may not have been the finest musical celebration Edinburgh has held to see in the New Year, but it must certainly have rated as the most stylish. Madness frontman Suggs cut a particular dash in his lamé houndstooth suit, with sharply-shined white shoes and a white silk handkerchief in his breast pocket, and his performance was delivered with the kind of droll deadpan which suggested that perhaps a pre-bells sherry had been taken.
Playing for half an hour before midnight, the group leaned on the less lively areas of their back catalogue, although there are few Madness songs which don't lend themselves to furious skanking from young and old. Embarrassment, The Prince and My Girl were played here, along with Suggs's lone version of The Beatles' Help! (which quickly found itself
hijacked by the crowd) and Forever Young from the latest Madness album The Liberty of Norton Folgate. While the song's tone of regret perhaps made it an appropriate choice to see out the old year, it was the least exciting track of a generally entertaining set.
Following a five-minute break for the countdown to 2010, a truly stunning fireworks display and a somewhat botched karaoke singalong to Auld Lang Syne, the party restarted in earnest. This time the big hits weren't spared, with House of Fun kicking off Madness's gigging year followed by a light version of Max Romeo's reggae classic I Chase the Devil,
plus Shut Up, Baggy Trousers, Our House and It Must Be Love.
By this point, more celebratory nips had been taken by the crowd, and misty-eyed slow dances were breaking out, to be temporarily curtailed by the band's signature track Madness and the closing Night Boat to Cairo. An emphatic away win for the sometime Nutty Boys.
===========================================================
5. Madness Central Updates: The Nutty Caption
===========================================================
Have you ever seen a picture of Madness and, with puzzled amazement, said to yourself, "Just what the blue blazes were they thinking?" Why not put some words in the mouths of Madness and answer that question for yourself?
The chosen 'victims' this time are Suggs and Chrissy Boy..
Enter you caption(s) at:
http://www.madness-central.com/interactive/caption/caption.php
===========================================================
6. 6. Belfast Review: Wordmagazine.co.uk
===========================================================
My night of corporate Madness
Posted by Steven C on 29 December 2009 - 11:35pm.
Source: Wordmagazine
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/my-night-corporate-madness
Today it was my birthday, I hung one more year on the line as they say, and I spent the evening in an executive box at the Odyssey Arena, Belfast watching Madness. Just as there comes a point in every young man's life when he realises that he will never play the Dane, so too comes the slamming realisation that he has become a middle-aged man in a metaphorical pork pie hat.
I turned up with my complimentary ticket, was wined and dined at the expense of a client, and I was and am grateful, it's just ... I suddenly knew that never again will I climb through a barbed wire fence to get into a gig free (I'll just make a phone call), or stand outside in the rain to get an autograph (I'll go online), and I'm long past sitting on the floor skinning up on a copy of 'Astral Weeks' and smoking a joint with friends (I have two sofas and access to several bottles of single malt).
I chatted with the assembled guests vaguely aware that in the background, down in the arena, a DJ was spinning some discs. At one point he had the entire crowd singing the chorus to 'Ghost Town'. Turns out it was Jerry Dammers, although I never thought to actually pay any attention because, hey, there were canapes!
Madness put on a very slick revue, and that was what it was - a theatrical revue. Fairly lacklustre trots through the hits. This played equally well to the floor as to the boxes. £10 for a fez. I found myself drifting off ... musing about when I first heard these songs, and doing 'that dance' at the 6th Form disco, but most of all I was thinking ... 'Play some new!'.
The few songs from 'The Liberty of Norton Folgate' in the first section of the show were genuine highlights. The band seemed more energised tackling this material, than when running through the back catalogue. Having said that the triple punch of 'Wings of a Dove', 'Baggy Trousers', and 'Our House' perked up even the birthday boy, so I'll probably be alright in the morning.
Set List:
One Step Beyond - Embarrassment - The Prince - NW5 - My Girl - Dust Devil - Sun & The Rain - Johnny The Horse - Shut Up - MKII - Clerkenwell Polka - Iron Shirt - Bed & Breakfast Man - That Close - Ernie - Forever Young - House Of Fun - Wings Of A Dove - Baggy Trousers - Our House - It Must Be Love - Tarzan's Nuts - Madness - Night Boat To Cairo
===========================================================
7. Contacting Madness Central
===========================================================
You can send all communications relating to Madness Central to the e-mail address:
ad...@madness-central.com
===========================================================
8. Newsletter Subscription Details
===========================================================
# Subscribing to the Newsletter:
If you are reading this newsletter via Google, Facebook and/or RSS feed, you can have this newsletter delivered weekly directly to your e-mail inbox.
To subscribe, visit the Madness Central website at: http://www.madness-central.com and use the relevant subscription box displayed on the homepage. Alternatively, you can send a blank e-mail to:
madness-central-ne...@googlegroups.com
You will need to reply to a confirmation e-mail prior to your subscription being processed. With some ISP's this email may be filtered directly into your spam/junk folder.
# How to Unsubscribe:
If you no longer wish to receive the Madness Central Newsletter, send an e-mail to: