"Hey you, don't watch that
Watch this!
This is the heavy heavy monster sound
The nuttiest sound around
So if you've come in off the street
And you're beginning to feel the heat
Well listen buster
You better start to move your feet
To the rockinest, rock-steady beat
Of madness
One step beyond!"
Sadly, that song isn't on this LP. I got your attention though !!
My introduction and pretty much full exposure to Madness was from the TV show 'The Young Ones' in the early 80's. They were on the show twice, once in 1982 singing 'House of Fun' and again in '84 with 'Our House'. Not to be confused with Crosby, Stills & Nash's 'Our House' which was "a very, very, very fine house with two cats in the yard", the Madness house was "in the middle of our street" and "it has a crowd, there's always something happening and it's usually quite loud".
Starting life as a ska/rocksteady/two-tone band in the mid 70's they got a bit fluid with their style and in 1981 when they released their cover of Labi Siffre's 1971 song 'It Must Be Love' the vocals had mellowed and the sound was a bit more pop. Having said that, they drifted back and forth between genres for a while longer.
Graham McPherson - "Suggs" - was lead singer on all the tracks on this compilation album, taking in 6 songs from their 1982 album 'The Rise and Fall', 3 from the 1981 album '7', one from 1979's debut album 'One Step Ahead' (but not the title track!) and 2 songs released as singles only.
The album was compiled and released mainly for the North American market, being issued in the US, Canada and Mexico and one run in Japan.
The songs were specifically selected to expand their market after charting in the US with 'It Must Be Love' and 'Our House'. Rolling Stone magazine reviews gave it a thumbs up and said in part 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." It may have left out lyrical references, but anyone who watched the music videos for 'Our House' and 'House of Fun' particularly would have seen more British cultural references than is healthy for them. From the four Yorkshiremen a la Monty Python to the very British thing of men dressing up as women to bowler-hatted types on roller coasters, there was enough imagery to confuse and confound the unsuspecting viewer. Who knows what they thought of the video for 'Night Boat to Cairo' .. mad dogs and Englishmen going out in the mid-day sun. Along with other charting songs like 'Grey Day', 'Cardiac Arrest' and 'Tomorrow's (Just Another Day)' this compilation gives a good introduction to the group.
At last look, Madness are still together and still touring as of 2019 with, incredibly, 6 of the original 7 members of what is termed their 'classic' line-up.
Good beat, good songs, good fun. Bring a bit of Madness into your life.
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