Record
Collector Review
March
1982
MADNESS - They started as one of the 2 Tone ska bands and
have progressed to become a witty and versatile singles
act.
By early 1979, the excitement that the New Wave explosion
of the previous three years had caused in the pop industry
was on the wane. Most of the groups which had caused the
initial stir had either split up or were unsure of their
musical identity - a feeling that was reflected in the
attitudes of record buyers at the time. Inevitably, nostalgia
became the major inspiration for many new groups. The
Jam, perhaps the most acclaimed of the established New
Wave bands, had set the precedent with their Sixties'
clothes and style. While the quality of their music remained
high, most of the 'mod' groups that followed were much
too amateurish to give the movement any impetus or credibility,
and this left a definite commercial and cultural gap to
be filled.
An interpretation of the 'ska' sound that originated
in the West Indies in the early Sixties emerged to dominate
the market for a while. The first exponents of this new
sound were a Coventry-based multi-racial group called
the Specials, who issued a single called "Gansters"
on their own 2 Tone label in the summer of 1979, so starting
a new movement which took in punk, mod and skinhead elements.
It was the defiatnly British who associated themselves
most strongly with the only all-white gropu playing the
new ska, Madness.
Madness were also the only one of the original ska bands
to come from London (the Beat and the Selecter came from
the Midlands). Their story really begins in Camden Town
pub in 1978. Keyboards player Mike Barson, who has since
become their chief writer, drew together five other musicians
of similar persuasion to form the North London Invaders
- with Chris Foreman on guitar, Suggs on vocals, Mark
Bedford on bass, Woody on drums and Lee Thompson on sax.
They changed their name to Madness (or so the legend had
it) after hearing the Prince Buster track of the same
name. As always with a new group, gigs were hard to find
at first, but the Specials, who had secured the right
to sign whoever they wanted to 2 Tone, gave the Londoners
their first break in June 1979 by signing them for one
single. The A-side was a tribute to Prince Buster - "The
Prince" (written by saxist Lee Thompson) - while
the flip was a cover of his "Madness". It was
released in August, and eventually reached No. 16 in the
charts. This was their only 2 Tone release, although they
did record a demo of the two tracks before they signed
up and this was produced by Clive Langer (who has worked
with them ever since). The demo versions are believed
to be the same as those that appeared on the actual single
- but either way anyone coming across one of the original
demos could ask a very high price for it. Incidentally,
all the original 2 Tone singles were issued first with
paper labels, then with the more common plastic ones.
Mint copies of the paper label version of "The Prince"
are already attracting prices of up to 10 quid.
WIDE BOYS
The 'wide boys' from Camden were fast becoming one of
the most popular acts in the country, and after many offers
from the majors Madness signed with Stiff, with whom they
have stayed ever since. Around this time, they added Chris
Smash to their line-up. Up till then he had just been
one of the many skinheads in the audience, and he was
added as much for his personality and stage presence as
for his ability to play trumpet and sing. With arrival,
the unique 'Nutty sound' of Madness was coined, and along
with Suggs, the group's other main vocalist, he became
the personification of the group's image.
In October 1979, Stiff released a single and an album
of the same name, "One Step Beyond". Both were
co-produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, as have
all their subsequent recordings. The single stayed in
the charts for thirteen weeks, peaking at No. 7, while
the lp entered the chart at No. 16 and remained in the
Top 75 for most of the following year. In addition, the
group recorded an hilarious version of the single in Spanish,
as "Uno Paso Adelente", which with its picture
sleeve now sells for between 2 quid and 3 quid. Madness
suddenly became very big almost overnight, and tours of
Britain and America were quickly arranged. They also became
the comical subjects of a strip cartoon in a Japanese
newspaper!
The only blot on the landscape was caused by contingents
of British Movement and National Front skinheads who attended
their British gigs. They probably helped keep a wider
audience away, but after a while the skins preferred to
follow Bad Manners instead, and these days a Madness gig
attracts a wide cross-section of admireres - including
many kids.
The first album contained the two singles already released,
but not their B-sides, or the extra track ("Nutty
Theme") contained on the 12" version of the
Stiff single. Also included was teh group's next single,
"My Girl", but again, neither the B-side ("Stepping
Into Line") not the extra track from the 12"
("In The Rain") appeared on the lp. Interestingly,
Chas Smash didn't get his picture on the cover, although
he was now an official group member. "My Girl"
finally reached No. 3 in Britain, and topped the charts
in France for several weeks, adn the lp reached No. 2
over here - all within three months of their first release!
DROPPED
Sire were the first American label to pick up on the
group - although they recently dropped their contract.
There is a 12" Sire demo featuring One Step Beyond
in circulation, and this item currently sells for about
7 quid.
In February 1980, the group returned from their first
European tour and went straight into another, albeit shorter,
British schedule, playing a Saturday morning gig at Hammersmith
Odeon for the under 16s, which was a huge success. By
now Madness were working non-stop, alternating concerts
with recording sessions, and their next release in March
1980 was an EP, aptly titled "Work Rest & Play."
I contained four numbers: Night Boat To Cairo (also on
the first album), Deceives The Eye, The Young and the
Old, and Don't Quote Me On That. The latter three tracks
were unavailable elsewhere, except on a Stiff 12"
promo which couples Don't Quote Me and Swanlake and now
sells for up to 10 quid. Once again, this latest relase
topped the French charts, and reached no. 6 in Britain
during April. Not wanting to lose any of the momentum
they had built up, the group went straight back to America
for a second tour.
The summer of 1980 saw Madness riding on a wave of success.
They completed another thirty-date tour of Britain and
Europe, and returned to London with the material for their
second album. The first of teh new songs to reaach the
public were Baggy Trousers/The Business, which was released
in September, and after reaching no. 3 became STiff's
longest-running chart single, with almost four months
in the top 75. The album, Absolutely, followed at the
end of that month, and contained a new version of The
Business, this time with lyrics and titled Take It Or
Leave It. It reached no. 2 in the lp charts, and once
again stayed in the top 75 for ten months. A collector's
item to out for here is teh white label test pressing
of the album, complete with a group biography, which is
currently selling for about 15 quid in mint condition.
NON-ALBUM
Embarrassment was the next 45 (with another non-album
flipside), reaching No. 4 in November 1980 - just as the
group set off on their "Twelve Days Of Madness"
tour. AT each town they played a special under-16s matinee
(tickets only 1 quid), as well as a regular evening show.
In London they sold out the Hammersmith Odeon five times
- twice to under-16s, twice to regular audiences, and
once for a Christmas Eve benefit. They ended a year which
had seen them out of the singles chart for only six weeks
by being named as Top Singles Artists of 1980, in a table
worked out on chart positions over the previous twelve
months.
Their seventh single - yet another track from Absolutely
- was issued in January 1981. That was the classic instrumental
The Return of the Los Palmas 7, backed with That's The
Way To Do It. A 12" single was also issued, with
two extra tracks: a live version of Swanlake and an alternate
take of My Girl, recorded at the same time as the original
a45. This 12" has now been deleted, and as time goes
by is sure to rise in value. It's also worth noting that
the 45 came in two different picture sleeves, and that
Stiff promo singles are now starting to sell for about
4 quid each. Return stayed in the charts for eleven weeks,
peaking at No. 7.
Madness' next project was a film. In March 1981, the
went on location for Take It Or Leave It, which was scripted
and directed by Stiff supremo Dave Robinson. A documentary
with music, the film traces Madness' brief history from
their tentative beginnings in North London to their signing
with 2 Tone. The group members played themselves, with
actors taking the other parts. Filming was completed within
a month, and then the group embarked on their Absolutely
Madness One Step Beyond Far East Tour of Australasia,
Japan and the States - leaving behind Grey Day as their
latest British single, and their seventh consecutive Top
Ten hit.
BAHAMAS
After a summer of writing and recording, Shut Up/A Town
With No Name was released in Septemeber 1981, and reached
No. 7. Both the a-side and Grey Day were included on the
band's third album, Seven, recored at the presigious Compass
Point Studios in Nassau, The Bahamas, and released in
October. A 36 date British tour was arranged to push the
lp - not that much promotion was needed, as it entered
the charts at No. 9. It proved once and for all that the
group were not trapped into just playing ska music. Their
style had grown away from the rude boy image, and their
music now reflected their love of Motown, funk and pure
pop.
Take It Or Leave It was premiered in October , though
it was not the success that the band had hoped. The reviews
were poor, and suspicions in the music press that the
group's days of writing classic songs were on the way
out were added to by the release of a cover of Labi Siffre's
It Must Be Love, back by a verion of Shadow On The House
which had also appeared on NME's Dance Master cassette.
Whether the critics' suspicions turn out to be true remains
to be seen, but their cover was superb, and was suitably
rewarded with a No. 7 slot in the charts.
Their next single is going to be Cardiac Arrest from
the Seven album, backed with a new song, and there are
rumours that a six-track EP is in the offing. Chas Smash
has also recently been involved in the relase of Just
One Cornetto by Pookiesnackenburger on Stiff, which evoked
this description from Melody Maker's singles reviewer
last month: "An operatic ice-cream ad gives the backing,
an orchestra of spoons completes the score!"
Collectors should watch out for the cassette single issue
of Grey Day (Stiff Z Buy 112); promo copies of Embarrassment
and Shut Up, which sell for about 5 quid; A French 12"
version of of the Work Rest & Play ep (Stiff ZPGCF
33402); a presentation pack of Madness singles available
only through Stiff (Stiff GRAB 1); and various memorabilia
from a shop that Dave Robinson ran in North London, called
Nut Inc., which sold Madness t-shirts, badges, etc. The
group also appeared in the much criticised film Dance
Craze, along with The Beat, The Specials and The Selecter,
and they appeared on the soundtrack playing One Step Beyond,
Razor Blade Alley and Night Boat To Cairo - all live versions.
Finally, Event magazine recently gave away a free flexi-disc,
which features snippets of music and dialogue from the
Take It Or Leave It film. Again, this is liable to be
a collector's item, and already some people are offering
it for sale for as much as 6 quid!
CRITICISED
Madness could be criticised for their policy of releasing
so many singles off each of their albums, but at least
each time they have included a new B-side, and the extra
tracks on their 12" singles are also either new songs
or else reworkings of old ones, unavailable elsewhere.
As a result, all their releases are liable to become collectable
in the future. Despite the cynical rumblings in some of
the more fickle music papers, there is really no evidence
to suggest that Madness' days as highly commercial singles
artists are over. Already ten of their eleven singles
have reached the top ten, and although they haven't had
a no. 1, that success can surely not be far away. They
seem destined to stay as one of the country's most popular
groups for many years to come - which will make anything
from their early, formative years highly collectable.
