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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
30 Years On And Still Fantastic, 20 Sep 2009
Hot on the heels of the "Total Madness" greatest hits package and 30 years on from it's original release, as part of a deal agreed with Union Square Music, the fantastic first album from the much underated Madness is re-released for your listening (and watching) pleasure in a sumptuous two disc package bulging with extras. This is the album that spawned the "nutty dance" across many a school disco and taught lads how to dance.
The first CD is a direct reproduction of the first album in it's entirety and includes singles The Prince, One Step Beyond, My Girl, and Night Boat To Cairo and classic album track and almost single The Bed & Breakfast Man - then you come to the other album tracks that hint at what was to come from the Madnificent Seven over their fantastic 30 year career. From the tongue in cheek saucy postcard tale of "In The Middle Of The Night" telling of a local newsagents raids on ladies washing lines, to the teenage angst tale of young love in "Believe Me", we stop off at militaristic tales of time spent in borstal "Land Of Hope & Glory, and even pay homage to Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" in a way that only Madness can. Then there is the sheer lunacy of Tarzans Nuts and the eponymous "Madness" - another tribute to Prince Buster who had such an influence on the band.
If all that wasn't enough there are 5 video tracks included in the package (The Prince, One Step Beyond, My Girl Night Boat To Cairo and Bed & Breakfast Man) and a second CD crammed full of B-sides and rarities (One Step Beyond in Italian AND Spanish!!) that make this package excellent value for money for any die hard fan or someone trying to get beyond just knowing the greatest hits.
You be nuts not to buy it!!
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Two Steps Further Beyond, 20 Sep 2009
Hey You, Dont buy 2nd hand, buy this...
Virgin Records Management of the Madness Back Catalouge ended two years ago leaving the shelves of music stores
and online retailers mostly missing Madness seminal albums to sell as new. This even lead to some stupid prices for 2nd hand cd's as the Band returned to the mainstreme this year with the Top 5 Hit new album "The Liberty Of Norton Folgate", and gained popularity and a younger audience through TV, The Web, and a series of great concert appearances including, Camden Crawl, Shoreditch Light Bar, Glastonbury and the fifth Madstock festival.
As the 30th year of the band arrives, the re-issue schedule with new partners Union Square Music Begins a-proper now. For the General Music Fan a hit's Package "Total Madness" is the new up to date best of for 2009, but for the music fan seeking to own all of Madness's great songs in their entirity, the nutty train really starts here, with One Step Beyond becoming Two Discs now going even further Beyond.
The full original album is here, 14 songs that represent the take off of this band, honed in North London pubs,
before and during the 2tone ska craze of 1979. Ska, Punk, Rock n Roll, Pub Rock, Reggea, Motown, even a little
Classical, TV Themeing and Acapella Military chanting thrown in too, all rolled up into the now trade mark
nutty sound. The humourous songs and heart, are backed up with 5 videos from the era for hit songs, and a 24 page booklet of Lyrics, credits, photo's and 30th anniversary sleeve notes "Number Two Cuts" by celebrated street author Irvine Welsh.
The 2nd disc is the prize here, adding 18 tracks to the album. All the pre-2nd album b sides are here, including
tracks from the Work, Rest and Play ep. The full John Peel session which back in the day was the first airred unique versions of some of these songs by the band, and multiple varied version of the title track from the 7 inch
singles around Europe too. The best news for even the die hard fan base, is that "My Girl (Ballad Version) previously a very rare Flexi Disc or costly test pressing is now finally available on CD format, as are some tracks from the Live 2tone Movie Dance Craze that were equally extremely hard to find on any format, other than the LP before now. This make this the definitive version of the first Madness album, with all the artwork lovingly presented in a triple gatefold card digipack.
Start your Collection here and expect deluxe editions of Absolutely, 7, Rise and Fall, Keep Moving, The Madness, Wonderful (and hopefully Mad not Mad) and more to following in 2010 and beyond.
Why not buy the book, and the album together, and go as far beyond as is possible when going Mad for this music.
"Madness" "One Step Beyond" (33 1/3)
The Rockingest Rocksteady Beat Of Madness. The Heavy Heavy Monster Sound.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The first - the best!, 6 Oct 2005
By 1976, rock music had become so saturated with pretentiousness that people started to react and a whole mass of styles developed. The British Ska revival was one, led by the Specials and Madness, adopting an authentic attitude and philosophy that echoed the ska bands of the 60s. This is encapsulated in Madness early albums; "One Step Beyond" (1979) included. Their style was sometimes accused of not being truly reflective of traditional Ska, and their lyrics lacked the sense of protest projected by some other bands. There may be some truth in this, but they seemed to do so with an attractive sense of innocence i.e., they said 'hey, this is just music, music to enjoy... there are no politics here!!! In terms of song writing, Madness were probably one step beyond most of their colleagues anyway. Lyrically, their song tend to be influenced by observations of working class Londoners and their experience of life and relationships, with many references to specific characters, local newspapers, tube stations, etc, mixed with more exotic locations i.e., Cairo, the jungle etc. "One Step Beyond" opens with the title track- and Chas Smash demanding attention: 'hey you! Don't watch that, watch this!' He refers to Prince Buster: 'Well listen Buster........' who is obviously Madness' main hero. There are two covers of Buster songs: 'One Step Beyond' and 'Madness', a song which, of course, they eventually named themselves after. Also, 'The Prince' is obviously a tribute. Madness soon introduce their very skilful song-writing ability with 'My Girl', 'Believe Me', and 'In the Middle of the Night'. 'Night Boat to Cairo' (a regular concert encore to this date) even attempts to break the traditional pop format, with its one single verse in the middle of the track before a modulation from C-F. With this track, Madness also show-off their ability to musically depict the lyrical content of their songs, with the small-ranged chromatic melodies from voice and instruments and the 'Lawrence of Arabia' style harmonic sequences. We are led into a military camp in 'Land of Hope and Glory', which is echoed at the end in 'Chipmunks Are Go' with its army-style call and response chanting. There is a fabulous Ska rendition of the main theme from Tchaikovsky's 'Swan Lake', which urinates all over anything the prog rockers attempted to do with classical tracks in earlier years. There are some weaker tracks towards the end and this, unfortunately, became a bit of a Madness trait. However, on "One Step Beyond" it really doesn't matter. From the moment Chas shouts those words and the band kicks in, the energy will overtake you for the next forty minutes, and there's no stopping it.
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