Madness (the pop group); yes or no?

[Maurice E]

Few things have ever shaken the music industry more than when Moz outed himself as a ... Madness fan!
Must have been around 1990 when not only did he declare his love for the band but it also transpired that Graham 'Suggs' McPherson was singing backing vocals on a few of his songs (Get off the Stage, Sing Your Life, Picaddilly Palaré). I think the bass player from Madness (Bedders?) also played on Kill Uncle.

Anyone care much for the band? Just been listening to a compilation and was struck by how wonderful some of the latter-period stuff is. Michael Caine, Wings of a Dove, One Better Day etc are all incredibly melodic, brilliantly arranged compositions.
Their new studio album from this year received rave reviews but I'm still not convinced enough to buy.
Any thoughts?

 

[billybu69]

Oh yes

 

[lainey]

would I pay to see them? no

 

[soundofthenorth]

yes. they have a great back catalogue. string of hit singles & fun promo videos. a handful of "underated" LPs. but there lastest effort's in the studio are "unessential" though

 

[Stevie]

Absaf***inglutely!!!! Just got the Madstock dvd the other week as well

 

[Mozza220559]

would I pay to see them? no

They're supposed to be fantastic live. I'd love to see them, Madness are great!

 

[EPbabe]

Few things have ever shaken the music industry more than when Moz outed himself as a ... Madness fan!
Must have been around 1990 when not only did he declare his love for the band but it also transpired that Graham 'Suggs' McPherson was singing backing vocals on a few of his songs (Get off the Stage, Sing Your Life, Picaddilly Palaré). I think the bass player from Madness (Bedders?) also played on Kill Uncle.

Anyone care much for the band? Just been listening to a compilation and was struck by how wonderful some of the latter-period stuff is. Michael Caine, Wings of a Dove, One Better Day etc are all incredibly melodic, brilliantly arranged compositions.
Their new studio album from this year received rave reviews but I'm still not convinced enough to buy.
Any thoughts?

Definitely yes. Mr EPbabe's a fan, and I didn't even know Graham sung on Sing Your Life, lovely surprise.

 

[Hellie]

It Must Be Love always chokes me up.

 

[anon x]

Hated all their "fun" videos but loved this:

[youtube]l49tDwFSdbo&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

I like their sad stuff and thought they were outsanding @ Glastonbury this year
with all their kids on stage.
Going to see them bring in the bells at Hogmanay under Edinburgh Castle.
Party !

 

[Irregular Regular]

Absolutely!
BTW, they are great live too.

 

[oye terence]

I was not really a fan of the singles or their more ska based songs, but once you dig into the albums and find their later tracks, such songs as "Primrose hill" , you find many great little pop songs.

 

[Sherry]

Ah yeah! Night boat to Cairo!

 

[klivert70]

'Yesterdays Man'

 

[withmyheadonthebar]

Hell yes.

 

[Thewlis]

Few things have ever shaken the music industry more than when Moz outed himself as a ... Madness fan!
Must have been around 1990 when not only did he declare his love for the band but it also transpired that Graham 'Suggs' McPherson was singing backing vocals on a few of his songs (Get off the Stage, Sing Your Life, Picaddilly Palaré). I think the bass player from Madness (Bedders?) also played on Kill Uncle.

And let's not forget he had a huge crush on Chas/Cathal and wrote Fatty for him!

Definitely yes. Mr EPbabe's a fan, and I didn't even know Graham sung on Sing Your Life, lovely surprise.

He has great taste in music, then, and not just in music, I must say...

 

[Reggie-Kray]

The first album I owned as a 12 year old was Absolutely Madness - I played that album to death and could quote virtually everything from the sleeve notes at the time and used to spend hours staring at the picture of them outside the tube station on the front cover, lol. They emerged from that whole ska/2tone thing which I was really into and, for me, was probably the most influential scene of music in my life up to that point, missing punk by just a couple of years as I did and having only been exposed to the usual pap in the charts as most kids were. I still love their music and they are one of the greats.
It's a yes from me

 

[Qvist]

Few things have ever shaken the music industry more than when Moz outed himself as a ... Madness fan!
Must have been around 1990 when not only did he declare his love for the band but it also transpired that Graham 'Suggs' McPherson was singing backing vocals on a few of his songs (Get off the Stage, Sing Your Life, Picaddilly Palaré). I think the bass player from Madness (Bedders?) also played on Kill Uncle.

Anyone care much for the band? Just been listening to a compilation and was struck by how wonderful some of the latter-period stuff is. Michael Caine, Wings of a Dove, One Better Day etc are all incredibly melodic, brilliantly arranged compositions.
Their new studio album from this year received rave reviews but I'm still not convinced enough to buy.
Any thoughts?

Don't see why it should be surprising at all. Madness have always been a respected band, sprang from social circumstances not too unlike those of The Smiths and like them has an unmistakably english working-class flavor. They're just the sort of band I'd expect Morrissey to like.

Personally I'm not that fond of their later stuff and thought their new album was ghastly, on the one occasion I attempted to listen to it. But their early stuff is replete with magnificent pop songs - Embarassment, Grey Day, Baggy Trousers, One Step Beyond, Our House and many others.

cheers

 

[Pokey]

big fan .. saw them when they were down in Australia earlier this year and they put on a great show. Been a fan of theirs ever since first seeing them on The Young Ones when I was a lad. I got their new album recently, its got some good tracks but nothing really iconic like their earlier work. However the Dangermen Sessions is a brilliant album, I'd love to have a volume 2 some time!

 

[Will_Never_Marry]

Aren't they the band that sung a song about falling for a lamp post?

 

[girlonbike]

Few things have ever shaken the music industry more than when Moz outed himself as a ... Madness fan!
Must have been around 1990 when not only did he declare his love for the band but it also transpired that Graham 'Suggs' McPherson was singing backing vocals on a few of his songs (Get off the Stage, Sing Your Life, Picaddilly Palaré). I think the bass player from Madness (Bedders?) also played on Kill Uncle.

Anyone care much for the band? Just been listening to a compilation and was struck by how wonderful some of the latter-period stuff is. Michael Caine, Wings of a Dove, One Better Day etc are all incredibly melodic, brilliantly arranged compositions.
Their new studio album from this year received rave reviews but I'm still not convinced enough to buy.
Any thoughts?

There was a big Madness night about three weeks ago on BBC4. Fantastic!
Espcially watching 'Take it or leave it - it's complete Madness' again which I hadn't seen since the 80s. I didn't realise how young they were when they were first successful. It was also interesting to listen to Suggs talk about the incredible high you get from performing and how difficult it is to go back home to 'normal'. Something I quite often wondered about how that feels for Moz!