MUSIC REVIEW: Madness: Total Madness and One Step Beyond ***** (From News Shopper)

MUSIC REVIEW: Madness: Total Madness and One Step Beyond *****

3:09pm Thursday 3rd December 2009

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THE hardest boy at my junior school was called David Cardwell.

The sole credential for this dubious crown was that the braces holding up his trousers had the word ‘Madness’ on them.

He didn’t need to flush anyone’s head down the toilet or steal Figgis’ dinner money. The braces were enough to send the younger boys fleeing in terror and Cardwell’s name still sends a shiver down my spine.

When you listen to the latest Madness best of, Total Madness, and you consider the place they now hold in the nation’s affections, it’s hard to imagine how they could have ever been considered threatening.

Some of the band members had been skinheads and members of that subculture were attracted in large numbers to the band. But the group always spoke out against violence and racism and resented the fact they were attracting that sort of audience.

And while the very earliest hits were pure, raucous dance numbers, Madness quickly developed into one of the most magical creators of poignant, succinct little epics, earning their place alongside The Kinks and The Clash as truly great British songwriting groups and musical arrangers.

Total Madness kicks off with One Step Beyond and ends with Night Boat to Cairo, both of which showcase the ‘classic’ sound of the band – quick, light-on-their-feet dance numbers which show off the band’s musical dexterity.

Tracks two, three and four – Baggy Trousers, House of Fun and Our House – are the songs which made Madness famous. Dealing with school life, coming of age and home life, they’re comfortably the best songs ever written on those topics.

Considering the cosy, light-hearted nature of their previous material, Embarrassment showed Madness weren’t afraid to journey into subject matter a fair few shades darker.

The song deals with the impregnation of sax player Lee Thompson’s teenage sister by a black man and the shame felt by some members of the family at the supposed social disgrace this would heap upon them.

Madness had a rare gift for writing songs about easily identifiable yet largely insignificant parts of the human experience.

We’ve all wanted to explain to our partners that sometimes we’d rather not go out and instead watch a bit of telly and we all know how good it sometimes feels to stand out in the rain and just get wet. But who else would have thought of writing songs about those topics?

My Girl and The Sun and the Rain are both outstanding tracks on this compilation.

Other highlights are debut single The Prince, recent hit NW5 and the incomparable It Must be Love.

Total Madness is a series of songs displaying seemingly effortless musical accomplishment and wonderful lyrical skill.

Every song reminds you why they’re so cherished and every song reminds you why they’re so important.

Also just re-released is their classic debut album, One Step Beyond which has all the early classics (the title track, My Girl, Night Boat to Cairo, The Prince etc) and lots of bonus material.

As the critical reception to last year’s The Liberty of Norton Folgate proves, Madness are as good and as vital now as they were when that first album emerged.

And nowhere near as scary.

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