Have all of Madness' albums in my substantial CD collection, but have recently gone back and replaced 'One Step Beyond' and 'Absolutely' (both bought in early 1990s and a bit tatty now) with their new remastered double CDs - containing the original album and another cd chock full of rarities.
One Step Beyond
Cracking debut album, up there in my top five albums of all time, containing classic Madness tracks like Night Boat, My Girl, Bed & Breakfast man, and of course the albums title track. Other gems combine bouncy fairground music mixed with some ather dark subject matter - Paedophilia (Mummys Boy), a lingerie sniffer (Middle of the Night) and ;ads in borstal (Land of Hope and Glory). The second CD is well worth having for the four John Peel sessions tracks - a CD by itself I've seen go for £50 on eBay. Or you can have it for £7.99 with One Step Beyond. Top notch.
Absolutely
Nutty boys second album. Was my second favourite until 1999s 'Wonderful' and the recent 'Liberty of Norton Folgate' blew it out of the water. Still a pretty good album, with a good looking cover sleeve of the lads outside Chalk Farm tube. Wouldn't have bothered upgrading this, until I saw the second CD - a full live performance from early 80s. Was obviously before my time so It's great to hear them in their heyday, performing tracks that they'd never pull out when on tour these days - the likes of E.R.N.I.E, Close Escape, Disappear and Rockin' in a Flat. Great stuff, well worth buying just for the live CD.
My Top 5 Madness Albums
1) One Step Beyond
2) Liberty of Norton Folgate
3) Wonderful
4) Absolutely
5) Keep Moving
Love Madness, My old man found loads of old " white label" Madness when he was working in a pub up in the Lake District, He left them in a garage down south. Gutted is an under-statement.
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