Rarely heard album track “Tomorrow’s Dream” could be heard amongst the try out tracks. Early Invaders cover version “Poison Ivy” (Originally by the coasters) also got several goes in part in the video, and early B-side “Never ask Twice” was heard, too. This hasn’t been played since the early 1990s.
There’s also a reggae cover heard being practiced on drums and keys. Let us know us know if you think you know the tune. Some have compared it to Bob Marley’s “Don’t Worry About a Thing”, while others have commented that it’s “While The World is Spinning”.
Give the video a spin for yourself. There’s only three weeks to go until the band unveil a full set of gems that should delight die hards and still entertain the wider music listening fans just at butlins for the party atmosphere. This mix of audience is no doubt an ever increasing challenge to delight.
On to this issue, and scroll down to our “Live” section to see a Dangerman B-side and a Fats Domino tribute also coming out from the band as they now start their short European tour.
Should further treats come out from the set we’ll let you know.
See below for all forthcoming Madness and Madness related gigs and events. If there’s something we’ve missed off or you feel should be added then please let us know.
Hi everyone, thanks so much for your support – it’s great to have finally reached the target and get to 100%. We’re keeping the store open for a few more weeks whilst we get all the production in place, we’ll have another update for you soon with dates for when you can expect your goodies.
Available to Pre Order now from Madness.co.uk & Pledge music.
Welcome to Full House – The Very Best Of Madness, a brand new compilation from the UK’s favourite band.
Encompassing the length and breadth of their stellar career, ‘Full House’ captures the legendary British pop band’s much-loved recorded output to date. Since the release of their last best-of in 2012, Madness’ phenomenal career has continued to go from strength-to-strength with the release of the critically acclaimed, top 5 album ‘Can’t Touch Us Now’ and the top 10 charting, gold selling ‘Oui Oui, Si Si, Ja Ja, Da Da’. Containing hit singles from both of those albums, and unfolding largely in chronological order, ‘Full House’ is a best of and then some, featuring 42 of the songs that have made Madness one of the nation’s best loved bands. Kicking off with 1979’s ‘The Prince’ and wrapping with 2017’s ‘Another Version Of Me’, the album takes in bona-fide classics such as ‘Our House’, ‘Night Boat To Cairo’, ‘It Must Be Love’ and ‘Can’t Touch Us Now’ along the way.
Madness say: ‘‘It’s nearly that time of year but Wot no Madness Xmas tour?! We wouldn’t want you or your loved ones to miss out on your yearly fix so here’s our promise to you -Full House, 42 of our greatest hits to fill those stockings with this festive season.’’
The Nutty Boys’ huge appeal continues to cut across the generations, with new fans discovering their life-affirming back catalogue all the time. ‘House of Common’, their annual family-friendly alternative to Carnival is fast establishing itself as a must on the festival circuit, their legendary ‘House Of Fun’ Weekender (November 17-20th) goes from strength-to-strength and recent knock-out performances everywhere from Glastonbury to Boomtown, V Festival to Bestival reinforce their unrivalled reputation as one of Britain’s greatest and most enduring live acts.
Artwork for ‘Full House’ is by the inimitable Paul Agar, whose cut-and-paste collage style has become synonymous with Madness’ recent work and will be instantly recognisable from his work on ‘Can’t Touch Us Now’ and ‘The Liberty Of Norton Folgate’. The 4LP version also features a special pop-up gatefold mechanism that’s sure to make it a must have for fans and collectors alike.
A comprehensive compilation that perfectly captures the national treasures’ career to date, ‘Full House’ will appeal to fans old and new as Madness prepare to embark on the next stage of a career that has rewritten the rulebook and continually defied all preconceptions.
Full House will be released on November 17.
Please note: Orders are not part shipped so if wish to order catalogue music and you would like it shipped before 17th November we recommend you place separate orders. Unfortunately this item cannot be shipped to North America
1. The Prince
2. One Step Beyond
3. My Girl
4. Bed And Breakfast Man
5. Night Boat To Cairo
6. Madness
7. Baggy Trousers
8. Embarrassment
9. The Return Of The Los Palmas 7
10. Grey Day
11. Shut Up
12. It Must Be Love
13. Cardiac Arrest
14. House Of Fun
15. Driving In My Car
16. Our House
17. Tomorrow’s (Just Another Day)
18. Wings Of A Dove
19. The Sun And The Rain
20. Michael Caine
21. One Better Day
22. Uncle Sam
23. Yesterday’s Men
24. (Waiting For) The Ghost Train
25. Sarah’s Song
26. Lovestruck
27. Johnny The Horse
28. Drip Fed Fred
29. Simple Equation
30. Girl Why Don’t You
31. NW5
32. Dust Devil
33. Forever Young
34. Sugar And Spice
35. My Girl 2
36. Never Knew Your Name
37. How Can I Tell You?
38. Misery
39. La Luna
40. Mr. Apples
41. Can’t Touch Us Now
42. Another Version Of Me
MIS Feature
RIP Fats Domino
“I was living in Luton at the time I acquired my first Tenor Sax.
There was a resurgence of all things Fifties. At the Cinema it was Lords of Flatbush, Badlands & American Grafitti. Fashion was, other than Soul boys & Disco (with punk round the corner) very 50’s again. Filp & the Flea Market was importing American retro bowling jackets shirts & trousers at reasonable prices. Sha na na, Rocky Sharpe & the Razors(later Darts) & of course Bazooka Joe were playing a genre of music that I was drawn toward & that featured a lot of Saxophone.
Fats Domino, Little Richard & Coasters inspired me to take up Sax. I spent a lot of hours in front of the mirror mimicking, if not mastering, a lot of Fats Domino tracks. His music & certainly his Saxophonist session men inspired me no end.
Kansas City & Shu Rah were personal favourites that, I hope to record/ perform one of these days”
Lee Thompson
You can hear Four Winds by Lee, over at leethompsonska.com
I Remember Way Back When
This week, MIS co-editor Rob Hazelby goes back in time to report on what was going on in the world of Madness 5 years, 10 and 15 years ago this week.
5 years ago…
Issue Number 703 – Sunday 28th October – Saturday 3rd November 2012
We realised that some of you hasd been lucky enough to get hold of the album already, but for the majority of the music listening public the day after this issue went out was the day when the album finally became available to mere mortals.
The band had featured in numerous press articles over the past few weeks in the run up to the new release, and that was now set to be complimented by a rather amusing TV advert.
The articles got underway with a nice piece from The Evening Standard, followed by a request from The Sun newspaper who were asking you to send in your questions which would possibly be fired at Suggs during a forthcoming web chat.
It was then over to Mr. Scurf for his track by track review of the new album. It was certainly one of the strangest reviews of the latest released we’d yet stumbled upon, and even now it’s possibly not been surpassed.
On the subject of reviews, we then moved on to the NME who were less than complimentary;
Madness Oui Oui, Si Si, Ja Ja, Da Da
Oh, cruel irony, thy name is Suggs. “Communication is a skill you must acquire… it is essential”, he gurns on ‘How Can I Tell You?’.
Pray tell then, sir: why are you half-arsing your way through such thick slurry of clod-hopping ska-by-numbers? Or wallowing in the pits of cliche (‘So Alive’), flapping your bits about and chasing fillies down the local disco (‘Never Knew Your Name’), or grinning your way through frivolous ditties (‘Misery’)? When you can no longer squeeze into your old ‘You don’t have to be mad to be in this band, but it helps’ T-Shirt, it’s time to hang it up for good.
BEST TRACK: Non Non, Nada Nada, Nein Nein, Really, Don’t Bloody Bother.
Ben Hewitt
Thankfully, we moved to a much jollier tone as Madness fans Jacco and Joost gave us their verdict on the previous evening’s gig at the Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam.
Both were glowing with their reviews with Jacco commenting;
“I took my 3 kids and it was a jaw dropping experience for them, I have definitely made 3 new Madness fans!
My daughter (14) wanted the new album right away on her iPhone.”
Following this it was on to an absolutely massive article which featured in Seven magazine, which was given away with the Sunday Telegraph.
Of single releases, Carl commented;
“We’re not really playing the record-release game any more,” says Smyth. “It’s really about our live performance. That’s where the majority of income is. Records are more a signpost, in my view, of where we are as people.”
A number of fan reviews followed this article, with a particularly detailed and informative one from Vince Carden, which was the largest article in the entire issue. If you still needed convincing that the album was worth you purchasing then Vince’s write-up would have surely tipped you over the edge.
We brought this issue to a close with another of Paul Rodgers’ wonderfully penned/typed Madness Stats, Facts and Figures. In the run-up to the new album launch the majority of this week’s round up consisted of pre-order trends and stats.
“Another leap in the cumulative pre-order chart at Amazon sees Oui Oui up to 12 from 14. If this is a good barometer of the charts Madness will reach number 3 behind Neil Young and Kylie Minogue…
Complete Madness overtakes Total Madness in the indie chart, rising from 29 to 27, whilst Total drops from 25 to 28.”
10 years ago…
Issue number 443 – Sunday 28th October – Saturday 3rd November
It’d been an exciting couple of days amongst the Madness community, as the re-vamped, re-touched, and generally more-polished version of NW5 hit the music player on the official MadSpace page over on MySpace.
We felt the new version had a meatier sound, and sounded slightly darker. There was some interesting percussion on the intro, and an added guitar presence after the first verse. A short talking part similar to ones on Simple Equation and Lola had been added, and the ending was also slightly different.
This re-vamped forthcoming single release got top marks from us. It was a refreshing new take on what we felt had always been a great tune. This mix added a couple of things, and took nothing away.
Articles kicked off with Madblog 56, where the band announced that as part of the O2 Arena gig festivities the band would be putting together a rather large scooter exhibition in the lobby, and they were hoping that if you had one you’d like to show it off. Those who displayed their machine would get a pair of complimentary tickets for the gig.
Last week we’d reported that The Times newspaper had announced that the UK release date for the NW5 single would be just after the end of the Christmas tour, on December the 16th. Since then, the NME had stated that the single would now see a release on the 14th of January 2008.
Fans were confused with the differing dates, and concerned that the lack of single publicity would mean that this forthcoming release wouldn’t fare well at all.
We brought this issue to a close with the news that Suggs had a couple of projects coming to our screens in the not too distant future. There were “Suggs’ Survivors” and “Suggs in Soho”.
15 years ago…
Issue number 181 – Sunday 27th October – Saturday 2nd November 2002
We started off this issue with news in from Vince Foley who reported on Woody’s new company, DrumMadness. From the (now defunct) web site, DrumMadness it seemed as if the company was a kind of team building idea that gets work-mates cooperating together in teamwork via percussion Elsewhere, and the continued promotion of the Our House musical saw the band perform on the GMTV breakfast show. Whilst the interview was informative and amusing, the performance itself was mimed, much to the annoyance of Mr. G, who composed the write-up of the appearance.
Here’s Mr.G;
“Miming though – I mean really! I’ll chalk that one down to the GMTV production team this time, but it reminded me of just how bad it can get.
Did you know that during the Gareth Gates tour of the UK at them moment, not only are the songs mimed…but the speaking sections in between songs are also mimed!!! Why don’t they go the whole hog and just put a goddamn cardboard cut-out on the stage!”
This was the week that also saw the release of the much anticipated Divine Madness DVD, so it was nice to read from subscriber Mike Hearne that his local branch of Woolworths were reporting it as their best selling disc on the day of release, whilst Pete Gardner compiled a painstakingly in-depth review of the DVD.
With the winners of the latest ChasSmash.com competition announced, those still keen to win something were promised that a number of future competitions were being lined-up, and that details would be announced shortly.
Not to be outdone with Pete Gardner’s excellent Divine Madness DVD write-up, MIS co-editor, Jonathan Young put together his own write-up of this new release, and declared it his favourite Madness item.
Rob Hazelby
MIS Feature
Come Cheer “The Dwile Flonking Gladness” at the House of Fun
Which is the best Madness Beer?
Gladness?
Absolutely?
Lovestruck?
Night Boat?
There is surely only one way to decide the outcome of which of the four beers is crowned the winner.
What’s that? Taste test? Oh, ok then. There’s two ways to decide, and we are doing the other one. It’s this…
So come watch a daft Old English pub sport at this years House of Fun Weekender, as four teams of fans are competing in honour of these four beers to see which team can triumph, and you can cheer them along by watching the mayhem from the sidelines.
When and where? Saturday, on the pitch by the blue skies hotel, Middayish. It’s Dwile Flonking with Gladness.
We’ve sort out the only old English traditional sport that really can be described as Madness. What’s that? Cheese Rolling is pretty daft?
Oh ok then, we’ve sort out One of the many stupid old English traditional sports and this one can played on flat ground by a bunch of half hungover fans who enjoyed a night of jamboreeing the previous evening.
Dwile flonking if you can’t get the idea from the above video, involves the four teams nutty dancing in a circle, while the person up to bat holds a pole and spins and throws a soaked Madness Beer towel, in an attempt to hit a passing Madhead. I never thought I’d miss you, but anyone who does miss has to drink an upturned fez of Madness ale before the game continues.
Sarah Shaw fronts Team Lovestruck, Luci Ashbourne heads Team Night Boat, Mark Bryant is leading team Absolutely, and yours truly, Mr Young, is holding onto Gladness in the number one spot unless defeated on the day.
Jobanut or referee Mr Scurf will be on hand with Mr happy, and Alan Flynn’s scoreboard keeping the points on display.
We will even have some encouraging sax sounds from Mr Toogood.
Come Cheer the Beer of your choices. See you on the pitch of play. Midday. Blue Skies hotel playing field.
One Flonk beyond.
Jonathan Young
Sign of the Times
My Underwear Was Blowing Around His Driveway
Madness star Suggs talks about wild times with David Bowie
My earliest memories are being in Soho in London when I was six or seven. My mum used to work in clubs around there. She sung at The Colony Room on Dean Street.
So I remember being knee-high to a bar stool and people patting me on the head and giving me 10 shilling notes.
It was an area that was full of incredible artists, bohemians, drunks – George Melly, Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon, Jeffrey Bernard. Back then, every pub had a piano in it.
The first record I bought was Imagine by John Lennon. Not the first record I stole – that was The Coasters’ Greatest Hits from Rock On in Camden Town. The bloke there couldn’t be bothered taking the vinyl out of the sleeves. We met the owner years later. Fortunately, he was laughing about it. He said: “I knew exactly what you f****rs were up to.” You would occasionally have to buy a record to get away with stealing three.
The day that changed my life was one night in The Hope and Anchor, a pub in Islington where we used to hang around, and this group of characters came in who looked a bit like us – the suits and the hats. It was The Specials. It was mind-blowing. We’d heard of them, but we hadn’t heard their music. Neville Staple is blowing holes in the ceiling with starting pistols, they’re playing Ska and they’re from Coventry. I didn’t know whether to feel jealous or vindicated that we were on to something. Afterwards, I got chatting to [band leader] Jerry Dammers, and he came back to my mum’s flat.
In those days, the only chance of staying somewhere decent after a gig was pulling a girl, but with them teeth Jerry ended up kipping on my mum’s sofa. That night he announced he was going to start a record label. I said: “Isn’t that a smidge optimistic, Jerry, seeing as how you’ve just played to 35 people in a pub basement?” But six months later, lo and behold he had. We’d only just mastered our instruments but there was him saying: “Do you want to make a record?” And we did. Our first single The Prince got to No.16 and from there it was a pretty fast trajectory for Madness.
David Bowie was a very nice person. The first time we met, Madness supported him in concert in California, USA. I was late and the rest of the band had gone on and were playing One Step Beyond. I just managed to get on stage for the last bars but I slipped off the edge and fell, hitting every bit of scaffolding on the way. I dragged myself back up and the crowd went wild as I crawled to the microphone, only to see Bowie really laughing in the wings. The second time, our producer was working with him on Absolute Beginners and Bowie invited us to his place in Switzerland.
Off we went with our two families and suitcases piled on the roof of the car. His place was like a James Bond hideaway in the mountains. The garage door opened and there he was – David Bowie, silhouetted like a scene from Close Encounters. We drive into the garage and all our suitcases go flying off the back. The next thing, my underwear is blowing around Bowie’s driveway and there he is picking up my socks and vests. It wasn’t the impression I was hoping to make. But he was very charming about it.
My family would say my most annoying habit is that I start to get a bit pacey when the roast potatoes are nearly done. They call me the Potato Nazi. The roast is nothing to do with me but I’m the one going: “Are you sure we shouldn’t have a look at them?” I can’t help myself. They’re always fine!
If I could have been in any other band, it would have been The Spiders from Mars [Bowie’s backing band in the early 70s]. I can see myself in a leotard. In between Bowie and Mick Ronson, like Woody Allen in Zelig.
Madness bio-pic for 2019? With Olly Murs? And My Life Story film, Too
Madness singer Suggs has revealed that there have been talks about a biopic being made which will tell the story of the band’s journey to success
Madness’ Suggs has revealed there’s a chance his life story could be turned into a film.
The 56-year-old singer admits there has been discussions about telling the tale of how his ska/pop band – which was formed in the late 1970s – made it to the top of the charts but nothing is concrete yet.
Speaking about the biopic, he said: “It’s just a rumour that’s been going around, but there’s definitely a story to be told there … I couldn’t see myself in Hollywood – more like Holloway!”
Suggs reveals potential movie about Madness
Madness frontman Suggs might be best known for his baggy trousers and down-to-earth Britishness, but the musician could be about to get a Hollywood makeover.
Speaking to Day & Night at An Evening With Suggs And Friends, which raised £170,000 for Pancreatic Cancer UK, the 56-year-old, said he had heard talk of a movie being made about his band.
“God only knows why Hollywood people want to do it!” he joked.
“2019 will be the 40th anniversary of Madness so there is talk of there being a big film.”
And who’d get the pleasure of portraying the young Suggs in his ska heyday?
“Olly Murs,” he said.
“He’s a big fan, I know that. Olly is the one, he’d be good.”
It sounds like Suggs is a big fan of new Voice judge Olly, too.
Suggs is being followed around by cameras for a new project though.
The ‘Our House’ hitmaker is making a documentary entitled ‘My Life Story’ which will show what life is like on the road for him and his bandmates.
Speaking to the Daily Star newspaper, he shared: “It’s called ‘My Life Story’ and follows me on the road, but it’s also interspersed with some dramatised sections. It’s looking pretty good.
Suggs has also opened up on his upcoming appearance hosting ‘WW2 Treasure Hunters’ but he’s not interested in reality TV and and admits the thought of going into the jungle to eat bugs on ‘I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!’ does appeal to him.
He said: “There’s been loads of reality stuff I’ve been offered, but I didn’t fancy eating worms for six months. With ‘WW2 Treasure Hunters’ there is a great mix of archaeology and history. So there’ll be experts talking about this stuff and I’ll wander in asking stupid questions.”
Meanwhile, the singer has announced tour dates for his new one man show ‘What A King Cnut… A Life in the Realm of Madness’.
Suggs will be heading out around the UK for a host of dates which will see him recount tales from his incredible career including getting vertigo when he performed with Madness on the roof of Buckingham Palace and the bizarre moment he watched his underpants fall to earth on David Bowie’s driveway.
The List / Daily Express Magazine.
Live Intensified
Milan, October 28th Set List
Fat’s Domino’s passing was marked with a return of old Invaders era cover “I’m Walking”
Our thanks to Alessandro Baiardi for sending us a photo of the set list.
Our House – The Musical – Sandpit Theatre – Saturday 28th Oct 2017
I love theatre. I love Madness. Theatre + Madness = Our House The Musical. I was intrigued to read of a small production of said show in a recent edition of MIS in beautiful St. Albans. Not having found a convenient night and location to catch the national touring production my wife and I decided this will be the perfect antidote to recent stresses at work and a nice way to spend a Saturday.
The tiny Sandpit theatre (capacity 268) is in the grounds of what looks a plush Sandringham School, Sandridge. I believe the place to host a theatre school much like the Bull Theatre in Barnet where we reside and where Lee Thompson once played Fagin in a production of Oliver. It was the last night and packed with family and friends of the cast from the Limitless Academy of Performing Arts from Marriotts School Stevenage.
As always the show was a joy from staff to finish. It was a pleasure to see the mainly teenage cast put their spin on the show. They looked as though they enjoyed it tremendously. Madness’ music stands the test of time and is loved from generation to generation. The audio visuals were simple but effective. The costumes were great and the costume changes in a fast moving show very slick. The prop car and smoke effects in the Driving In My Car sequence were spot on.
As a Barnet fan it made me chuckle to see one of the characters wearing a Stevenage tracksuit in a court scene. Playing to local stereotype. Sorry.
The company sold a very nice A4 programme for £2 which enables me to give special credit to the energetic Kyle Goold who played Joe Casey and to Catherine Lewis who played Sarah. Ian Cross played Mr Pressman with some of the scouse menace of Phelan from Corrie. James Robertson was great as Joe’s very cool late dad. I have seen Suggs playing that role on stage and think that someone should approach Lee Thompson to play him one day he would be perfect.
A visit to the theatre or to see a production from Limitless in the future is thoroughly recommended.
John Hunt
My Life Story Film World Premier – Suggs in Barcelona
The amazing afternoon started with a private meeting with about 20 people and some press. We met Suggs and film director Julien Temple, and the day was presented by local underground writer Kiko Amat starting at around 5pm.
Suggs and his crew landed around 3.30pm. The situation in Barcelona on the day (We were about 500 metres from Parliament and there is a lot of politics in Spain at the moment!) produced a delay caused by the traffic and so sadly they had to shorten the event. It was a lovely day, but to be honest I expected a bit more from the show and from Suggs.
So they talked 45 minutes about the film and Madness and personal anecdotes, for sure known by all of us who saw the one man show and follow his regular interviews. It seems the sunny day, the festive day, or to be in a city like Barcelona invite Suggsy to be drinking all the afternoon.
At 8 o’clock the film premiere started: It’s a very good film and Julien Temple has done a good job.
If you saw the Suggs Live show “My life story” then you will know the tales it tells, from the search for his dad, the early days of the band, to some tales from his many years in pop music, TV and film.
And if you have seen “Take it or leave it” then don’t expect any novelty here, The film is basically a live theatre show with some old film footage collage into the story at times. About 70% is the show in a nice theatre (Hoxton).
The film is about 95 minutes, so is a slightly cut down version of his 2hour theatre show. The songs on piano are still played, and some continue mixed into early clips. Cecilia isn’t sung, so that part for example is cut from the live show.
There are some illustrations in the film, like cutting to images of soho, such as cafe Italia, or to early madness footage, and recreations too, like dramatising the taxi scene in the story or Suggs visiting Birmingham looking for his father is depicted.
The Spanish press write up said “That Julien Temple wanted to pay an acknowledgement to someone who never stays quiet and is always working on stuff. A tribute to Suggs work and more like a biographical film” They describe Suggs: My Life Story as an interesting film about the golden age of the British culture.
After the film, with a chaotic organisation by the festival and with the beers making effect over Suggs, we witness a Multi-language crossing somewhat strange show, where during 20 minutes Suggs played 4 songs accompanied by Deano:
Baggy trousers
My girl,
It must be love,
Lola
Performing these as short versions like he does in his my life story show, and then took 4 questions by the audience.
After the show, I went to his hotel where I give two presents: A Catalan wine bottle and a Barça t-shirt with the back inscription Madness and the numer 8, remembering the first show in our city in 2008. Suggs was just correct with me. Julien Temple and Clive Langer were lovely.
David Gilabert
(Additional translation thanks to Carol Escate. Additional writing Jonathan Young)
Gran Teatro Geox Padova Italy Set List, October 29th
This one is hot off the press!
Stevie Wonder Motown cover, was added to the set with another returning Seven era favourite.
One Step Beyond
Embarrassment
The Prince
NW5
My Girl
Mr Apples
Herbert
Sun and The Rain
Benny Bullfrog
Blackbird
Wing Of a Dove
A Place In The Sun
Catch You Crying
Bed and Breakfast Man
Shut Up
Mumbo Jumbo
House Of Fun
Baggy Trousers
Our House
It Must Be Love
Madness
Night Boat To Cairo
Time
That’s just about it for this week’s edition of the MIS.
Don’t forget that the House of Fun Weekend is fast approaching, so make sure you’ve booked the time off work and have started to at least think about what to take!
