IN THIS ISSUE ...

1 -  THE EDITOR WRITES - Latest news and information in brief.

2 - THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN - NUTTY SOUNDS - Finally, after many hours
    of painstaking uploading, I've finally got my new "Nutty Sounds"
    section up on my site. A grand total of 28 mp3's going right back
    to 1980, including rare footage of Mike Barson's farewell concert
    at the Lyceum in 1983. Details from Mr. G.

3 - YOU GOTTA HAVE THIS - Back in the day, this was the pop record
    for all occasions. There are several great Madness albums
    ("The Rise And Fall", "One Step Beyond", "Absolutely") that could
    probably qualify for the accolade of `You Gotta Have This`, but
    this week we're talking pop and out of the sixteen tracks here,
    ooh, a good sixteen of them were hits. Taken from the Muse
    website.

4 - THE FIRST O` MEET - Vince Carden reports on the first ever Irish
    Madmeet held a week or so back.

5 - WE'RE `ONE STEP BEHIND` - Latest tour and gig information for the
    year ahead. Thanks to Brendan Phipps for the details.

6 - NUTTY THOUGHTS FROM THE NEWLY COMMISSIONED CIVILIAN! - As the
    majority of you are all too aware, there's many an unreleased gem
    tucked away in the dusty Madness archives just crying out to see
    the light of day. Deciding that something just had to be done,
    Steve Saunders has picked three classic unreleased tracks which
    he feels just have to be released.

7 - UNCLE IAN TOURS AGAIN - The latest line-up of `Blockheads` tour
    dates for the months ahead. You'd be mad to miss `em. Thanks to
    Paul Wassell for the details.

8 - THE EVER GROWING ONLINE VIDEO ARCHIVE - Following on from Simon
    Robert's recent mass-uploading of Madness videos for `Lovestruck`
    and `Drip Fed Fred`, he's now back with a whole host of other
    goodies to aid you in running up a large phone bill...

9 - SONG IN RED - Thanks and closing words.

[1] - THE EDITOR WRITES

The other week it was described as looking `gleaming`, now it's back
to being `totally unlikely`. In a recent update via E-mail, Total
Madness Mailing List Co-Maintainer, Adele Hargreaves reports that the
bi-annual shin-dig (Madstock to the majority of you) may not take
place.

Apparently Vince Power at The Mean Fiddler (the organisers of the
Madstock shows) wanted to present an `80's Revival Festival`. Madness
rightly don't want to be part of this as they feel they are a `today`
band, and so they should.

Other news is that the US tour mentioned a few issues ago may be
organised to co-incide with the Stateside release of Wonderful. No
further news was available, but if we hear anything. we'll let you
know.

Looking further ahead, and Adele informs us that we should `start
saving our pennies` as a Christmas 2000 tour of the UK is looking
possible. Apparently the lack of appearance in Scotland last year has
also been passed on to the band.

Adele finishes by informing us that we should ignore all those who
touted `Wonderful` as the last release from the lads. From what she
tells us, `the band are hoping to get back into the studio within the
next year`.

Thanks go to Adele for the above.

"Well, it's taken a while", says the TMML's Simsey, "but at last
there is a veritable myriad of photos of the Wembley Madmeet held on
the 23rd December, the Wembley Arena gig on 22nd/23rd December, the
Vote For Fred Video Shoot on the 28th January and the Vote For Fred
Madmeet held on the 16th February. Just point your browsers to the
URL below, and look for MadPics. Don't forget to sign the GuestBook!"

http://www.countrybumpkin.ndo.co.uk

Not a week goes by without an E-mail landing in my mailbox asking `Do
you know where I can find the lyrics to ....`. Previously I've had to
apologise and say that I can't help them, but now thanks to Jeff
Young this situation can finally be resolved. If it's Madness, Suggs
or Crunch lyrics you're after, you really could do a lot worse than
point your browser along to:

http://members.xoom.com/Madness/Mad_Lyrics/mad_lyrics.html

Not every Madness track is covered, but it's an impressive selection
all the same.

Calling all record collectors! How do you fancy getting hold of the
excellent `Johnny The Horse` on 7"? Well, now's your chance.
Spellbound Records (Tel:0181-6880419) have two or three copies of
Johnny The Horse on 7". It costs £10 or so. As they are made for
jukeboxes in Japan, they only have a white ordinary sleeve, but will
be major collectors items in years to come.

Many thanks to Vince Carden for the info.

Tour news from Madness tribute band, `Los Palmas 6` who have two new
tour dates to add to their ever-growing list. On April 14th the band
will be playing at the Victoria in Swindon (old town). This replaces
Walkabout in Cardiff, and on April 28th the boys will be performing
their set at the Portland, Hove/Sussex. For more information, please
feel free to drop the band a line at:
lospalmas6 at hotmail.com
Thanks go to Steve Turner for the details.

Just before we get underway with this weeks selection of articles,
I'd just like to point out that the date shown on the top of this
issue of the MIS Bulletin is correct. I've received a few E-mails
from people over the course of the last seven days asking me if I
sent the previous week's MIS out again. Well, I can reveal that the
material in last week's MIS was new, I just forgot to change the
date. If you accidentally deleted last week's issue by mistake
thinking that it was a re-post, please drop me a mail and I'll be
only too happy to re-send you it.

Right, that's my grovelling done. So without further dilly dallying,
lets get on with the articles.

Enjoy!

Robert Hazelby (MIS Online Editor)

[2] THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN - NUTTY SOUNDS

Hey Maddies!

Finally, after many hours of painstaking uploading, I've finally got
my new "Nutty Sounds" section up on my site. A grand total of 28
mp3's going right back to 1980, including rare footage of Mike
Barson's farewell concert at the Lyceum in 1983.

The full list of mp3's available is :-

Boston 1980
-----------
Believe Me
Deceives The Eye
In The Rain
Mistakes
On The Beat Pete
The Young And The Old

Chicago 1980
------------
Close Escape
Tomorrow's Dream

Lyceum 1983
-----------
Blue Skinned Beast
Disappear
Keep Moving

Madstock
--------
Embarrassment
Rockin In Ab

Madstock 2
----------
Grey day
Madness
The Prince

San Diego 1998
--------------
Driving In My Car
Land Of Hope And Glory
The Harder They Come

TV Appearances
--------------
Drip Fed Fred (Later With Jools Holland - 30/10/99)
Johnny The Horse (Later With Jools Holland - 30/10/99)
Our House (David Letterman - 29/4/99)
Money, Money, Money (Abbamania - 6/11/99)

Miscellaneous
-------------
In The City (Radio Commercial)
It Must Be Love (Suggs singing on 'Night Fever')
One Step Beyond (from Dance Craze)
Swan Lake (live Cambrai, France - 1/6/80)
Take It Or Leave It (venue unknown - 3/3/83)

They are all available at:

     http://www.geocities.com/themagnificentseven

Hope you all enjoy them! If you do sign the guestbook telling me what
you  think or mail the "Sound and Vision Man" - Mr.Mike Hearne cos he
did all the work. I only put them up!

Cheers,

Mr.G (cgalb at hotmail.com)

[3] - YOU GOTTA HAVE THIS

Taken from http://www.muse.ie/

Madness - Complete Madness (Stiff)

Back in the day, this was the pop record for all occasions. There are
several great Madness albums ("The Rise And Fall", "One Step Beyond",
"Absolutely") that could probably qualify for the accolade of `You
Gotta Have This`, but this week we're talking pop and out of the
sixteen tracks here, ooh, a good sixteen of them were hits.
"Complete Madness" spans the first third of the Nutty Boys' glorious
career (a later compilation "Utter Madness" documents the second,
and the final chapter is when the rot set in and best forgotten) and
it represents a new definition of ska; the sounds of Jamaican Blue
Beat and British Two Tone repackaged with a lovably cartoonish pop
approach.

Madness have been derided for their patented wackiness; the daft
glued-together Nutty Boy walk, the ever-morphing nicknames, the silly
clothes, the constant stream of button badges, the dodgy skinhead
haircuts, the big M logo and the gurning geezer photo shoots. But,
and this is important, they had the tunes to back the, er, madness
- from the gooey birds 'n' the bees interpretation of Labi Siffre's
"It Must Be Love" to classic jump-around school-yard anthem "Baggy
Trousers" to the MONSTER rude-boy dancefloor tribute to Prince
Buster, "The Prince" (they also made PB's "One Step Beyond" a
riotous, skanking calling-card of their own). They also had a knack
of turning nuances of domestic British culture into dreamy, poignant,
pop songs such as "Embarrassment" (teenage pregnancy), "Cardiac
Arrest" (nine-to-five stress), and "House Of Fun" (sexual
awakening). It's sad to watch Madness parody themselves so
desperately these days with Madstock and halfhearted revival albums.
I prefer to remember Suggs, Lee, Woody, Chas Smash, Bedders, Chrissy
Boy and Monsieur Barso as they were, the ultimate teenage lifestyle
pop band.

- Leagues

[4] - THE FIRST O` MEET

We've had Madmeets held in numerous locations over the years, London,
Scotland, New York, Washington DC, and now thanks to Mr Carden and
Mr. Foley, Ireland has been changed forver by the antics of a
few of its residents in its first ever Madmeet.

Here's Vince Carden...

It gives me great pleasure to announce that the first Irish Mad Meet
was a terrific success. All four of us had a great time!!!!!

The Vince Foley titled O' Meet took place in Bruxelles bar with the
juke box that contained 'Complete Madness', Various Ska compilations
and the original versions of Under My Thumb, Apeman and Goodbye
Blackberry Way. I also have a new nickname from a guy who overheard
our chat....."The bloke who hates boybands".

As I speak Vince is at a Sting gig probably listening to some waffle
like "Save the trees" or "Yoga's great" or "My accountant stole
millions from me", so our most sincere condolences, VJF.

Vince Carden
Zarjazz Unsugged

[5] - WE'RE `ONE STEP BEHIND`

It's always a pleasure to go along and experience `One Step Behind`
perform, and I can safely say that if you go along to one of their
gigs, you will not be disappointed.

So, without further ado, here's the latest list of upcoming OSB
gigs. There's a whole host of shows planned up and down the country,
as well as France and possibly Belgium too. So, perhaps some of you
Maddies out there in mainland Europe can also get the chance to hear
them play.

These boys are so well organised, they've even started booking for
2001!

April
 Sat 1st, St Albans
 Sat 8th, Walthamstow
 Thu 13th, Minster Cafe Bar, London EC3.
 Thu 20th, O'Neill's, Watford
 Fri 21st, Le Touquet, France
 Sat 22nd, Gosport
 Fri 28th, Darlington ???? (Not certain yet)
 Sun 30th, Harrow

May
 Sat 20th, Belgium (tbc)
 Fri 26th, Dudley, JB's

June
 Fri 2nd, Sidcup
 Sat 10th, Dursley, Gloucs,
 ****Fri 16th,   Devon  ****new date tbc
 Sat 17th, Harlow

July
   **   SAT 22ND (SOMERSET NOT HAPPENING *****)

August
   **  SAT 26th ANDOVER (tbc)

December
 Fri 15th, South Shields

March 2001
 Sat 17th, Chepstow

For more information, please visit the One Step Behind website at:
www.onestepbehind.co.uk
or E-mail the band at:
m_m_management at hotmail.com

Many thanks to Brendan Phipps for the information.

[6] - NUTTY THOUGHTS FROM THE NEWLY COMMISSIONED CIVILIAN!

As I've spent an awful lot of time in the car travelling between
Naval Bases this last couple of weeks the CD player has been getting
a bit of a hammering. Most notably (apart from the obvious "Wonderful"
CD) it's been Vince Carden's fine Nutty Sounds 1 - 4 CDs. I've been
listening with a more keener ear than perhaps before, maybe to pick
out a good offering that the record buying public might sit up and
take notice of. As always I've included reviews to back up the case
for three excellent potential songs from the lads.

So here we have the reason for my article. If everyone could cast
their Madness eye's and ear's over this then maybe we can get a bit
of a discussion (and even better some interest!) going and then maybe
we'd be able to let the lads know, and then if we are incredibly
lucky they might do us the honour of laying the tracks down for
release.

I'm only too aware of the fact that the reason the tracks might have
not made it any further than a bootleg CD is the fact that Madness
think they are not good enough and that's the way that it is, but I'm
convinced that I'm not the only person who may or may not have a
sense of what's hot and what's not!

So to the songs.....First up "MOONDANCE" from Nutty Sounds CD 4 and
originally heard at Birmingham in 1992. Vince Foley has gone on
record as saying that he doesn't rate the track but I have to
disagree. I was in the audience for the Birmingham airing and it was
really nice to hear something new, fresh and exciting from the lads.
I remember being really impressed by the new direction that they were
taking and hoped that they may well do something about it. However it
was not to be the case and I guessed that would be the last I
would hear of the song. Luckily someone was there with a tape
recorder and managed to save the track for future enjoyment. The
track is definitely worth a listen and even though its quite a poor
quality recording the potential shines through. If you can manage to
see or hear past the fuzziness you'll see what I mean. When the lads
came back on stage for the encore and played this song the atmosphere
was charged with expectation and excitement. I remember humming part
of the song for days afterwards until the old grey matter let me
down!

Anyway to back up in some way the above here is a review from the
"Daily Mail" post Christmas 92 Tour....

-----

Still a fine Madness
Madness: Wembley Arena by Spencer Bright

It wasn't quite the earthquake-scale activity that happened when
Madness reformed at the 'Madstock' event in Finsbury Park back in the
summer. But it was still possible to see the stage shake as they set
about recreating almost exactly the same show at Wembley. No one ever
did fill the gap Madness left, and as long as they can deliver
guaranteed entertainment, they always know they can always make a
living. Keeping their credibility will be something else. They
haven't crossed the line from giving the crowd what they want to
tacky seaside nostalgia. For the moment the wonder of having them
back after six years is sustaining them.

What they gave was a thunderously exuberant tonic for the jaded.
Madness are a very British act that drew on West Indian ska and
reggae, transplanted it into music hall and gave it a heavy dance
beat.

Suggs was mine host in his bowler and Crombie, which revealed a
scarlet frockcoated three-piece suit. His sidekick Chas Smash/Carl
Smyth came on like a hip undertaker with top hat and dark glasses.
The nuttiest boy of all was sax player Lee Thompson, who spent most
of the time bare-chested in his boxer shorts, swinging on a rope
and hamming it up.

Giant balloons hung from the rafters, there was an onstage cocktail
bar and waiter, fake kebab machine, trampoline and punchbag. When
his services were not required, a band member could sit at the bar
and have a drink. It was a party that extended offstage.

The only glimpse of a new Madness was Moondance, written by keyboard
and former main songwriter Mike Barson. It had a strong Happy Mondays
flavour and uncharacteristic religious allusions. We even got Suggs
and Chas reading their lyrics out of biblical books. It was more nice
than nutty.

>From One Step Beyond to Baggy Trousers, it was 'Madstock' revisited,
with a festive bonus. Though it threw into starker relief the
daunting challenge they face trying to match the classics when the
mooted new material does finally see the light.

-----

Next up is "ME AND YOU AGAINST THE WORLD". Apparently taken from the
Huntsham Court sessions a year or two back. A noteworthy Suggs track
that really does deserve the chance to be allowed to shine. If you
compare the slowness of the track with one of the most popular
Madness tracks of all time " It Must Be Love" then the potential for
this gem is there for all to see.

Finally "CULTURE VULTURE". Again another live track that hasn't made
the transition from concert to chart CD. Of all the tracks that I've
talked about this is probably the best. To back up this one I'm going
to quote directly from Vince Foley in Issue No40 of MIS Online.......

10. Culture Vulture (Live 22/6/1996)
I remember hearing this one live at Madstock 3 in 96 and thinking how
bloody Madness. Another Thompson/Barson composition, which guarantees
greatness, the track, is simply fab. It ranges in its chorus, verse
and instrumental break. All are on top form, especially Mikes piano.
I love the whistling in the instrumental bit as well as the saxes.
The lyrics themselves are cool, too deep to go into here, I will
leave it as a surprise. This track should have been on Wonderful, or
at least made B-sides status. Mr.Langer, what were you thinking
leaving this one off?

And there you have it. So what do you reckon, should we all have a
bit of a fan led chat/discussion and present our finding/opinion to
the lads and see what they come up with. I wouldn't go as far as to
say that it should be a fan demand.....maybe a request!

I really do hope that the lads make it back to the studio and that we
continue to be treated to more 21st Century Madness releases!! You
never know....if we all wish hard enough.......now where did I leave
those damned magic red shoes!!!

Steve Saunders

If you'd like to join in this chat/discussion, please get in touch
with Steve at: stevelynn at olliesaunders.freeserve.co.uk

[7] - UNCLE IAN TOURS AGAIN

For those of you out there who missed the few gigs Ian Dury and his
Blockheads played a month or so back, you'll be pleased to know that
more dates have been announced for later in the year. These will of
course be dependant on the health of Ian.

Thanks go to Paul Wassell for the following details:

Tour News - 19 March 2000

April
  Wed 19th
    Venue: London, Stratford, The Rex Capacity: 2350

May
  Friday 26th
   Venue: London, Blackheath, Blackheath Halls Capacity: 1000

  Sunday 28th
   Venue: Blandford, Blandford Festival, Stour Park Capacity: 2500

June
  Saturday 24th
   Venue: Canterbury, Marlowe Theatre Capacity: 1000

July
  Saturday 22nd
   Venue: Northampton, Show, Abington Park Capacity: 15000

For up to the minute Ian Dury information, visit the Official Ian
Dury Fansite at: www.blockheads.co.uk

[8] - THE EVER GROWING ONLINE VIDEO ARCHIVE

Following on from Simon Robert's recent mass-uploading of Madness
videos for `Lovestruck` and `Drip Fed Fred`, he's now back with
a whole host of other goodies to aid you in running up a large
phone bill...

Yesterdays Men-
http://www.ntmml.co.uk/fredmpg/alton.rm
On 'Hold Tight!' (Bad Manners did the theme tune)
Watch out for the dancing bears and the slappers!
Plus the interview on the pirate ship with Suggs.
(VERY scary ride- I know!!)

Close Escape-
http://www.ntmml.co.uk/fredmpg/close.rm
Pre-release version live.
different lyrics.
what happened to the middle 8??

House of Fun
http://www.ntmml.co.uk/fredmpg/house.rm
This one is from the Man in mad suit tour at Wembley.
The biggest Madness horror story of all !
It all went horribly wrong!! -
Mike rescues/recovers the situation!
You cant see Bedders in stitches laughing and Chris
shaking his head, but you can see Lee throwing the towel in!

Embarrassment
http://www.ntmml.co.uk/fredmpg/emb.rm
>From the Mad Dogs tour in Brum.
Bootleg-
Better quality than most of my videos I've posted :P!!
good track- good vid.

Sweetest Girl
http://www.ntmml.co.uk/fredmpg/sweet.rm
>From Razzmatazz.
Cathal's on sax this time.
Seamus and Aphrodisiac in the flesh.

Thanks go to Simon Roberts at http://www.ntmml.co.uk for the details.

[9] - SONG IN RED

I'm sure that the news at the start of this issue announcing that
Madstock 5 is now in doubt was just as much of a disappointment to
you as it was to me.

Well, do not fret. It looks like things could be starting to look up
once more.

A few years back, Stuart Wright (editor of the `Nut Inc` fanzine) and
myself were discussing the possibility of organising a Massive
Madness event with bands, video screenings and stalls. Unfortunately
this idea didn't progress further than mere discussions over a few
beers.

Now it seems that someone else has also had an idea like this. It was
only this afternoon that a mail from Scatty arrived in my mailbox
announcing that he was in the early stages of organising a massive
Madness festival and that he was after any assistance to get the ball
rolling and the event off the ground.

A date of June 11th has been pencilled in, and already a whole host
of ideas have been bounced around. These include:

- A Madwalk (see the Madness related sites in and around Camden)

- A Madness quiz (pub quiz style, about Madness, with cash prizes)

- A Madness raffle, (with the possibility of a few signed items)

- Madness stall's (chances for maddies to get hold of those rare bits
  they want)

- Video show's of "Take it or Leave it, Madstocks, Greatest hit's,
  interviews & dance craze, as well as any other videos of interest.

- A tribute band, (and maybe if possible, a karaoke)

And to round off the day nicely, a ska/madness disco which will raise
money for "radio king's" (a hospital radio station) in the process.

Here's Scatty with a few words...

     "I'd like to start the ball rolling, for event's like
      this all around the country.

      The one thing that the DFF promotion taught me was,
      if we all have a cause the meet's are even better.

      February was hard work (especially for Adele
      Hargreaves) but the fun we had over those few weeks
      was excellent".

Scatty is after ANY help and assistance you can provide. Please get
in touch with him at: scat at supanet.com and lets get this thing
rolling.

Well, that's about your lot for this issue. Special thanks go to
Vince Carden, Vince Foley, Paul Wassell, Scatty and Steve Saunders.

Thanks also go to everyone who's material appears in this bulletin.
Please do keep the material coming in, and I'll do my best to print
it.

Until next week.

All the nutty best,

Robert Hazelby