Hello, and welcome to this week’s issue of the MIS Online Newsletter.
You may recall that last weekend we launched a brand new web site for The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra. If you’ve yet to visit please venture over to leethompsonska.com and add it to your bookmarks.
With think Lee’s pretty pleased with the finished product as he got in touch with us this week saying;
“Gents got to see the Scorch site today at my leisure, It looks fantastic. Really chuffed. Street’s ahead of the one cobbled together prior that I was responsible for. Let me know what you think I could do to make it interesting…”
You heard the man. If there’s anything you’d like to see on the site, or if you have any questions get in touch via the Lee Thompson or MIS Online sites.
On the subject of the new Ska Orchestra LP taking shape Thommo had this to say…
“I can say – Louis has informed me that Mr Pelanconi’s mixes are exceptional & the finished work a (wait for it…) Masterpiece!
He is so modest is LV. I have spoke with Mr Bedford today & he has confirmed that, it’s quite tasty & that the Scorching weather in Brighton, over the mixing period, helped immensely with the Ska Orchestra’s mantra.”
On to the next Madness solo album and this week we review the “In Your Mind” album crafted by Woody Woodgate. This is out in a mere two weeks time. Check it out in our feature section.
Now, on with the issue!
Enjoy the read,
Jon Young, Rob Hazelby, Simon Roberts, Paul Williams

SHOWTIMES
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.

Madness
2015
GRANDSLAM
“Sporting theatres jumping with joy is the goal. Grandslam Madness – the greatest open air tour in the history of Rock & Roll…”
June
26 – Newmarket Racecourses
27 – Doncaster Racecourse
28 – Hove, Sussex County Cricket Club
July
2 – Silverstone Circuit
3 – St Helens, Haydock Park Racecourse
4 – Carlisle Racecourse
5 – Montrose, East Links, Scotland
9 – Epsom Downs Racecourse
10 – Chepstow Racecourse
11 – Rhyll Outdoor Events Arena
September
6 – Gibraltar Festival
11 – Canterbury, Kent County Cricket Club
12 – Bristol, Gloucester County Cricket Club
13 – London, On Blackheath
18 – Leeds, Yorkshire County Cricket Club
19th Newbury Racecourse.
25 – Wolverhampton
26 – Chester-le-Street, Durham County Cricket Club

November 2015
November 20th – 23rd 2014 – Minehead – The House Of Fun Weekender Five
Early bird tickets on sale now
http://www.bigweekends.com/the-weekends/specialist-music-weekends/madness-house-of-fun-weekender.aspx#ico=OB_Madness

Near Jazz Experience
July
17th – NEAR JAZZ, LOUIS VAUSE, WENDY MAY DJ – Kino Theatre South Leonards at Sea, Sussex
http://kino-teatr.co.uk/index.php/event/near-jazz-experience-aftershave-louis-vause-and-wendy-may-dj/#.VXy5BpVFDIW

The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra
July
24th Llangollen Town Hall, Denbrighshire, Wales (Fringe Festival Event)
August
1st The Garage Highbury, London

Cathal Smyth
More events coming. Latitude Festival in Suffolk in July could be joining the “Other Voice” section of the festival.
Other dates in October and Dublin are future plans. No confirmed dates yet.

Deaf School
September
5th – Bingley Music Festival (Headlining Stage 2)
6th – Norwich – Waterfront ** NEW**

The Silencerz
August 15th – Chados Arms, Colindale 8pm

BUY IT
The Grandslam Sporting Tour Programme
Once again Gavin Martin, a vetran of writing Madness Tour Programmes steps up to the podium in first place when it comes to delivering a quality item.
Like the tour itself the Grandslam Programme takes inspiration from the world of sport, and the easy to hold A5ish sized glossy booklet compiled by “Talking Music Revolutions” this year resembles the kind of programmes you get at Football stadiums. Decked in the green theme of the tour, the massive amounts of inside writing starts with an amusing piece by a fictional groundskeeper of the event you are attending, in tone like that of a slightly disgruntled parkie.
A four page chat with Suggs, begins in general, before venue specific questions are asked. Each of the six band members are graphically made superimposed as sporting heros in great artwork in with the booklet, over double page spreads, interviewing them with a plethora of match stats like statistic on life, and both music and sporting opinions. There are some amusing photoshop jobs too that we wont spoil but they are a must see. Clive Langer appears via the photo back drop shots of last years Mad Head tour. A number of parents proudly get their little wonders into a Mascot corner (Well done to Kev Crowther, Carol Escate, and Sheena Robert and families to name just three there.) While all the current solo albums, Chas, Woody, and forthcoming LTSO are all give a shout out advert. All this comes at the price of £5 that’s the kind of value Stirling Moss would approve of, or George Best raise a pint of Gladness to. It gets the MIS trophy of best conceptual design layout.

The Grandslam Tour T-Shirt
http://madness.sandbaghq.com/
The Grandslam is now well and truly underway, and you can get the latest official Madness T-shirt here…
http://madness.sandbaghq.com/home/charcoal-grandslam-t-shirt-online-exclusive.html
The charcoal grey T-shirt (available in small or large sizes) costs £20 and is exclusive to the Madshop. It’s also available in advance of the tour, which is nice

In Your Mind – Woody Woodgate solo album.
Pre-Order Now on Amazon. – *** Released July 6th ***
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00TZEMCMQ
OR IF YOU WOULD LIKE A SIGNED ALBUM INSTEAD http://www.propermusic.com/product-details/Woody-Woodgate-In-Your-Mind-Ltd-Autographed-Edition-188454
Album released June 1st. 13 tracks with new band line up and vocalist Dan Shears.
www.woodywoodgate.co.uk
The first single from the album will be “In Your Mind”. A release date for this is to be confirmed. Shooting for the video will commence shortly.

Deaf School – Laundarette ** New Album **
http://deafschoolmusic.com/#/shop/4579903328/l-a-u-n-d-e-r-e-t-t-e-cd-the-new-album—buy-now/9766251
The brand new album, a Japanese release, contains 7 brand new studio tracks from the band, a track featuring Sam singing (and Lee Thompson in the band) unreleased from 1988 and 5 live tracks (recorded at the Brighton show 2014)

Lovestruck & Night Boat – Madness Beers – And Win Grandslam Tickets
https://youtu.be/XeqkFQNWA_A
Find out where to buy the beers here…
http://www.madness.co.uk/2014/10/30/madness-brewing-company/

SIGN OF THE TIMES
News and info from online and offline media sources.
Meet Madness Before The Show In Leeds
http://yorkshireccc.com/news/view/3514/win-meet-madness-before-their-headingley-show
Another draw is also available to ticket buyer who buy their gig tickets from https://tickets.ee.co.uk/ or through https://funfinder.orange.co.uk

Re-Tweet and You May Receive
You can be in with a chance of winning tickets to see Madness in Doncaster by simply re-tweeting posts from @raceclear on Twitter.

LIVE AND INTENSIFIED
Granslam Lincoln
Well, you’ve seen the set list on a FB post so just a quick summary of the night. The crowd was the usual mix of ages, styles etc. – we saw quite a few punks as well as the usual skins, mods, rude boys and Madheads dressed up for the night. And it was great to see so many people there with their kids.
Suggs was on form all night as he interspersed the songs with his usual patter. Biggest laugh was near the start when he told fans they’d be disappointed if they’d turned up for the One Direction Perfume launch!
The Grandslam bit at the start may just be an intro for the tour but there was a new song called “Where Did All The Good Times Go”. It promises to be a good song assuming it makes the album cut.
I always feel a bit disappointed when a gig starts with Night Boat as I think it’s a real show-stopper for the end – but that’s just me. It certainly got the party started though. Embarrassment, NW5 and the two My Girls always go down well. Take It Or Leave It, for me, is just that. Great song. But unless you’re a die-hard fan it slows a show down. Sun and the Rain was good and then came the new song, which was well received.
Dust Devil was well performed and was accompanied by the pop video on the big screens. Las Palmas 7 is another one that seems to slow things down a bit but then after that they ramped it up a bit.
The Prince re-started the dancing followed by You Said – one of my all-time faves – Lovestruck (not heard this live for some time), Bed and Breakfast Man, Shut Up, John Jones (not heard live before and loved it) and then Wings of a Dove – with the whole crowd in fine voice (ahem!).
Next up was Leon. Another brilliant song and I suppose it was a good way for everyone to get their collective breaths back, because having done a quick run through in our heads my son and I had pretty much worked out what was still to come.
Although the set list said “Showtime” – and we all love Chrissy Boy – his spot sometimes feels a bit flat. As far as we could see there was no Chrissy Boy last night. We were quite a way back so couldn’t be sure, but having seen the Lincolnshire Echo photos from the gig it definitely wasn’t him on stage – the guitarist had hair!!
So, no Chrissy Boy solo slot this time but straight into House of Fun, Baggy Trousers, Our House and lastly It Must Be Love. All of which set the place alight – with much serenading on the last one!
They left the stage briefly but then let fly with One Step Beyond. I still feel this lacks a bit of something without Chas but it still goes down a storm, although I personally feel this is best as an opener – again may be just me. Lincoln must have had a mini earth tremor when it started though.
Final song of the night was Madness and Suggs told us it was Prince Buster’s 77th birthday on Thursday – which got a big cheer.
I never tire of seeing the boys and this was the first time I had my whole family there (my daughter and her husband’s first time). No-one ever leaves a Madness gig without a smile on their face and last night was no exception. It was great to see them in my home city for the first time and to walk out of the ground to see our beautiful cathedral, standing proudly lit up in the background, was simply magical (see FB post).
Anyone going to a Grandslam show will not be disappointed, especially if they paid the extra, like me, to get the beer garden goodies (also posted on your FB page)

From The Grandslam to The Launderette
June 3rd Chelmsford Madness to June 5th Islington Deaf School
And so I turned 40. Hello, especially to MIS readers that know me or have read these pages for years, thanks for your support since my 20’s!, your humble mad reporter Jonathan Young is now Jonathan Middle Age. Or as Chris put it during his Showtime “Not so young by nature” anymore. Thanks Chrissy Boy.
I couldn’t have had a greater fun week in celebrating this fact though, as neatly Madness Grandslam had a date at Chelmsford in June.
I sandwiched that with a west-end visit, some Camden time and via The Hope and Anchor Islington & The Garage too for Deaf School. And got to hang out with great friends.
Chelmsford race course has the feeling of a new venue. Unlike a lot of race course gigs I’ve been too, the dedicated stage area for the concert was rather perfect, their being plenty of space at the new grounds, so wasn’t a converted grandstand squashed in somewhere. It was a well organized, clean and happy packed gig. Though this being the venues first ever concert they need to learn the lesson of getting a few more toilet porta hires on site and increase the catering/drinks vans a little more, relying on the level the racing normal has doesn’t cut it as concert demands peak differently and queuing was oversubscribed. The Gladness bar Taxi sat at the side of the stage looking very cool, though this exclusive Garden area could do with a picnic table or two. The magnificent Crowned Grandslam stage looks splendid and captures the new tour feel, in it’s green theme.
The venue was within walking distance for regular Patrick Clifford so something of a home coming gig for him. Myself, Owen and Gary Saunders were boarding guests of another local regular Madness gig going fan, Mr Happy resident house of fun weekender DJ. We got Simon “Mini lee” Griffiths to nutty walk in the background of shot when the racecourse cameras were out previewing the days racing which would include Frankie Detori as a jockey. He ended up being interviewed by the horse talking presenter about the day and the gig. Not one to be upstaged Mr Happy waded in and got his own interview in, giving local shout out’s to people and pubs he knew in the area. We mocked him afterwards that the camera’s were for the on site screens and not the national Channel Four racing coverage. He deflated at this news, creating a new catchphrase of “Channel 4” every time anything remotely embarrassing happened to one of the circle it was shouted or topped with a +1 or OD. He ultimately had the last laugh on this though when a friend confirmed on facebook he’d been seen on the ITV local news! So that’s got to be a winning each way bet!
Speaking of bets my theory of betting on Madness song related horses lost me the cost of a Butlins deposit, when “Forever Foxy” turned out not to be Madness related enough if a Young betted on it. (Gaint Steps Ahead did come in first, in another race, that’s almost one step beyond, so maybe the theory still has some legs.)
The gig begins in the glourious good weather, with a rousing montage that jumps from the bond Grandslam Goldfinger moment, through the Italian job via a plethora of British sporting hero moments, which makes the lead into the new opening Grandslam tune, feels a relevant and show specific Hello. Works very well, I enjoyed the intro song, a bold move. “Grandslam, am I everything you think I am, or a normal homo sapien.” My over analyzing brain finds this both similar to “Moondance” with it’s echoy shouts, a touch of solo single “I am (a man)” and I even wonder if it’s some rebuttal to Cathal’s “Seasons of content” song’s lines about the band “hoping for immortality” Suggs is simply a man. While any intro song is overshadowed by the band legacy (not just one step)/ Grandslam as a tune has a hint of that house of fun enter the gladiator 80’s Madness intros. It could maybe do with a few more elements that Suggs mastered in his own master tune “greatest show on earth.”
The set in general remains an impressive array covering nearly all albums. “You said” remaining as a treat. How I wish “Shop Around” or “Feeling so Fine” could come along for the ride from the invaders years. Only Mad not Mad is unrepresented. (although keep moving’s era only inclusion of track comes from the singles only linked as bonus tracks or US edition versions.)
Amusingly a fan wearing a fez at the front, has a “real fan” chip on her shoulder for some reason and is questioning me and a few of my friends if we really deserve to be at the front, do we really know the bands music? I get the impression she’s a bit drunk, insecure and may over excited to be seeing the band. But when Thommo calls my name at later and threatens me with the bumps, this does nicely have the effect of capping the silly games she started. Surrounded by Chris, Emma, Sharon, Paul from Belfast, Leah and the rest of our crew the happy sing along carries along through all the set, pausing to take in new track. “where did all the good times go”
This Woodgate penned tune (don’t listen to set list FM’s rubbish that this is the kinks songs, its’ not it’s new madness) sounds fitting but has little impact on first listen. It’s a sour grey day downbeat kind of a tune, Madness have given it a sax solo and increased guitar from since it was written by Nick and Woody. Certainly after listening back it’s growing on me in ways like “in the rain” fit into the cannon of Madness songs. It has an underdog theme that’s of the times. But it’s yet to wow me deeper than that thus far.
For my sins I did once see Bon Jovi during his Keep the Faith tour, so to hear Livin on a Prayer appear in Showtime, made me want to sing a long in a way I sometimes avoid with showtime. So I give it full support this time and full lungs on belting out the power ballad classic. Before a grand run of hits.
Post gig I get to briefly chat with with Woody’s wife about possible future gigs as Woody Woodgate band, and Owen presents me with a birthday cake and card, (one signed by my friends, ive had one nicely signed by all the band too), the cakes makeshift candle resembles a spliff but this doesn’t get us thrown out at the end of the day. Mr Happy and Everyone all drive home to a post gig party at his, via the kind of jedi mind trick that ben kenobi would have been happy proud of when bamboozling the storm troopers. I could explain further but he’s just shouted “Channle Four” which means I have to move on.
I enjoyed the following day taking in Roddy Doyle west end soul musical, The Commitments. Readers familiar with the film would be happy to know the show does feature a reference to Thommo being the influence on the band sax player. The show also works in a version of “you keep me hanging on” to great effet.
Friday I meet Sharon and Lynn and Andy Shoults in Islington. Deaf School at The Garage.
I purchase the bands new album, Launderette which is really nicely put together. This gig will be my first review of the band since they have these new songs in the set. I have previously enjoyed their classic albums, though I’ve only listened once or twice, and I own all their recordings since reforming, havng picked up the Survivors Song EP and The Enrico and Bette mini album to catch up at previous gigs where this material first aired. Classic tunes like “What a way to end it all”, “Second honeymoon.” never fail to please the whole room, which is generally a little greyer than the Madness audience is yet. I really enjoy the raucousness of “u turn away” this tune really lights me up.
I’m look forward to hearing their new tracks immensely. I think they play three. One of which Enrico says “Lock the doors, don’t let them out, this is a new song we are going to play.
“Geraldine. 17” is memorizing. Makes you wonder why that rhyme has never made a pop song before. The deaf school lyrical world is a quirky one and painted as a noir often. This tune sounds like classic pop too and grabs my attention from the off.
But even more so “Broken Down Aristocrats” sums up Deaf Schools continued survival and middle age fashion statement all the more. Bette bright is in a punk zipped jump suit tonight and struts a clear line of Debbie Harry Annie Lennox punk new wave heritage as in 2015, where as Enrico’s timeless Bogart chic and pencil dashed moustache. The Vicar character pulls off the best sermon moment I’ve ever seen him do, when he simply walks out from behind the keyboard to state. “Many of you may have seen the posters about Mad Max” (currently in cinema’s is this latest remake) “I can assure you these posters are not about me.” states the reverend max ripple. The tune reminds me of that 70’s sound and bands like mott the hoople.
Punk hero’s who claim to be on the final chapter, but with plenty more stories to tell yet. Sums up my post 40th birthday mood.
Happy to still be here, surrounded by music and great friends, and very happy these bands are still bring out new things to hear. As long as they are inspired to do so, I’ll be interested in writing about them.
We leave the gig, happily snapping a picture of the poster as The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra play The Garage in August.
Jonathan Young
The Grandslam resumes this coming Friday.
If you’re attending any of the gigs this Summer, and you’ve got more fan passion in you than just the length of a one finger typed tweet then send us in your reviews of Madness’ biggest ever outdoor tour. Your review doesn’t have to be massive. Just a sentence, a paragraph, or a set list, or a video link, or a full blown account of your Grandslam. It’s entirely up to you. Whatever your experience let all our readers know how your day was, what were the best bits, and make Madness proudly a band people truly talk about. We’ll publish your efforts in a future MIS newsletter, in our Live and Intensified regular section, and also on our website blog. There may even be a prize or two given out come September and tour end!
Be a sport and send us your post match analysis.
Send whatever you madly muster to Jonsmad@hotmail.com
Jonathan Young

MIS FEATURE – WOODY WOODGATE – “IN YOUR MIND” ALBUM REVIEW
Press Play. The familiar sound of sirens overlays the clatter of a moving train hurtling along it’s track …
This then is it. Woody Woodgate – The album.
…
This is it
Magic Train
Something
In Your Mind
Come To Me
The Beach
We’re all going to Brighton
Friday Night till Sunday In The Morning
Everything is Sunshine
Flower
Mother
Shaman
Thank You
…
The opening track is an ambient one, short and to the point. It’s clearly meant as a link or perhaps a junction point, from “The Magic Line” the ambient track which ended the last album from Woody, it has the same sounds and it includes a sample of Nick singing the song “Always be with you” from that album too, before a tape is clicked off and Woody’s voice announces the start of this anew.
“The Magic Train” is a funky rocky guitar laden track, with an intro almost Chinese sounding, it starts the album proper in a bold clarion and then we are off, “Together on The Magic Train” Woody is now Together with a new vocalist Dan Shears. The Brothers remain together though as the song writers. The magic train leaves the station again. Woody is driving the train now and we are just one stop on form where we were before, whether that was “Leon” or “Downtown”.
Woody of course he’s well known round here for Madness. He Popped into the charts in a second band in the 90’s, Voice of The Bee Hive, too and equally seeped in pop melody are both those acts. The Sound of Woody Woodgate then sits in-between those two, with a little hint that he once drummed and wrote in a faster harder edged rock band too called FAT. Guitar is the main sound, though brass section united and some keys do take their place. Plenty of self confessed 70’s era influences abound, from rock and prog bands, to pop acts like The Beatles, harmonies of the beach boys are a benchmark too if not an influence, but this reviewer is a generation down born into the end of 80’s pop and the early 90’s Britpop era so the band I think this whole album mostly sounds like from my musical experience is The Lightning Seeds, and I love the Lightning Seeds, so I’ve been very much warming to this album which is full of sweet melody and candy like pop happiness. Like playing the whole of the Jolification album through, with “In Your Mind” you can be assured also of a journey mostly made of a bright and happy pop landscape where each tune will carry you into song, with just a hint of down melancholy to temper the ride here and there so it’s not like a manic hit of laughing gas all the way through. Precious are those albums where you love the over all mood as a thing, as well as having a soft spot for certain tunes. In Your Mind Smoothly hangs together as an album. Dan Shears vocal harmony helps that and so does it’s sequencing in the old fashioned LP sense not the iPod shuffle generation.
Blatantly then the album this one mostly sounds like is “The Magic Line” by The Magic Brothers. How could it not. It started life as a potential second album by The Magic Brothers band. The band played Tracks 2,3,4,5,7,8 & 11 during gigs at The Dublin Castle in 2014. Track 1 & 6 are short ambient soundscapes, leaving 9, 10, 12 & 13 as entirely unheard new stuff in 2015. Every single one of those songs that debuted at the live gigs is done justice here and arrives pretty close to the arrangements at those gigs, without any major overhauls. It’s been a seemless transition to the new band set up and sound, an evolution. This leaves “Shaman” as the more stand out track with a little more experimentation or surprise to it, it’s electronic sounding on it’s intro and reminds me a little of George Martin remixing the Beatles Sun king for their love album a little and making it sound just a touch more modern, while this penultimate track fades it at 3.20 it feels like it could have gone 7 minutes in the prog whooshy soundscape direction.
The album is front loaded with the single potential tracks. As the funky first number fades and the equally stomping “Something” begins, certainly a contender for my favourite track. The brass ending to this song is killer, even if I’d like more of it than the mix provides, the relentless fast drums and looping guitars and brass stings are like “Embarrassment” is as a tune, in that one sound as a whole completely hooks you into a groove and you stay there stomping. Woody built a collection of Nick guitar solo’s into a best of middle section, that’s an air guitar fest for sure. The lyrics are vague but portray the vibe of enjoying someone’s company in your life, and the whole thing has swagger by the time the refrains “Holy Roller” and “Son of a Gun” kick in near the end, if your not strutting then you are dead. I love singing along, it’s easy to pick up. I need a 12″ mix of this one in my life.
The brilliant single “In Your Mind” is where the sweeter and smoother abilities of Dan Shears vocals really become appraisable, while Nick managed those 70’s rocking numbers ok live and they are matched until now, the brothers songs some times contain higher sustained sweet sounding transitional points and Dan happily fills those and the gap that existed between the brilliant writing skills in this team and the previous line ups natural abilities. Beyond that Dan doesn’t have a great deal of impact on this sounding any different to those live gigs in 2014, it’s a close match really. A little of the “character” shape is gone from the sound, replaced with the asset of a smooth flowing sound which is a marked improvement by trade. I said as a genuine compliment to Siobhan, Woody’s wife recently, that Dan has an almost female sounding voice and their vocals blend sometimes quite seamlessly (indeed so do the remain backing vocals of Nicks still on the album). This songs tales of a bedtime story is like the holidaying track “We’re all going to Brighton” both tracks that sounds like they were almost written for a Disney kids movie painting mind pictures of a world one dimensionally full of just the best happy time and place. Betwixt these tracks sits a short ambient beach soundtrack with a little fairground waltz to it. Remember the ending to House of Fun when it was a seven inch record. It’s like that to the 40 second mark with seagulls, suitable transitioning point.
“Come to me” is a very haunting track. I almost imagine it being a siren singing to sailors! It’s a quieter track ending the first section of the album with a nice contrast.
The track that I fell in immediate love with, when I was first given the album to hear, was “Everything is Sunshine” instantly it sounded like this albums version of “you don’t have to hide your love away” and very very like the melodic hooks of Ian Brodie’s groups like the seeds. It has The Woodgate happy mode, there are parts of the song about love and the universe or even enjoying the best weather, but there is the best kitchen sink drama too in there. The intoxicating moment of obsessive love and work and breakfast getting the way of that, it’s taken into some sublime places of longing. “Custom built from the Ford Factory now the girls in love with me.” sublime piece of work that fits together like it was effortless.
It ends with a harpsichord sounding like key section (you’ve heard golden brown by now in your life yeah?) last employed at 2.14 on Oui Oui Si Si’s “Small world”, now a longer different notes same trick motif works wonders to this tunes bow.
Its that track and Maybe “Friday Night Till Sunday in The Morning”, that are the closest to being Demo’s Madness could have reworked in some way. The latter has the down flat mood of “Grey day” or “Africa” woven into it’s fabric just a little and little skank to it’s guitar riffing, mostly that feeling of your weekend not being long enough, don’t we all know that one. “How I wish the world would go away.” This is the one song Dan’s vocal give a character feel to as he plays along into the songs mode.
Paul Rodgers compared “Flower” to the Tilt album era of The Lightning Seeds, agreeing with me on the sound sometimes sounding very like that band. It’s again in the set of tunes that on the surface sounds like seam sea street sing a long, but the verses of “Closed eyes” or “lying in bed” make me wonder if these flowers are a comfort for someone in hospital. Short keyboard stabs and slightly sitar like sounding guitar mode blend here. Mother is rocky again, big on guitar solos, a bit more stark than the other tracks.
It’s time to end the night with a slow dance. Thank you, the final track has a simple ‘take a bow’ effect placed at the end of the album. Man and wife could easily link arm in arm and in contented slight shoe shuffle to this. It’s sweet. A wedding first dance tune in the making I think. “I wish our hearts could stay.” Is sung full of love and peace. While the tune could bow out easilys and simply at the 3 minute mark it’s allowed to build a little like say the track “primrose hill” does with it’s capping sections, which make the bowing out all the more grander.
Overall while it’s slightly less original than the first outing of the magic brothers, it’s more consistent as an album, and while Madness fans wont immediately think it’s Madness sounding as a record, it is in the mode of many previous Woody contributed album tracks and is full of melody with vocal harmonies a little more reminiscent of his 90’s pop career and it’s plenty brand new as well, the production especially is well crafted. It’s worth giving a few on in the back ground spins, and then letting the songs start to take over after a few listens. Or you might loop a few of the stand out tracks in your car for happy driving journeys, (especially toward Brighton on Sunny days.)
It just remains to say that last Thank You Woody Woodgate.
Put in your mind, in your ears. July 6th.
Jonathan

MIS FEATURE – BE A KING OR QUEEN OF THE GRANDSLAM
The Massive Madness crown sits proudly above the stand in the touring Grandslam stage design.
So, it’s time for a selfie or for you to get a mate to crown you Sir or Dame, become a King or a Queen of the Grandslam by wearing the crown.
Position yourself midfield and turn away from the stage until your camera line of sight put your heads appearing underneath the logo and click away.
Post your pictures on your facebook and twitter and share them with the group over at All Things Madness, where Karen started the new craze.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/249838181711283
Join the ranks of royal fans. Bring back the, we want the, Prince and Princesses of the Grandslam to take a bow.
We will add you to our Grandslam Gallery at www.madnesss-mis.com
Feature Started by Karen Manktelow

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 581 – Sunday 20th June – Saturday 26th June 2010
Madness continued to line-up yet more live performances for 2010, as the contents of this issue showed. On the 27th of July, the band were billed to be supporting pub landlord Al Murray for an evening of comedy and music, while on the 11th of September the band were due to perform at the Fete De L’Humanitie Concert, France.
Paul Rodgers made a welcome return to the MIS this week with another one of his (at the time) weekly round up of Madness’ progress in the music charts. So, had the recent promotion by supermarket giant made a difference? Well, it turned out that it had. Both One Step Beyond and Complete Madness had re-entered the Indie chart at numbers 48 and 50, respectively. Meanwhile, Ultimate Madness had risen to 27 in the main UK album chart, and number 3 in the Indie chart.
With current sales numbers it had now overtaken Utter Madness and Our House in turns of peak chart position.
Next, it was on to competition news. We had a whopping 46 entries for our Rise and Fall, Keep Moving and Ultimate Madness giveaway. We had one copy of each remastered CD to dish out, and we were now able to announce three lucky winners.
We brought this issue to a close with the news that Big 10 had been booked to play the legendary Dublin Castle on Saturday 17th July.
10 years ago…
Issue Number 319 – Sunday 19th June to Saturday 25th June 2005
We started off this week’s issue by giving a warm welcome to those fans who had subscribed to the MIS since attending the recent Westonbirt Arboretum gig, and who had picked up one of the cards we handed out at the event.
For the benefit of those who had only just joined, and missed our gig announcement special we’d sent out earlier in the week, we gave a repeat of the Scala Dangermen gig scheduled for the evening of the 4th of July.
Meanwhile, Lee and Chris were planning to appear with their off-shoot outfit, Crunch, on Friday 15th July at the 100 Club.
Elsewhere, and Simon had been busy beavering away over the past week or so, meaning that the guestbook and photo album were now up and running over on the MIS web site. The photo album already had a good selection of photos there, but we were always after more. The latest additions to this section were a few mobile phone snaps taken by Jonathan at the Westonbirt gig, as well as a photo of him on a Space Hopper! You could find out just why he was pictured on one of those in section six of this issue.
On to the articles, and we kicked off with a detailed article covering Suggs new show “A picture of London”, which ran alongside a new series called “A Picture of Britain”, which was going to be broadcast on BBC One from June.
Following the news on that Suggs BBC show, a picture of London, that he and Lee Thompson had been working with the Audio Bullys, Jonathan Young tried to see if there was any info surrounding the release date when these tracks might be see the light of day. At the time the issue went to press he’d not found anything.
With all the news arriving in our mailbox last week it was inevitable we’d forget to put something in, and a mass of news from Jean Pierre Boutellier was unfortunately one of the casualties. Sorry JP!
Here’s what he had to say…
“Hello,
Madness recorded a session last night (8th June) on a French TV show called `Taratata`. It’s similar to `Later With Jools Holland`.
The show, recorded last night near Paris, will be shown on French TV channels France 3 and France 4 sometime in early September.
Madness played 3 live songs: `Girl Why Don’t You`, `Chase The Devil`, and `One Step Beyond`. It was a great performance. On stage were 6 members of madness plus Segs Jumming on guitar and a 3 piece brass section.
Before the show we recorded a 45 minute interview, and asked Lee Thompson, Mark Bedford and Daniel Woodgate if they’d answer our questions. Here are a few highlights:
– The Forest Tour is a `Madness Tour`, so Madness will play some Madness hits, plus old tracks from Absolutely etc, and perhaps 1 or 2 songs from The Dangermen sessions, but we’re not sure.
– A new guitarist will play with Madness on The Forest Tour.
– The next live performance will be on the 28th June at London’s Kings Cross where they will play under the name of The Dangermen, with small gigs similar in style to the one’s Madness staged in 978/79”.
Moving on, and with both Jon and Rob attending the recent Westonbirt gig, it probably came as no surprise to the MIS readership, that the two of them teamed-up to produce one lengthy review – not just of the gig, but the going-on before and after, too.
The day after the Westonbirt gig saw the band take a small trip down the motorway to the seaside town of Weston-Super-Mare, where they performed at Channel Four-s T4 Beach Party Concert.
The set consisted of a mere two songs; the forthcoming single, Shame and Scandal, and One Step Beyond.
Although not present ourselves, going by Andy Clayden’s post on The Madness Trading Ring, it seemed as if the short set was a mixture of live vocals with a mimed playback.
15 years ago…
Issue Number 57 – Sunday 18th June to Saturday 24th June 2000
“Above and beyond the call of duty”. That’s how we would described the actions of a certain number of the Madness Online community after returning from a fun-packed weekend filled with Madness and remembrance for a certain late singer and songwriter.
Since it’s birth 5 years ago, the regular `Madmeet` had grown and grown. From the early days back in 1996 when a few Mads met up in Camden Town to Friday’s huge bash in the Dublin Castle and at a number of venues all across London. The so called Madmeet had finally come of age.
It was impossible to name everyone who contributed to Friday’s bash, but we felt special mention must surely go out to Madness who kindly donated and signed a cornucopia of Madness items, Simsey – the keeper of law, order during the auction, Vince Carden and Chris Carter-Pegg for spending so much money (which all went to charity by the way!), Vince Foley who many said looked remarkably like a certain Madness frontman, and finally, the chap who without his tireless effort none of the day’s events could have taken place, Mr Paul Scatt who pulled out all stops to make the day an enjoyable and memorable occasion for all who turned up.
We’re sure there were many others who we should also have thanked for making the day run so smoothly. If you were one of those people not listed, we were sure we spoke for everyone by saying that your efforts were no less appreciated.
During the course of the day, we managed to speak to a fair chunk of those present and all agreed that this could surely be an annual event. Obviously an annual Ian Dury Tribute Concert would be out of the question, but we were sure it wouldn’t be too difficult to get the assistance of a Madness tribute band or two.
Onto other things now…
News in from One Step Behind’s Brendan Phipps was that the band were filmed by BBC TV last Friday at their gig in Sidcup. The BBC were making a programme on TOP TEN TRIBUTE BANDS and went to great lengths to get hold of them. Three different agents approached the band about the same show!
Brendan continued by saying that he didn’t know if the band would definitely be on, as they were filming a selection of bands, but the researcher was spotted putting his camera away and dancing, so things were looking good on that front.
Some re-release news now, and Vince Foley told us that the recently re-released version of `Divine Madness` was now currently 59 in the DOTMUSIC charts. Since the original release way back in 1992 it has now sold over 900,000 copies in the UK.
If you were lucky enough to get along to the Rhytmstock auction, you’d already know that The famous Dublin Castle was due to close.
If you were paying attention, you’d also know why. For those who were not able to make the meet or were too drunk at the meet, we explained. The landlord of the Dublin Castle had recently bought the pub from the brewery, meaning that the pub was now theirs and would be a free house. The pub was closing for some major renovations this Sunday week which would mean no more beer being served the next 5-6 weeks whilst the alterations were being made.
One of the more bizarre alterations required the widening of the corridor leading down to the toilets by a mere 3 inches!! Something to do with EU rules apparently.
We thanked Vince Foley for the news, and looked forward to going back into the pub – this time with some decent furniture!!
Rob Hazelby

TWEETS OF A DOVE / THAT FACEBOOK

Louis Vause
“I had a lovely time down in Deptford with Rhoda Dakar. Not only did we record a couple of tunes but also took in some of the extraordinary new council housing blocks they seem to have built just off Deptford High Street. The icing on the cake was the warm drizzle – lovely!
Who would have thought – when I was a little boy – that I would appear in the programme for the Madness’s Summer tour 2015. How thrilling!
An absolute joy to work with Mike Pelanconi (aka Prince Fatty) mixing the new album – working title ‘Bite the Bullet’ – at The Ironworks in Brighton. The best ears in the business”

TIME…
We’re almost done for this week, but in true MIS style we’ve got a few last minute bits and pieces to pass your way.
First-up, and Madness fan Nicky Evans is auctioning off a Large Butlins Blue Flag Banner in aid of Specialized. If you’d like to bid on the fairly rare acquired item check out the following link: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271906803459
Next, up and it’s chart news from the one and only Paul Rodgers…
“Uninteresting fact number 4,683: Cathal Smyth’s Do You Believe In Love? is number 197 on this week’s radio airplay chart, based on 9 (NINE) plays.”
Moving on…
Mark Voisin has displayed a fascinating early magazine photo from European periodical HITKRANT edition 19 juin 1980
https://www.facebook.com/groups/frenchmis/
The photograph is unique (we think) in being a nutty train still photo of all seven of the band (earlier than a still from taken from Take it or leave it movie.) It shows the band in the famous pose. Mike in a pink suit, lee kneeling almost in a twister like pose holding his hat and carrying a toy sax. Check it out at the French MIS.
Support news now, and we have learned that “By The Rivers” will be supporting Madness on their Grandslam at the Hove, Montrose and Rhyl gigs.
And finally, we end with this charity plea from a reader Steve Richardson…
“I’ve always wanted to walk the Pennine Way and thought rather than do it just for myself I could raise some money for charity. I’m hoping to complete it in as close to ten days. I’ve been a Madness fan since their first appearance on TOTPs. I’ve been a
big fan for many years . In honour of Madness and friends who’ve been affected in anyway by mental health issues I’d like to donate to MIND.
https://www.justgiving.com/Steve-Richardson5
I’m hoping to set off on Saturday 8th August 2015. it’s just the equivalent of walking a marathon every day which doesn’t sound that mad does it?
Thanks Steve”
And that brings this issue to a close. All we’ve got left to say is “Have a good week!”

Jon Young, Rob Hazelby, Simon Roberts, Paul Williams
(With thanks to Ian Hanning, Steve Richardson, Paul Rodgers,
Nicky Evans and Mark Robinson)