There’s been a big re-arrangement of Madness’ future gigs this past week with a load moving from 2020 and into next year. This now leaves only two events remaining for 2020; The Irish Village in Dubai on the 12th November and the final House of Fun Weekender on the 20th – 23rd of the same month.
We believe the “Go / No Go” for the House of Fun event will reviewed towards the end of August / beginning of September. Naturally, if we receive further updates regarding these events we’ll let you know in a future issue.
On the subject of events, we were contacted earlier this week by subscriber Lisa Search who emailed in to tell us that on 12th July there will be a Henley Festival Digital Edition taking place. Suggs will be appearing, but in what capacity we’re unsure. Tickets are priced at £10.10 with profits going to the Henley Festival Trust. Tickets can be purchased at: https://henley-festival.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=66ce38c00655f4f0fbc791692&id=ea07e2eeb4&e=614728cb36
Moving on, and there’s some good news for all you vinyl collectors. On the 28th August “Full House, the very best of Madness” is due for release. Priced at £19.99, you can find further details in our regular “Buy it” section elsewhere in this issue.
Finally, if CD is more your thing then you may be interested to learn that on September 4th Chrysalis Records will be releasing an 8 CD box set entitled “Two Tone The Albums”. See our “Buy it” section for full details.
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.
Description: TWO TONE RECORDS was created in 1979 by The Specials founder Jerry Dammers. The label spawned a youth movement and a number of well-known artists and singles throughout its tenure including the aforementioned Specials.
This 40th Anniversary 8-CD Collection contains the first 8 albums released on the label, with offerings by The Specials, The Selecter and Rico, along with the sought-after live concert album ‘Dance Craze’ and the ‘This Are Two Tone’ which includes a host of non-album releases.
Record Store Day – Work Rest and Play ** confirmed release date **
Release date: 29th August
Format: Double 7″ single
Cat No. BMGCAT430DSV
Overview:
Fortieth anniversary re-issue of Madness’ “Work Rest & Play EP” – the follow-up to their debut album, 1979’s “One Step Beyond…”
Limited edition Record Store Day 2020 release on double 7” format with a triple gatefold sleeve including photos from the time of the original release.
Track listing:
Side One
Night Boat To Cairo
Side Two
Deceives The Eye
Side Three
The Young And The Old
Side Four
Don’t Quote Me On That
Record Store Day – Dance Craze 40th Anniversary Edition ** confirmed release date **
This is a new half-speed master exclusively for RSD and part of the Two Tone Records 40th Anniversary celebrations. This is a soundtrack to the live movie of the same name featuring exclusive live recordings by The Specials, Madness, The Selecter, The Beat, Bad Manners and The Bodysnatchers. This is also first vinyl repress since its original release in 1981.
Tracklisting:
Concrete Jungle
Mirror in the Bathroom
Lip up Fatty
Razor Blade Alley
Three Minute Hero
Easy Life
Big Shot
One Step Beyond
Ranking Fullstop
Man at C&A
Missing Words
Inner London Violence
Night Boat to Cairo
Too Much Pressure
Nite Klub
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, 10, 15 and 20 years ago this week.
5 years ago…
Issue Number 843 – Sunday 5th July to Saturday 11th July 2015
This week the Grandslam brought forth more new Madness tunes.
At Silverstone the (Mcpherson/Barson) tune “Herbert” was loaded and fully fired out to the crowd. Meanwhile, at Haydock “Don’t Leave The Past Behind”, was heard. This was a Woodgate/Woodgate number.
Speaking of the Woodgates, we reminded you to grab Woody’s new solo album “In Your Mind”, which was released this week.
Woody spoke briefly with us at the Grandslam this week, and said he was most looking forward to walking in and seeing his first true solo album on sale in HMV, grinning with excited eyes of anticipation of that first time moment.
Despite his numerous musical successes up to this week, it clearly meant something unique for him that the album would be seeing a release on Friday. Woody’s brother, Nick, told us his that favourite tune on his brother’s album was “We’re all going to Brighton”.
On to “Sign of the Times”, and we revealed the fancy dress theme for the House of Fun weekender. What was it? Well, the organisers couldn’t decide and were asking you to send in your suggestions. The selected choice would win you a prize.
Elsewhere in this section Woody spoke to BBC Suffolk radio and Scootering magazine reviewed Woody’s new album.
With us well into touring season it would come as no surprise to learn that our “Live and Intensified” section was absolutely packed. We had lengthy reviews of the recent Silverstone, Hove and Haydock gigs thanks to great submissions from the MIS readership.
Next, and it was on to our MIS Feature where we reported that the Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra were offering an “up close and personal, one in a lifetime experience”. This was a competition to to join the band for a jolly fly on the wall band experience, for 2 people.
The prize included:
Meet the band and stay in their humble digs on the night of Friday July 24th (Free accommodation for 2 adults).
Dine, socialise and drink with the band, as their guest on that day.
Exclusive entry to the sound check, watch the band set up, see how everything operates.
Free entry to Llangollen Fringe, Town Hall gig 7pm July 24th featuring the bands well known Ska tunes and new tracks from the forthcoming “Bite the Bullet” second album.
£50 towards travelling expenses with the option of meeting up with the band in London for the train ride to Wrexham.
To be in with a chance of winning you had to pop over to the Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra web site and complete the following sentence:
“I want to run away with the Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra because ….”
We brought this issue to a close with the news that Lee Thompson would shortly be releasing a new video which had been filmed by his son, Kye. It contained clips of the recent new album try out DC gig and a few words to camera by Lee himself.
10 years ago…
Issue Number 583 – Sunday 4th July – Saturday 10th July 2010
Following on from last week, we were pleased to release yet another jam-packed issue for the subscriber base.
Jonathan Young brought us news of some fantastic Keep Moving and Rise & Fall Easter eggs. It turned out that these weren’t official Easter eggs as such, but if you followed Jonathan’s instructions and worked your way through both sleeve notes you’d be able to access a special MP3 he’d uploaded for your listening pleasure.
Following that it was over to the Retro Madness online store, where for this week they’d reduced the price of the 4x UK live limited edition double CD albums from 2006 and 2007. The price? A mere £9.99 each including p+p.
Next, Judge Fredd reported on a rare March of The Gherkins demo which had only recently surfaced, and subscriber Joe Behan brought details of Ska Patrol’s recent Madness evening.
Alongside all this we highlighted the range of new t-shirts available for sale in the online Madness store, brought you the latest news from Chris’ Cupboard, revealed details of the smallest ever performance of the Our House Musical, and to top that all off Paul Rodgers give us the latest Madness chart news.
Yes, Paul was back, and the exciting news was that in the Indie charts Rise and Fall was at 17, Ultimate Madness was at 19, and Keep Moving was at 20. Not bad at all!
15 years ago…
Issue Number 321 – Sunday 3rd July to Saturday 9th July 2005
We kicked-off this issue by announcing that following our card handing out work during the recent Forest Tour, the MIS readership had finally crossed the 600-mark.
Moving on to more serious stuff, and we were pleased to learn (courtesy of Chris Carter-Pegg) that;
“Following a massive 5 month long public inquiry into London Underground’s planning application to basically demolish the main heart of Camden Town and replace it with high tech office buildings, luxury flats and boutiques, common sense has finally prevailed with John Prescott’s decision to reject the entire scheme”.
This was incredible news for Madness and Camden fans alike, especially seeing as the vast majority of the buildings due to be demolished played key roles in Madness’ Camden heritage.
The buildings to be demolished included the Electric Ballroom, Holts Shoe Shop, the tube station itself, the shop formerly known as Rock On, part of Camden Market and the HSBC bank.
Next-up was Jonathan Young with a detailed and lengthy review of the first of three Dangermen gigs at the Scala. The full set list for the 28th June gig was as follows:
1 Danger man (High wire)
2 It Mek
3 Shame and Scandal
4 You Keep me hanging on
5 Girl (why don’t you answer to your name)
6 Skylarking
7 Taller
8 Lose a Good Thing
9 The Prince
10 Lola
11 So Much Trouble
12 The Israelites
13 John Jones
14 Chase The Devil
15 Night Boat To Cairo
16 Papa’s got a Brand new Pig Bag (with shouty Chas lyrics)
Not to be outdone with Jonathan’s write-up, we also featured reviews from subscribers Dan Fossard and Steve Saunders, who gave us their take on what sounded like a truly fantastic evening.
Moving on into the issue, and we presented details of the latest offers currently running on the Warrior Clothing web site. If you were after some new clothes, Warrior certainly had (and still have!) an impressive selection.
Elsewhere we had news of how you could import the new Dangerman album from France (if you weren’t willing to wait for the UK release), a transcription of the Dangermen album reviews from a number of online sources, details of rare items currently for sale on Ebay, and if that wasn’t enough, Chris Carter-Pegg gave us his list of the top 30 rare or unusual Madness items that you should always keep an eye out for.
20 years ago…
Issue Number 60 – Sunday 2nd July to Saturday 8th July 2000
We kicked off this week’s issue with news in from Emma Southerby who reported that Wizard Inn’s were planning to open a new pub in Upminster later in the year. Pretty much everything had been decided upon apart from one important thing, the name of the place!
With that in mind, Wizard Inn’s decided to organise a `Name the pub Campaign`. One Ian Dury fan by the name of Bob decided that as this was Ian’s old stomping ground, the pub should be named `The Ian Dury`, and why not?
Bob asked if we’d be kind enough to get in touch with Wizard Inn’s to put down our votes for `The Ian Dury`.
MIS Online and TMML subscriber, Emma Southerby was just one of the many people who placed their vote.
Next we passed things over to Madness Unsugged editor, Vince Carden who provided us with details of what might be appearing in the next Fatboy Slim single and what you may be reading in a future edition of his excellent fanzine.
Moving on, and it was on to Simsey, with his list of who won what at the recent Rhythmstock event. His list of winners was now 90% complete, but still needed a couple of gaps filling in. Were you able to help him out?
Back to the Madness Unsugged fanzine, and we were pleased to have been given permission to re-print one of the articles from a recent edition of the ‘zine. The article covered two tales from members of bands who had played support to Madness in the Eighties. We had Jo Bostock of the Jo Boxers, followed by Adele Winter of The Friday Club, the last signing to the Two Tone label.
Following this we moved over to some Glastonbury news in from Mr.G, who told us that Reef paid tribute to the one and only Ian Dury.
Frontman Gary Stringer told the audience: ‘When we said we were going to play this festival, Ian Dury was on the bill. We were really excited, you know.’ He paused, then shouted: ‘Come on! Let’s hear it for Ian Dury!’ and the band launched into Ian Dury And The Blockheads’ ‘Sex And Drugs And Rock and Roll’, to a rapturous response from the audience.
Rob Hazelby
MIS Feature
Completist Madness
A new facebook group popped up this week in fandom, cornering a rarer section of the collection hobbyist.
It’s helmed by Chris Carter Pegg, the runner of the already impressive website shop Retro Madness http://www.retro-madness.co.uk/
Completist Madness
” This group is for collectors of official music and memorabilia items produced by the band Madness.
It is a place for collectors to discuss rare items, new releases and to share photos of unusual Madness treasures.”
States the groups opening message. So much like Bootleg Madness that seeks to only exist for the topic of rare recordings shared for free, this new group is only interested in the specific’s of collecting with a lean towards the rarer details, and not a normal discussion group for the bands general history of activity.
“So that we retain this focus on rare memorabilia we do have a few strict rules. There are dozens of excellent Madness groups on Facebook where you can post pictures of selfies with the band, pictures of signed items, pictures of your collection of Madness tattoos and pictures of items of unofficial Madness themed clothing, but not here.
Please only pictures or topics of rare official Madness releases, merchandise or other unusual memorabilia. Photos of unofficial items will be removed unless they are genuinely vintage and interesting (i.e. 30-40 years old).
We warmly welcome all new members and really hope you enjoy your stay.”
So go hunt down this new group if you think it sounds like your cup of tea or you’ve a rare item to display.
We aren’t going to give you a direct link to the group. Hunt it out, yourself like a skilled collector would or discuss it with your Madness collecting friend as maybe they are already a member and can add you. This seems fitting for such a collective!
Impressive items already displayed have included American label promo clocks, “Sun and The Rain” rain macs, rare T-shirts, Suggs air beds, production cassettes, varied print world records, “The Harder They Come” cassette singles, solo band promo’s, vomics, posters, patches, beer pump clips, and even an old Woolworth’s bag!
The “Driving in my car/Riding on my bike”, bike Horn, was a joy to see also.
Suggs talks to Steve Lamacq just before his album club show played the whole of the One Step Beyond album on Wednesday this week.
Starting with Bed and breakfast man, Suggs talks about how loafers aren’t mentioned anymore. A popular live song they still play.
Suggs first gig was The Who. A legendarily loud concert. He talks about meeting the band and his first school. Because it was a comprehensive and grammar school merge it had both strict and hippy like teachers.
He talks about hanging out with the people who became Madness at Hampstead party’s and then at bands like bazooka joe. Early teddy boy fights when they would play songs like “someone getting their F’ing head kicked in tonight”.
He never wanted to be a singer but said he had enough of something to make it. They started getting a crowd of mates seeing them. God save The Dublin Castle, which is still there, that was the turning point playing there. He tells the melody maker story of mike advertising for a new singer.
The Prince plays from two tone. The Specials playing is discussed. The Hope and anchor gigs. And recording the first single. John Peel playing the tune was an unforgettable moment. Top of the pops and chart climbing. Stiff records signing them after his Wedding. One step beyond being edited. The single then plays.
The closest following of mates inevitably fall away a bit when you get a new audience when being on Top of the pops. The early album is easy because you’ve being playing the songs live. Dave Robinson And Clive Langer had debate in what songs made it.
They recorded at TW3. The Specials left tape cuts on the floor from their album recording and Madness played them to eavesdrop. They did three songs a day for around ten days at most.
The band all wrote songs because they were lazy so shared the work load around, and always acted as democracy.
The full album played on the station following the interview.
Jonathan Young
Time
We do try and give you a bit of extra reading in our outro whenever possible, and this issue is no different.
Earlier in the week we were contacted by subscriber Robert Farace, who pointed in the direction of the following link:
There’s an amazing selection of photos at the above link and while the majority are punk there are a couple of 2-tone related snaps accompanied by an interesting article.
