We kick off this week’s MIS with new of several more gig re-shuffles as four of Suggs’ King Cnut dates are quietly moved into 2021. While it’s a shame for fans that the performances won’t be taking place this year, it’s great to see that the shows will still take place.
Check out our “Showtimes” section where we’ve highlighted those four gigs which have been shunted out of this current year.
On to some Nick Woodgate news now. Nick contacted us earlier in the week to give us the heads-up that his band “The Jojo Man Band” will be releasing their new single “Dr. No”, on the 18th September.
We’re told that the single will be released for steaming and download across multiple digital formats and that there will be a lot of promotion in the run up to its launch.
Check out the song and the video by pointing your web browser over to: https://bit.ly/3jGQOPe
Please have a listen and leave a comment. Nick appreciates any and all feedback; as long as it’s constructive, of course!
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 846 – Sunday 26th July to Saturday 1st August 2015
The day before this issue went out, Madness appeared on ITV, coming 8th in the nation’s poll of favourite 80’s Number one.
Song writers Barson & Thompson were on hand (as well as producer Clive Langer) to talk about recording the song, the video locations and their inspiration. Toyah chipped in, calling the band “naughty boys” for writing about Condoms!
If it wasn’t for Bonnie Tyler and the like placed higher they might have got a fitting 7th, but it was not to be.
On to The Ska Orchestra this week, and if you wanted to hear that band’s sparklingly new tunes live we advised you to get along to the in place to be in London this coming Saturday as the band were booked to perform at the Highbury Islington Garage for their big gig.
Naturally, there was an MIS Mad Meet planned to take place in The Legendary Hope and Anchor pub. The event kicked off early in the evening and we wanted you to join us.
Over in “Sign of the Times” Woody appeared on BRFM radio, and revealed to host Dan James that although not officially announced, he’d be performing his new solo album “In Your Mind” in full at the forthcoming Minehead Weekender towards the end of the year.
Coverage of Woody and his recently released album continued in this section with glowing reviews of his “In Your Mind” album from The Scottish Herald and the Fred Perry Sub Culture web site, while we pointed you to a link of Woody’s interview on BBC Radio Stoke where he discussed music of various types with presenter James Watt.
Next, we moved on to our “MIS Feature” where we covered the new Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra songs. Subscriber Nicky Evans had been kind enough to send in a full set list from the band’s last gig at the Llangollen festival. This set covered 9 of 13 tracks that the band had reportedly put down recently for their new album.
In our obligatory “Time” outro we reported that Woody’s “In Your Mind” album was now available to stream on Spotify.
We finished was a snippet from Tracey Belland. Tracey was one of Woody’s ex bandmates from Voice of the Beehive, and she gave a nice mention of Woody’s new album on the “I Love Voice of The Beehive” Facebook Group.
“Woody was a huge part of the band and because of the nature of his work with his brother and his musical projects. He brought many Madness fans to our band and I would like to repay the favour by exposing his current projects through the Beehive grapevine.”
10 years ago…
Issue Number 586 – Sunday 25th July – Saturday 31st July 2010
It may have been well and truly Summer for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, but plans were already afoot in the Madness camp for the forthcoming Christmas. Yes, this was the week that tickets for Madness at London Earl’s Court on the 17th of December, went on sale.
At this point in time we didn’t know if this would be a one-off December gig or if a fully fledged UK tour was in the planning. Only time would tell.
On to the articles, and we got these underway with a lengthy review of Big 10 at The Dublin Castle. The band performed there on the 17th July, and thankfully for us, the one and only Mick Jenner was in attendance and had knocked up a write-up.
Next it we featured an article from thisiskent.co.uk, who decided that as it was almost 18 years to the day since the first Madstock took place, it was time to remind us just what went on. What did this have to do with Kent? Well, further on in the article the paper interviewed Suggs, who had a beach hut down there.
“I visit Whitstable most weekends. My wife was one of the last to be born in the town and her family still live in Tankerton.
When I was 18 I did all my courting there. It is one of the few places on the coast to have retained its character over the past 30 years. I was always amazed to find my mother-in-law going for a swim in the sea every day.
When our two daughters, Viva and Scarlett, were small we took them to Whitstable, too. They are two urban kids but they were brought up to appreciate the sea and they love it.
My wife’s family has a beach hut there. It’s been in the family for 40 years, long before they became like the crown jewels. It’s a beautiful place. I can’t think of anything better than sitting in the hut, when everyone else has left the beach, and watching the sunset”.
Moving on, and it was over to Retro Madness who were back with yet another one of their amazing offers.
It wasn’t an item you’d normally think of buying during the warm summer months, but they’d managed to obtain the last remaining stock of “Madness London: official fleece style embroidered scarves from 2006, and were selling them for £7.99 including postage and packing. An amazing price considering they were origninally £20!
It was over to Scarborough next, as the Scarborough Evening News were reporting that Madness would be performing at the open air theatre in North Bay at some point between the 17th and 19th September. Tickets were due to go on sale the Friday after this issue of the MIS went out.
We went over to York after this, as the York Press reviewed the recent York Racecourse gig;
IT WAS complete Madness at York Racecourse as thousands of fans donned fez hats and turned out to see Suggs and his ska band perform.
The pop star obviously hadn’t worn his lucky baggy trousers because, as he told the bouncing crowds, he had won nothing at the races themselves.
“What a beautiful town, what a beautiful racecourse, what a shame about the horses,” he said.
Later in this issue our very own Graham Whitfield also reviewed the same gig, offering a more fan-based reflection on the evening.
“Madness really had the audience in the palm of their hand, with everyone as far as you could see joining in with enthusiasm. From that point of view, it was as good a Madness gig as any I’ve been to.”
On to re-issues, and the next item in the Madness re-issues series was to be Wonderful, which had a penciled-in release date of the 6th September. The tracklist of this two disc release had now been made available, with the excellent bonuses consisted of numerous b-sides and Our House tracks.
Continuing on an album theme, and we (via an article from Music Week) were pleased to report that Union Square were now celebrating the fact that the Total Madness album had passed a whopping 100,000 sales.
The album, which was released on 21st September last year, was supported by an extensive marketing campaign and TV advertising, catapulting it to number 11 in the UK Chart and helping it stay in the top 75 for 14 weeks.
We brought this issue to a close with a number of Dutch Wikipedia Madness related kinks from Tour Madness’ Jermaine, and pointed you in the direction of YouTube where Big 10 drummer, Dan Fossard, had uploaded footage of the band’s recent gig at the South Cotswold Beer and Music Festival.
15 years ago…
Issue number 324 – Sunday 24th July to Saturday 30th July 2005
Technology is a wonderful thing. For those of us unable to get along to the Dutch Dangermen gig on Tuesday evening the live web cast provided by FabChannel was a real godsend, beaming out full coverage of the gig across the planet.
However, while many of us were no doubt grateful of this live audio and video stream, it looked as if many people who were at the show itself didn’t quite get what they expected.
Long-time MIS subscriber reported that whilst fans may have expected to have heard one or two of the new Dangermen Sessions tracks, they were also looking forward to hearing some of Madness’ classic back catalogue. Unfortunately, this was not to be, and only one or two Madness tracks were aired that night.
Here’s just a small snippet of what Jacco had to say at the time;
“All in all I’m not saying that the Dangermen sessions are crap: No. I even like them, but it is not what the audience came for and what they could have expected.
Artistic freedom is allowed, but not the smartest move the band could have made. Could the Dutchies honestly have expected Madness?? YES of course! less than 14 days ago they toured England as Madness..”
Moving on, and last week we mentioned that the MIS web site now hosted a discography section. In this issue we took a closer look and revealed what was currently online and how it was organised. It transpired that the discography was the brainchild of MIs subscriber Rob Wheeler, and co-editor Simon Roberts, who had both worked on evenings and weekends to get this up and running, and what a marvel it was.
Following this we re-printed some of the best questions and answers that had popped-up in Chris’ Cupboard over the past few weeks. As usual, you had to take everything Chris told us with a pinch of salt, but there were some nuggets to be found amongst his jokes and witty remarks.
Further in to this issue we have Jonathan Young with a heads-up on a “Best of the Tube” DVD, which was originally released on the 30th of May, but for some reason had been withdrawn, and was now due to be released on the 31st of July.
Here’s a small segment of Jonathan’s original report;
“Apart from plenty of great 80’s pop and presenting from Jools Holland and Paula Yates, Disc 2 was (hopeful still is) to feature Madness – It must be love from an appearance on the show. And indeed Madness appear within the screen montage on the original cover design.
This comprehensive six-hour DVD has been selected and edited by the original producers of THE TUBE to flow as two seamless three-hour editions”.
Jonathan’s reporting continued in the next article, where we were treated to a full review of the recent Dangermen gig at Camden’s Dublin Castle. This 15-track set saw two encores, bringing it up to a very respectable 19 tracks. It certainly sounded like a night to remember. Or at least ‘try’ and remember!
20 years ago…
Issue number 63 – Sunday 23rd July to Saturday 29th July 2000
Since the success of Scatty’s brilliantly organised Ian Dury Day, and Lee Swandale’s top organisational skills before and during the recent Crunch! meet-up in London, there had been much talk on The Total Madness Mailing List with regards to a `2001 Madness Weekend`. As you could probably imagine, it was early days yet, but already the response seemed to be very good indeed and it looked that with or without a Madness concert to organise it around, it would surely be a success.
MIS subscriber Bex, gave us the heads-up on the book “Showbusiness”, by radio DJ Mark Radcliffe, in which he talks about go to see his first ska gig, which, yes, featured Madness.
Bex kindly typed-up the copyright infringing snippet of the book, and throwing caution to the wind we went ahead and printed it. The lawyers stayed away, and hopefully a few more people went out and bought the book.
Moving-on, and we temporarily passed the MIS reigns over to Steve Turner of Madness tribute Los Palmas 6, where he reported on the band’s recent trip across the Channel to Munster, Gutersloh, Krefeld, Gutersloh, Paderborn, Monchengladbach and Osnabruck. All in all, their tour took them on a massive 1900 mile round trip!
Crunch’s very own Tad had his own article to follow Steve’s tour review, where he thanked those who attended the recent Crunch gig, and where he also gave a big thank you to Lee Swandale for all his hard work in promoting the band.
Simon Roberts stepped on board for the next article, where he reported on a new live Madness album. Entitled “Madness – Live at The BBC”, this German release would be limited to a mere 500 pressings. Better get in there quick!
It was back to the recent Crunch! gig for the next article, where Spanish subscriber Mikel Echeberria, gave us his views on the night down at The Underworld in Camen Town. Managing to meet Lee and the rest of the band (thanks to Lee Swandale) made not only Mikel’s night, but the whole trip.
We finished off this week’s issue with a detailed look at issue 9 of Juliet Bulmer’s ska fanzine – Ska Mad. After reading through earlier issues we were of the opinion that it was without a doubt the best issue yet, and we were pleased that Juliet had decided to continue working on the ‘zine.
Rob Hazelby
Time
That’s just about it for this news-starved edition of the MIS.
We’ll be back next Sunday for the latest roundup of Madness and Madness related news. As always; if you feel there’s something we should be covering, please do send the info in.
