Following our mention of Dr Martin’s Boots and Peter Capaldi’s costume for Doctor Who, which was unveiled last week, we can now mention that the Loakes brand of boot were bought by Mr Capaldi himself. And where from? In none other than The British British Boot company in Camden Town

The British Boot Company were formerly Holts Shoe Shop and originally featured in the Complete Madness video album compilation. This was the very place where band watched themselves upstairs on TV, when they appeared on Top of The Pops for the first time.

We’re pretty certain the incoming Doctor will surely kick some ass come the new series.

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

***NEW*** July 5th 2014, en Normandie au Festival Beauregard

July 13th 2014 Festival Musilac, France http://www.musilac.com/

***NEW*** July 29th 2014, Theatre Jean Deschamps, 1100 Carcassonne City, Festival De Carcassonne

November 21st – 24th 2014 – Minehead – Earlybird tickets can be ordered here: http://www.bigweekends.com/splash-pages/madness2014.aspx

For tickets also see links via: www.madness.co.uk

Our thanks go to the French MIS team for the Normandie and Carcassonne dates: https://www.facebook.com/groups/frenchmis

Suggs Live

April 2014

2nd – Newbury Corn Exchange
3rd – Loughborough Town Hall
4th – Wakefield Theatre Royal
5th – Southport The Atkinson Theatre
6th – Runcorn The Brindley
8th – Mansfield Palace Theatre
9th – Stamford Corn Exchange
11th – Isle of Wight Shaklin Theatre
12th – Aldershot Princes Hall
13th – Wimborne Tivoli Theatre
15th – Bury St Edmonds The Apex
16th – Tunbridge Wells, Assembly Hall
17th – Stroud Subscription Rooms
22nd – Chelmsford Civic Theatre
23rd – Stevenage Gordon Craig Theatre
24th – Redditch Palace Theatre
25th – Malvern Forum Theatre
26th – Margate Winter Gardens
27th – Northampton Derngate
29th – Bolton Albert Halls
30th – Darlington Civic Theatre

May 2014

1st – Newark Palace Theatre
2nd – Redhill Harlequin Theatre
3rd – Watford Colosseum
4th – Yeovil Octagon Theatre
10th – DUBLIN Olympia Theatre
13th – Harlow Playhouse
14th – Lowestoft Marina Theatre
16th – Leamington Royal Spa Centre
17th – Jersey Opera House
19th – Milton Keynes The Stables
20th – Winchester Theatre Royal
21st – Epsom Playhouse
22nd – Kettering Lighthouse Theatre

The Magic Brothers

Monday 3rd March, Dublin Castle, Camden, London
Tuesday 11th March, Dublin Castle, Camden, London
Thursday 27th March, Dublin Castle, Camden, London
Thursday 3rd April, Dublin Castle, Camden, London
Thursday 24th April, Dublin Castle, Camden, London

Ticket info at: http://www.bugbearbookings.com/dublin-castle/

Suggs and Friends

The charity fund raising evening “Suggs and Friends” makes a welcome return this coming March.  The 2014 fundraiser takes place on March 20th at 6.30pm, with champagne reception and auction.

The £150 donation tickets for pancreatic cancer gain entry to the Porchester Hall event in London W2. There’s no announcement yet as to who is joining Suggs at the exclusive event.

Roger Daltrey has been added to the line-up of this evening.

The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra

Thursday 13th March, Dingwalls, Camden Town, London
More info regarding the above on Facebook at: http://on.fb.me/1mKWGkX

Ska Orchestra web site: www.ltso.mis-online.net

Deaf School

No further gigs or events at present. Keep an eye on http://deafschoolmusic.com for more information.

Near Jazz Experience

Monday February 10th, 7.30pm, University of Chicago Centre, 6 Rue Thomas Mann. 13eme, Paris.

Louis Vause – Midnight in Havanna

Saturday 22nd Feb, The Riverhouse Barn, Walton on Thames
Wednesday 26th Feb, The Speakeasy downstairs at Aces and Eights, Fortess Road, Tufnell Park, London NW5

BUY IT

If money’s currently burning a hole in your pocket then perhaps we can help with your dilemma.

The Specialized EP Featuring Lee Thompson

A 4 track vinyl EP featuring Lee’s track from the first specialized album and tracks by the Valves, Rhoda Dakar and Nick Welsh.

Should be in stock this coming week.

Thanks go to Chuck Wren and Jump Up Records, Stan from A&R Texas (pressing plant), and Mike Schneider of Indigo Iguana (design).

LOOK SO GOOD YA COULD LICK EM…. Will be available via

www.specializedproject.co.uk

The Specialized Big One 2. Live DVD.

For those wanting a copy of the DVD of the Big One 2 event we can reveal that you can now pre-order your copy. This will be limited edition and available into the new year. As is the normal spec with Specialized, all proceeds go to the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Welcome to Specialized Project official website

LTSO, Bangarang, Featuring Dawn Penn

Single release date mid February.

The Magic Line Album * Out Now! *

Signed T-shirt packages and a deluxe edition.

http://www.magicbrothers.com/topspin-store/all/

A range of Magic Brothers T-shirts, Polo Shirts are now available to buy.

The CD album is available via Amazon and the download via iTunes contains an interview with Phil Jupitus talking to Woody about the album.  But if you buy the album via the official band site you can choose a signed option or bundle.

If you’ve a spare £75 and are really into the magic, then there are 25 packs going fast that include all of this….

The Magic Line Collectors Pack – Limited Edition of 25 includes; The Magic Line Signed CD Album. The Magic Line Digital Download. The Magic Line T Shirt. Woodys Drumsticks Signed. Nicks Guitar Paick Signed. Copy of Album Lyrics. “Thank You” Phone Call From Woody & Nick.

Our thanks go to Paul Smart for the above

Suggs “The Close” Signed Book

Suggs is one of pop music’s most enduring and likeable figures. Written with the assured style and wit of a natural raconteur, this hugely entertaining and insightful autobiography takes you from his colourful early life on a North London council estate, through the heady early days of Punk and 2-Tone, to the eighties, where Madness became the biggest selling singles band of the decade. Along the way he tells you what it’s like to grow up in sixties Soho, go globetrotting with your best mates, to make a dead pigeon fly and cause an earthquake in Finsbury Park.

Suggs is a singer, songwriter, DJ, actor and TV presenter. He is perhaps best known as lead singer with Madness, who have had 24 top-twenty hits and continue to tour. Suggs lives in Camden, London.

– Features unseen and exclusive lyrics.
- 352 pages.
- Hardback.

http://www.recordstore.co.uk/search.html?term=suggs

Louis Vause – Midnight in Havana

“Oh dear. I’m alive..!” Pianist Louis Vause has always said that his albums are “Gouged out of him by circumstance” but his third album ‘Midnight In Havana’really is a case in point.

Recorded as a valedictory set, a swansong if you like, after he was told that the onset of cancer meant that he had mere months to live, the completion of the work coincided with his liver transplant and the all clear. He was in the pink. The same could not be said for his credit cards which had covered Louis’ uncharacteristically cavalier spending on recording costs.

http://www.cadizmusic.com/2007/index.php?location=/web/Catalogue/CADIZCD119

Mark Adamson of the Deaf School Website gives us an exclusive quote or two from Suggs, on the forthcoming Deaf School Book.

Deaf School – the story is told at last!

“For me, the gigs Deaf School have done recently have been some of the best I’ve seen by any band.”

So writes Suggs in his foreword to a book, published this month amid a flurry of Deaf School gigs and other Book Launch events, charting the creation and career of a band that influenced so many artists that followed – and that still fills venues 40 years after their debut at the Liverpool School of Art Christmas Dance.

Deaf School had a huge impact on Madness (Suggs: “Back in my youth I met some characters who were a right bunch, but what we had in common was that we loved Deaf School.”) – not least, of course, because guitarist Clive Langer’s became Madness producer and because Suggs married Deaf School singer Bette Bright!

Written by leading rock music writer, author and broadcaster Paul du Noyer, a lifetime Deaf School fan, Deaf School: The Non-Stop Pop Art Punk Rock Party, is published later this month by the Liverpool University Press, priced at £14.99. Accompanying the publication of the book is a Deaf School exhibition, featuring original art works by band members, posters, photos, rare films of live performances, band stage costumes and much more.

The book is available from Deaf School’s website at www.deafschoolmusic.com

MAD NOT CANCER

In recent years, Roger Daltery has managed to get both Madness and The Specials to perform at The Royal Albert hall in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust. After The Specials’ performance Paul Willo and Graham Lambert had the idea of keeping the momentum going.

In 2012, both established artists and newcomers were invited to record their version of a Specials classic. An album was compiled and various fund raising gigs were held culminating in a three day festival in Sandford, Dorset. Over 20 bands performed including a super group made of 2 Tone legends like Rico, Lynval Golding, Roddie Byers, Horace Panter and Charlie Anderson.

The event was such a success that a second year was organised, this time with artists covering songs by The Beat. ”Beat Teenage Cancer” was the theme and headlining the festival were Lee Thompsons Ska Orchestra and The Beat themselves.

Year 3 finds Madness the subject and as we speak an album is being produced of unique versions of The Nutty Boys classics. There will be many fund raising gigs throughout the year and again a 3 day event in Dorset in November.

Accommodation starts at just £80 which includes all entertainment and over 20 bands and DJs. More information can be found at the website and some big announcements will follow as the year progresses.

Welcome to Specialized Project official website

Regards,

Mick Jenner

MIS FEATURE – THE NUTTY BAR

Come and join the nutty bar, one of the many places on facebook to hangout and talk Madness.

https://www.facebook.com/thenuttybar

The difference here is that this is about an actual bar opening this spring in Marbella on The Costa Del Sol. Also the page is currently packed with interesting stories from long time fan “Wandsworth Harry” from back in the day and a ton of interesting personal photographs too. Check Them out – we’ve reproduced a couple of those stories here, and were happy to raise a toast and let the boys tell you all about the forthcoming resort…

A HOUSE OF FUN IN THE SUN

The Nuttiest Bar Around Dedicated To Camden’s Finest! A Madness themed bar run by Madness Fans for Madness Fans the World over.

“The project was in my mind for ages and has only just come to fruition towards the tail end of 2013. I met up with Lee and the rest of the band in December and let them know my intentions. Several of them have offered memorabilia and when the time is right on their busy agendas there should be a few guest appearances from time to time.

Wanted to do everything by the book permission wise and after a lot of detective work managed to track down the person who had drawn the image of Lee on the Work Rest And Play EP to be allowed to incorporate into our logo. Contacted Teflon too who had drawn the 2tone Nutty Dancers which is going to be a feature in the night club part of the bar and have negotiated deals for use of their images for marketing purposes and merchandising.

Lee has been really supportive so initially my first intention is to get the Ska Orchestra over shortly after opening. Probably going to have a soft launch with local people attending around the 4th of April and a proper big party opening later that month around Easter time.

The location is bang in the centre of Marbella at the denominated Sports Port (not to be confused with Puerto Banus where apart from a lot of posers and wanna be’s you can be paying a minimum of 8 euros a pint upwards!)

We shall have more favourable prices in more in line with the prices you might find at The Dublin Castle and we shall have a bar with outside terrace open for breakfast until late evening and a night club which shall be open until seven in the morning where the gigs shall take place, hopefully regular tribute bands apart from others who have already shown an interest in coming over including Swagga, The Universal to name a few. Rhoda Dakar and Darren Bennett have mentioned they would happily do a bit of DJ ing as has Lee himself so things are looking pretty positive with the Facebook page reaching 800 likes within the first month.”

Visit our page and click ‘Like’ for regular updates on your wall.

MARBELLA BAR

“Back in the Summer of 2006, Sax Man Lee “Kix” Thompson approached Wandsworth Harry to introduce the Nutty Boys onstage before their gig at the bullring in Marbella….

Harry had had the privilege of touring the length and breath of the UK, as well as across Europe and the USA with the band and was happy to oblige with Thommo’s request. Lee had suggested H came on stage dressed as a bullfighter to do the honours but Harry decided he wouldn’t be able to get into those tight trousers and opted instead for a pair of Union Jack swimming shorts and flip flops along with a fancy dress outfit including a plastic Sax hanging from his hip!

After the show, Harry had the idea to open a Madness themed bar in Puerto Banus only to find that the premises he had located had licensing issues so put the project on the back burner until now.

Having managed to secure the funding at the tale end of 2013, The Nutty Bar shall be opening late March / early April of 2014 for all to enjoy in the sunshine of Marbella on the Costa Del Sol!

So get ready to feel the heat and start to move your feet to the Rockinest Rock Steady Beat at The Nuttiest Bar in Town!

Apart from planned live performances, the dance floor shall be available to skank and dance your hearts out to your favourite 2Tone, Ska, Reggae, Mod tunes and the Heavy Heavy Monster Sound of Madness.”

A COUPLE OF STORIES FROM THE LANDLORD…

“December 1988 – Thatcher had got in for a third term, Chelsea were in the 2nd Division AGAIN, and outside it was raining cats and dogs for a change….. Thought to myself, sod this, I’m off to Sunny Spain and had a surprise party thrown at …my gaff in Archway where a lot of old friends put in an appearance before jetting of to the Sunshine…

I had bumped into Suggs and Cathal at the offi up the road where we stocked up with our favourite bottles of Becks before walking back to the flat where the party was in full swing.  One notable absence was Mr Lee Thompson whose missus Debs said she had left him in Holloway Road a few hours back and hadn’t seen him since. Apparently he had thumbed a lift with an unknown Irishman and ended up at The Archway Tavern before subsequently being thrown out by the landlord for getting up on the pool table and doing a Nutty Dance…

My mate David from La Coruña was present so I introduced him to everyone and he got chatting with Debs so he could practice his English and she told him she was waiting for her husband and that when he showed up she would ask David to have a dance with her to see if Lee took any notice.

Most people would normally knock at the front door to get in, but Lee being Lee, decided to clamber over an 8 foot high fence before falling ungracefully onto the grass in the back garden. When Debs caught sight of him, she whisked David onto the dance floor and starting getting jiggy wiv it saying “There’s my husband” David looked round confused as he couldn’t see anyone heading towards him. Debs pointed to the floor where Lee was dragging himself on all fours. David laughed and said hello to him, and Lee looked up, growled at him like a Tiger, then disappeared into the kitchen still walking like a feline…

This was David’s first time in company of The Nutty Boys and could now understand why the lads were called Madness!

——-

“The Maddie Boys were joined for the 1980 European tour by The Lambrettas who were a great bunch of lads. We became friends and I introduced them on stage on a number of occassions. The tour literally speaking “kicked off” in Turin at a basketball arena with a capacity of 6,000 people. However, the practice in Italy of letting anyone in without a ticket to avoid riots in the streets meant that there were an additional 3,000 in the stadium so the atmosphere was more than tense.

Someone jumped up onstage before The Lambos came on to give a political speech and we were warned backstage not to even attempt removing said person from the mike stand and just let him get on with it if we didn’t want any trouble…..

What followed next was total lunacy, the poor lads from The Lambrettas coming off stage at the end of their set soaked to the bone through the constant spitting which only stopped half way through the Madness set when Cathal stepped to edge of the stage and pointed menancingly at the culprits.

During the encore about fifty radicals came round to the back of the stage area about six foot above us tearing down the tarpaulin behind us and began spitting at the road crew which is when I personally lost the plot and picked up a folded metal riser stand and went for those who were about to invade the stage before being dragged away by an astute Barry Sinclair, our able Tour Manager.

I wasn´t allowed back onto the stage until the arena was cleared and after a deserved bollocking for my stupid action which could have caused a complete riot was told that in Italy, if they liked you, spitting was a sign of appreciation. Complete and Utter Madness me thinks…..”

——

Attentionnnnnn!!! One of my fave tracks on the debut One Step Beyond album was Land Of Hope And Glory, especially watching the interaction onstage between Lee, Suggs and Cathal during the live shows. Whilst in Ireland I shared a tent out in…

the fields with Lee and we were up all night as he told me tales of his time when he had ended up with the naughty boys in nasty schools to which the song is a reference to.

The tent had some natural light from the full moon that night when all of a sudden a huge shadow hovered above and the tent began shaking violently.

We both jumped out of our sleeping bags and went outside to find a massive Cow chewing on Lee’s soggy socks he had left out to dry on the tent pole!

The bugger had come over from one of the adjoining fields, no doubt attracted by the aroma and in situations like these the best thing is to Keep Calm And Listen To Madness…..

Hasta Mañana Amigos!!!

H

Like the facebook page for more of these stories…  And Updates.

https://www.facebook.com/thenuttybar

We particularly like the photographs of the nutty mobile, and the comparison photographs of Harry in his jacket back in the day, and the appearance in cartoon form back on the MIS comic in the 80’s.  With a landlord like this onboard we look forward to hearing about the opening of the bar later this year.  A Bar in the Sun. Sounds like a shining glory to us. Cheers.

Wandsworth Harry /  Mark Smith  / Jonathan Young

LIVE INTENSIFIED

Blow The Bloody Doors Off at The Barbican

The Terry Edwards Barbican Concert this week featured members of Madness in his band, playing film scores from four Michael Caine Films. So, how did it go? Were the doors blown off? Read on and find out.

This was a charming, cheering, life-affirming evening of music drawn from unlikely sources and Terry Edwards is to be congratulated for pulling it all together. Despite a city-wide tube strike and grinding transport misery on the night, there was a packed house and a highly enthusiastic audience for this gig.

Mark Bedford on upright bass laid the foundations in tight and splendid fashion.  On Britannia and Mr Bridger the elegant, baroque prettiness evoked by the string section and harpsichord was momentarily dismantled by Mark Bedford’s sweet, thundering bass before coming together again. Bedford’s slinky, strutting tomcat bass then led into a funky Greensleeves and All That Jazz.

The Main Theme from Get Carter saw Rose Moore’s delirious dulcimer back with a vengeance, tasty ripe bass from Bedford and addictive slapping tablas from Rochford, with Seamus Beaghen’s chiming, grooving Hammond organ riding over it all. Meanwhile Terry Edwards was providing impressive Miles Davis-style muted trumpet — right down to playing with his back to the audience.

The full article can be found here:

http://www.londonjazznews.com/2014/02/review-blow-bloody-doors-off-at-barbican.html

THE ENGLISH BEAT UK TOUR MARCH 2014

We realise The English Beat aren’t Madness or a Madness spin-off, but we’re certain that a number of you may be interested in the following. Saying that, it is in keeping with our 2014 Specialized coverage.

Dave Wakeling, lead singer and founder member of The Beat, is bringing The English Beat to the UK for a tour in March.

Dave is also a Specialized Amabassador, and the driving force behind the Two Tone/ska supergroup that will cover “Our House” for Specialized 3 – Mad Not Cancer (http://www.specializedproject.co.uk/). It’s just been announced that Specialized president, and of course member of The Specials, Roddy Radiation will be joining the band on the tour – so early airings of the “Our House” cover may be in the offing.

Dates as follows:

March 7th – Picturedome – Holmfirth
March 8th – O2 Academy2 – Liverpool
March 9th – O2 Academy2 – Birmingham
March 10th – O2 ABC2 – Glasgow
March 12th – O2 Academy Islington – London
March 13th – O2 Academy2 – Oxford
March 14th – O2 Academy – Bristol
March 16th – Skamouth Weekender – Great Yarmouth
March 18th – Galashiels Volunteer Hall – Galashiels
March 19th – Think Tank – Newcastle

Tickets for all shows (except Skamouth Weekender) available here (and all the usual other outlets):
http://www.ents24.com/uk/tour-dates/the-english-beat

Skamouth Weekender bookings here:
http://www.vhpweekenders.co.uk/skamouth-march.html

There’s also a chance to win tickets to each of the shows here: http://www.fredperrysubculture.com/win/see-the-english-beat-live-in-the-uk

If you’re going to London and already have a ticket to the show then there’s a chance to win a prize to include upgraded tickets to meet and greet the band plus two band t-shirts and a CD box set by just answering a very simple question that can be found under the “Competitions” section of the O2 Academy Islington Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/o2academyislington/app_266727950026001 (open to ticket holders only)

Graham Yates

SIGN OF THE TIMES

Woody, Magic Brothers & Specialized on Shoreditch Radio

Source: Tony Bugbear – http://bit.ly/LLBkIf

Check out this excellent podcast from the week, courtesy of Bugbear, who run the gigs at The Dublin Castle and also a rock and roll radio show.

Ahead of Magic Brothers dates, and also forthcoming shows by Specialized at the legendary Camden pub, Tony from Bugbear spoke to both Woody and Graham Lambert from Specialized.

The greatest reveal from Woody in a fun interview is stuff about his 70’s musical tastes and the news that as his mum worked for the BBC he often looked after Play School’s Big Ted and Little Ted!!!!

Hear all about The Magic Brothers band and forthcoming gigs, plus details of their second album. You can also hear about the Specailized project including a preview of the Valentine’s day single.

All this and Wasps!!!

Danny Baker’s Rockin’ Decades

Source: The Radio Times / Daren West for sending it in

BBC4, Tuesday 11th February, 9:00pm
Repeated Wednesday 12th February at 2:45am
Duration: 1 hour

Along with guests Pauline Black of the Selecter, writer and performer Adam Buxton and journalist Mark Ellen, Danny Baker celebrates British rock in the 1980s. With the popularisation of the synthesiser, the arrival of Goths, New Romantics and 2 Tone, the definition of what constituted rock was stretched to the limit.

Madness Weekender Review in Issue 9 of Classic Pop

MIS subscriber Ian Beatty has been in touch to let us know that issue 9 of Classic Pop features a review of the Madness Weekender.

Here’s Ian;

“The review is great but you have to look twice to work out what isn’t right.

Somehow the review has captured 2012 and 2013 in one review.”

Most odd.

I REMEMBER WAY BACK WHEN

This week, MIS co-editor Rob Hazelby, goes back 5 years to issue 510, and the week of Sunday 8th February to Saturday 14th February 2009, and then back 10 years to issue 248 and the week of Sunday 8th February to Saturday 14th February 2004.

5 years ago…

Issue 510 – Sunday 8th February to Saturday 14th February 2009

The weather in the UK may had been pretty darned awful over the past seven days, but in between digging our cars out of the snow and hibernating we’d been busy putting this issue together for you.

This week we found out how Suggs and a host of other stars had been doing their bit for a much needed fundraising cause to help a boy with an inoperable brain tumour to get to America for an experimental procedure that had been showing positive results.

The event was a black tie dinner dance organized to raise £50,000 to fund life-saving treatment. The exclusive event was organsied by parents at the Coldfall Primary Shool, Muswell Hill, and feaured special guests including Bob Hoskins, Les Dennis, Tim Minchin, Suggs and Pink Floyd legend Dave Gilmour.

Elsewhere in the issue we reported that Chrissy Boy had been answering another round of questions over on the Madness Central Forum, the temporary home for his “cupboard” while the official Madness web site was under construction.

Chris brought up the topic of how to handle the forthcoming M Society, and also asked for advice and feedback from the fans on a number of different subjects.

Taking over Dermot O’Leary’s Saturday evening Radio Show while he was off on his holidays was one Zoe Ball. We reported that Zoe had been on the phone to Suggs during the show, and that you could catch up with the episode on the iPlayer should you wish. If you didn’t, we had the full transcript of the call for you to read through.

On to gig news, and we announced that two European dates in Denmark and Sweden that had previously been announced, had now been officially confirmed. Not only that, but tickets had gone on sale to the general public.

We brought this issue to a close by pointing you in the direction of the Madness Central RSS feed. If you wanted to keep up to date on Madness news items you were advised to get this added to your bookmarks.

10 years ago…

Issue 248 – Sunday 8th February to Saturday 14th February 2004

News seemed to be thin on the ground once again, but somehow bits and pieces had been trickling in over the week, and before we knew it we had enough material to make the issue quite a lengthy one.

It’d been a long time coming, but the first update to the MIS site of the year was huge. Back in issue 228 Jonathan had complied and published a huge lowdown of all the current live Madness and Madness related fansites, and it was this list that was finally brought into the MIS site as definitive list of nutty web sites.

Elsewhere in this issue we had part 3 of Jermaine’s `Tour Madness` excerpts from the Christmas 2003 tour. As with the previous two parts, this should have helped to bring back memories of those very eventful evenings.

“Have you met members of the band and were lucky enough to get a photo or two taken with them?”. That was the question we were asking this week as we investigated the possibility of putting together a new section on the MIS web site where fans could upload their nutty shots.

With the lack of news Jonathan decided to type up two cracking articles from issues 13 and 14 of the original MIS Newsletters. Both covered Lee Thompson and The Argonauts, and the recording of Apeman and Under my Thumb.

One of the highlights (for all the wrong reasons) of the issue was a truly terrible review of the ‘Madness Singles Box Set Part 1’ from the NME. Giving it a shocking score of 4 out of 10, and accompanied with a number of glaring errors, it really was a demonstration to us all of just how bad journalism in the NME had become.

We finished off this issue with news in from that loveable toe-rag, Lee Swandale, who had emailed in to let us know of a forthcoming Two Tone do. The event would be held in Camden’s famous `Electric Ballroom` on Thursday 11th March 2004, but that was all the information he had.

Rob Hazelby

TIME…

Don’t forget that this coming Friday is Valentines day. Not only that, but it’s also the day that the first pre-release track from the Mad Not Cancer project becomes available to purchase.

The track is non other than the cover of Labbi Siffre’s It Must Be Love, made famous by Madness. This version comes from  Sanna Pekonen from Finland, and here is the trailer…

Sanna Pekonen hails from the Finnish City of Kotka . Heavily influenced by Bob Dylan, The Beatles and Alanis Morissette her music has the rich tones of someone much older in years. Sanna volunteered to record the track “It must Be love” as it is one of Her favourite Madness/Labi Siffre tracks, and her soft soulful vocals give it a fresh lease of life.

Please download the track from all good digital stockists on Valentine’s Day. Woody has given the track a thumbs up with, a “Love this” comment on his Facebook page, accompanied by the single artwork.

And finally…

This week we’re been busy at MIS Towers working on a cataloguing session of rare tapes. Long term readers will be more aware of rarities that originally involved bootlegs like First Step Beyond and the cancelled Lost, then later were given away for free on websites like Chas Smash.com and Madness Central on mass.

Later a few further files were given away as MIS freebees, and then following this items such as “Lost in Nassau”, a preview tape,  The Album Re-release Easter Eggs series of files, track The Call, and What the World Needs Now Is Love, a Christmas download of a lost flexi disc cover recording were all made available.

While there isn’t much left of note from this archive of cassettes, the fine toothed comb is being applied to check. This has lead to possibly a little more activity for The Another World Blog in future, and the possible unearthing of some rehearsal recordings of The Skiff Skats, a country music band on the fringes of Madness in the 80’s that included Lee, Carl and Bedders at times and John Hasler. More on this in the coming weeks and months.

Expect a couple more Madness rehearsal recordings to feature in a future project, also.

Until next week, take care,

Jon Young, Rob Hazelby, Simon Roberts, Paul Williams

(With thanks to Daren West, Wandsworth Harry, Graham Yates,
Mark Smith and Mick Jenner)