Madness Information Service Online Newsletter Issue Number: 873 – Sunday 31st January to Saturday 6th February 2016
Evening all,
We begin with the news that work continues on The Ska Orchestra’s next album.
This week Mr. Thompson was kind enough to show us a preview of a new video prepared again by Jeff Baynes. Jeff shot the Bangarang video and previously directed photography on Cardiac Arrest.
The promo featuring multiple dancing Lees was cut to Prince Buster track “Sit and Wonder”. Possibly a studio track from the original “Sister mary” sessions. Once the video is “live” we will post it in a future MIS issue. Louis Vause recently revealed the band’s late November sessions added tracks, ” ‘Cuss Cuss’, ‘Sweet and Low Down’, ‘Shaft’ and ‘You Never Know’.” to the potential slate of material to choose from.
We will keep you updated on any future activity leading up to the Bite the Bullet album revealing itself, due for release this April
Elsewhere, and over on the Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra group page, Mr Scurf is auctioning an LTSO T-shirt signed by 10 of the original band whot recorded the debut album. Signees include Lee and Bedders.
At the time of publication the top bid was at £30. All proceeds are going to the Newcastle Charity Winter Warmer.
More details at:
https://m.facebook.com/groups/138362986238425?view=permalink&id=952836951457687
Now, on with this week’s 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
May
Saturday 28th – Dauwpop Festival, Netherlands (headliners)
More info at: http://www.dauwpop.nl
August
Thursday 4th – Edinburgh Corn Exchange *** NEW ***
More info at: http://m.whatsoninedinburgh.co.uk/event/028964-madness/
Saturday 6th –Tartan Heart Festival, Inverness, Scotland (headliners)
More info at www.tartanheartfestival.co.uk
Thursday 11th – Cropredy Festival, Oxfordshire. First day headliner
November
Friday 18th – Monday 21st – Madness Weekender 6, Minehead
Suggs
March
17th – An evening with Suggs and Friends for Pancreatic Cancer. The Emirates Stadium
April
22nd – Scarborough Spa Theatre
23rd – Lincoln Drill Hall
24th – Carlisle Sands Centre
25th – Ilkley King’s Hall
27th – Bournemouth Pavillion Theatre
28th – Bath The Forum
29th – Worcester Huntingdon Hall
30th – Wrexham William Aston Hall
May
1st – Crewe Lyceum Theatre
3rd – Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
4th – Sheffield Lyceum
5th – 02 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Near Jazz Experience
More info at: https://www.facebook.com/NearJazzExperience
January
26th – Near Jazz Experience + Support + DJ, Indo, 133 Whitechapel Road, London, E1 1DT. 8pm. Free Entry
BUY IT
Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra – It May be Winter Outside
This was finally released on Christmas day, and can be purchased from the following Amazon and iTunes links:
Amazon – http://www.amazon.co.uk/May-Winter-Outside-He…/…/ref=sr_1_1…
Itunes – https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/it-may-be-winter-outside-but/id1062562074?i=1062562075
Limited Edition Madness Harrington Jackets
Official Madness Harrington Jacket in both black and navy are now available from the madstore.
£60 in small medium large X large and XX large. In tartan lining stylish cut. M logo and laurel motif and an M pin badge.
You can see Mark Bedford and Lee Thompson with his scooter modelling the designs.
Dr. Marten’s Web Site Sale
Many shoes discounted. Grab yourself a bargain!
http://www.drmartens.com/uk/c/Sale-Mens-Footwear
SPECIALIZED FEATURE
CALLING ALL BANDS!! THIS ARE 2-TONE… ARE *YOU* 2-TONE?!!
“Dance Craze”, the truly iconic and much loved 2-Tone movie directed by Joe Massot, reaches the ripe old age of 35 this year and we want to celebrate this… Specialized style!!
Released in February 1981 (cripes, that seems like only yesterday!), the film followed the entire 2-Tone movement – The Specials, Madness, The Beat, Bad Manners, The Bodysnatchers and The Selecter – as they toured the UK. With the recording of each gig being so up-close and personal, those watching on the small screen were also able to fully experience the 2-Tone phenomena LIVE!
The film proved exceptionally popular, especially as singles and albums from these same groups were taking the charts by storm and fans just couldn’t get enough of this new musical genre.
Six bands. 27 tracks. 80 minutes of video. “Dance Craze” is still regarded today as one of the finest, rawest, and most brilliant insights into the British Ska explosion.
It was of course inevitable.. no, essential… that a soundtrack album of the same name was released.. and it was, although due to media limitations of the time (there were no CDs or downloads way back then!), a 15 track vinyl album and tape cassette were released.
And it’s here where the Specialized wheels of thought started spinning into life… concluding very quickly that there was only one way we could celebrate this great anniversary…a 2016 SPECIALIZED VERSION of the DANCE CRAZE album!!
So, similar to previous Specialized albums, we’re looking for bands / individuals to each record just one of the thirteen* remaining tracks from the album, however – and in keeping with the original – all tracks submitted MUST have been RECORDED LIVE!
In case you need some reminding, the original album consists of the following:
Side 1: Concrete Jungle (The Specials); Mirror in the Bathroom (The Beat); Lip Up Fatty (Bad Manners *); Razor Blade Alley (Madness); Three Minute Hero (The Selecter); Easy Life (The Bodysnatchers); Big Shot (The Beat); One Step Beyond (Madness)
Side 2: Ranking Full Stop (The Beat); Man at C&A (The Specials); Missing Words (The Selecter); Inner London Violence (Bad Manners *); Night Boat To Cairo (Madness); Too Much Pressure (The Selecter); Nite Klub (The Specials)
* Please note the two Bad Manners tracks are already allocated.
If you or your band are interested in being a part of our “Dance Craze” anniversary celebration and fancy recording a live version of one of these iconic tracks, then please contact Paul Williams via email (paulwillo1@hotmail.com).
SO… ARE *YOU* 2-TONE?
Specialized is a Musical Community Concept that was created in 2012 to raise funds to improve the lives of teens and young adults with cancer or who are living in difficult circumstances. The Project has been making and promoting music in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust and the National Foundation for Youth Music. It has also been able to raise money for some small individual charities and groups. Further info regards the Specialized Project can be found here:http://www.specializedproject.co.uk
[Specialized 5 is dedicated to the memory of The Specials drummer John ‘Brad’ Bradbury].
Paul Willo & Specialized Projects
SIGN OF THE TIMES
Orange Street 20th Anniversary Gig
Hampshire based Ska band Orange Street are 20 years old this year and to celebrate this we are playing an anniversary gig at The Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth on Saturday 20th February.
We are making a big thing of this milestone and we will be joined onstage Roddy Radiation Byers from The Specials.
We also have previous members of Orange Street coming to guest with us on a few numbers and support bands Boss Hog (Mod/Indie) and young up and coming Ska band Levi from Bognor Regis.
All of this for bargain of £8 a ticket from www.wedgewood-rooms.co.uk or www.facebook.com/orangestreetska
Stew Rennie
Petition for Lee Thomspon to Launch Anniversary
Petition for Lee to launch 50th Anniversary of his old school …tonight’s Evening Standard …100 former pupils of Acland Burghley School in Tufnell Park have signed a petition protesting against an old Etonian launching tonight’s celebrations at the school.
They say that one of their own alumni such as Lee Thompson, Eddy Grant or Ms Dynamite should have been asked instead.
Our thanks to Chris Carter-Pegg for passing this on to us.
Looking For an Old Advert
I seem to remember a TV commercial from the 90s that featured One Step Beyond, but I can’t find any evidence of it online.
It ran here in the USA, and it just showed a guy in his underwear chasing a goose through a field while the song played, and then the words “stop the madness” came up on the screen in parentheses. I’m almost completely sure it was an ad for Yahoo.com.
Does this ring any bells with you, or is it possible my crazy head is making the whole thing up?
Stevie D’Arbanville
If anyone can shine some light on the above, please email in and we’ll put Stevie out of his misery.
Tube exhibition to open in North East
Music fans in the North East can wallow in eighties nostalgia as a new exhibition revives the heady days of The Tube.
The live, vibrant and often chaotic TV programme pitched Newcastle into the national spotlight when it made its explosive debut on the launch night of Channel Four: November 5, 1982.
With the unpredictable Paula Yates and Jools Holland at the helm, the weekly live broadcast from Tyne Tees’ Studio 5 in City Road proved addictive viewing.
NOTE: Madness appeared three times on the show, performing songs from Rise and Fall (including a brass band on stage), keep moving and finalling ending their 80’s music career by splitting up on the show performing Ghost Train in 1986.
The famous sign was snapped up at auction by Discovery Museum which is making it the backdrop to the exhibition, curated by Audrey Glasgow, which runs until March 31. On show will be mementoes from personal collections, photographs, digital stories and recorded memories. The exhibit opens on Tuesday.
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 612 – Sunday 30th January – Saturday 5th February 2011
With Madness news continuing to be a little thin on the ground, this issue contained a real mix of subject matter. Yes, we’d filled it with as much coverage of our favourite band as we could, but we also have to look further afield to Madness-related news, also.
Our fist article covered the legendary Deaf School, their new album and brand new tour.
“The new mini album (first since the 70’s) “Enrico & Bette” was successfully launched to a large crowd at the Relentless Garage Friday night, with a couple of guest appearances by Mad Men into the bargain.
Jonathan Young reported at the time;
With 4 of the 5 new songs being played during a set that was one of the longest Deaf School shows since reforming again a few years ago, I think. Scheduled in an hour and half slot, It ran around 1 hour 45 almost in the end. From the slow opening sax of “Last Night” to theaccordion ballad of “Final Act”.”
Moving on, and we reported that The Blockheads were busy preparing for their first concert in Whitstable. The band would be performing at the East Quay, as part of the Whit Live series of concerts, on Saturday, April 30th at 7:30pm. Tickets were priced at a mere £15.
It was on to Madness news next, as we passed on the news revealing that the book “House of Fun – The Story of Madness”, would be receiving a re-print such was the demand for the book. Not only that, but author, John `reed was asking those who had read the original version to contact him with details of any glaring errors, so that these could be corrected in the re-print.
We brought this issue to a close with the news that Zavvi were currently selling The Liberty of Norton Folgate album for a mere £2.95, including delivery! What a bargain.
10 years ago…
Issue number 352 – Sunday 29th January to Saturday 4th February 2006
We had a packed issue for you this week, with a real variety of content for you to browse through.
Dan Burdett of North London band JAG explained to us exactly what the newly formed ‘Club JAG’ was all about. We had news about Konami’s latest release in its Dancing Stage series – perhaps of interest to those of you who (like us) needed to loose a bit of weight!
Further on, and we delved into the bowels of Camden Town, and revealed that there was more under your feet when you were trawling the area than you may have realised.
As well as that little lot, we also had an update on the plans London Transport had for re-developing Camden Town Tube Station, and how the locals were gearing-up for the next stage of the fight.
Also in this issue we brought you a review of the latest episode of Disappearing London, with Suggs. This episode focused on the rag and bone man Suggs met the previous week, and later on we had a full transcript of his visit to the shop where he bought his first ever Bowler hat, as seen in many videos since.
If that wasn’t enough, Madness Trading Ring co-maintainer, Steve Bringe gave us a heads-up, and advised us to keep our diaries free in December.
We had it all in this issue – video games, live music, local history, rumours, and even the latest news from Camden.
15 years ago…
Issue number 90 – Sunday 28th January to Saturday 3rd February 2001
After last week’s behemoth sized edition of the MIS, it probably came as no surprise to many to learn that this week’s issue was somewhat smaller.
Although things seemed to have been very busy on the internet chat forums such as the Total Madness Mailing List, there had been very little `news` as such. Still, one or two items of interest had been floating around, as well as a few bits and pieces which had arrived in the MIS mailbox, meaning that this issue was far from empty.
TMML and MIS Online Madchart compiler Andrew Langmead reported that the excellent Madness cover of the classic Abba hit “Money, Money” had recently been featured on UK television as part of a BBC1 programme trailer. Here’s what Andrew had to say;
“Tonight [26th Jan] on BBC1 there was a trailer for Sunday Night’s Omnibus programme about Loan Sharks which featured Madness’ version of Money Money Money as its backing track! How about that then?”
Following the recent Top 100 singles of all time chart which was aired on Channel 4 (UK), Jonathan Young revealed that a tie-in CD collection was coming out at some point in the not too distant future.
Whether this release would contain the classic `House of Fun` remained a mystery.
On to the articles, and we kicked off with part three of the third Madchart.
Compiled and presented by Andrew Langmead, we were taken on a journey from tracks 30 to 16. Things were really starting to hot-up, as we got ever closer to that prestigious number one slot.
Moving on, and with little in the way of Madness news to report on, we took a look at the VIP Events web site, and gave the music collectors amongst the MIS readership, a heads-up on what record fairs were taking place in the coming weeks. The biggest of these were at The Scottish Exhibition Centre, Glasgow, and at Olympia, London.
Following the MIS’ receipt of the latest edition of Tour Madness, plus two copies to give out as prizes, we revealed that Jermaine was now hard at work on the next massive update of this fantastic publication. In our moment of excitement we accidentally referred to Jermaine as a female. Whoops!
Following much discussion on the Total Madness Mailing List regarding the original lyrics to The Sun and The Rain, we rounded-off this week’s MIS with those original lyrics.
Rob Hazelby
TWEETS OF A DOVE
Snippets from Facebook and the Twittersphere…
Mark Bedford @I_be_MarkB
“Studio Day 2 @The_NJE. Capes on.”
Woody Woodgate @woodymadness
“Ragged Victorian street urchins? No, my brother Nick & I, early 1960’s.”
(see newly released childhood pictures of woody and nick photographed be their father on woodys twitter feed)
@Gareth Hillary
“Sure it wasn’t a Madness Gig?#BAGGYTROUSERS BBC News – Man ‘had 38 phones in trousers’ at Libetines Concert”
TIME…
We’re almost at the end of this week’s issue of the MIS, but before we go…
There’s news in from Paul Willo who reports on recording a TV show with Sky Arts…
“It was the filming of the Sky Arts documentary ” The Music Years” and I was there flying The Specials & 2Tone flag. Fabulous time, well looked after, interesting to see the set and how its all done. Think I did ok.
The director was Gus, former drummer of Capone & The Bullets- what a small world! – We bored all n sundry with ska music talk. They filmed all my memorabilia that I took down in a suitcase that I guarded with my life. It was a truly great experience. Thank you to the Sky Arts team and to Gus, Myles & all at Znak-Jones Production company.”
When the show goes to air we’ll be sure to cover it in a future MIS.
And finally…
It’s unlikely you’ll have missed the sad news of Terry Wogan’s death which broke earlier today. The BBC have put together a wonderful obituary for the great man here, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26957941. Meanwhile, you may wish to fire up the Madness Terry Wogan Jingle, and raise a glass;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIX3LSaJ2LA or enjoy re-watching the band perform Yesterday’s Men on “Wogan” all those years ago; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Osdh8oe9-4&feature=youtu.be
Good bless you Terry,
The Author
