Madness news is certainly thin on the ground at the moment, and this week we get thing underway with a little tidbit of Voice of the Beehive news.
For those of you who weren’t aware, Woody joined the band back in 1988, and stayed in the line-up for several years. This week an announcement went out on the band’s official Facebook group which simply read;
“The Teehive! Voice of the Beehive shop. Coming soon”
The response from fans (many whom we know from the Madness fanbase) was one of much excitement with several individuals posting up requests for classic Beehive T-shirt designs to be resurrected.
To keep up-to-date with the forthcoming launch of the band’s online store, get yourself over to their official Facebook page at:
Moving back to Madness now, and we’d like to give a big thank you to those readers who have already entered our Full House vinyl competition courtesy of the very nice people at record company BMG. If you’ve yet to enter you have just under a week to do so. Check our our “MIS Feature” for more information.
This week we also have news of a brand new Ian Dury compilation. This one is rather special because as well as being released on triple CDs, it’s also coming out on a double vinyl. Check out our regular “Buy it” section for full track listings.
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.
A brand new collection covering the entire career of the unique and incomparable Ian Dury.
This collection features some of Dury’s earliest work with Kilburn & The High Roads, through a golden period of solo hits and classic recordings with the infamous Blockheads to his final studio album released in 2002, two years after his untimely passing in 2000.
The Crown Prince of Essex… the punk poet laureate… Ian Dury’s mastery of the English language and powerful performance made him an artist like no other. His wit, wisdom and showmanship are ever present here on classic tracks such as ‘Reasons To Be Cheerful, Pt 3’, ‘Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick’, ‘Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll’ …all now unofficial British anthems!
The collection also features brand new liner notes by comedian, writer and Ian’s friend, Phill Jupitus, alongside rare and unseen photographs.
This album was previously available as a pop-up 4 disc gatefold LP priced at around £50. The 4-disc release is now sold out on vinyl.
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 858 – Sunday 18th October to Saturday 24th October 2015
“Have you got your teaspoon, and are you into it?”
Well, if you preferred slightly longer questions regarding Madstock put to Suggs then you would have been pleased to learn that it was exactly what the teams at the record company had done for a spotlight video for Amazon.
“How did it feel the moment the seven of you were standing together front of stage at the start of your set, with the crowd roaring their welcome back? Who was the hardest to persuade to return in 1992? Were there ever any other venues / locations considered for the comeback gig? Your favourite live track from this soundtrack album?”, these were all questions Suggs answered on an Amazon live stream, which if you’d missed we gave you the link to.
Over in our regular “Buy It” section we reported that Crunch! hats and polo shirts were now back in stock and available to order in readiness for the band’s appearance at this years’ House of Fun weekend in Minehead. Sales were being run by the one and only Swanny, and as he was attending the event you could save a few pennies by picking up the purchases during the course of the weekend itself.
Next, it was on to our “MIS Feature”, and this week we took a retrospective look at Voice of the Beehive.
After Woody Woodgate left Madness in the late 80’s he bounced back into the charts on two top 20 albums in 1988 and 1991 with Voice Of The Beehive. A band formed and fronted by two sisters from America.
Tracey and Melissa. Delightful punk edged rock with a hint of 50’s throwback that landed somewhere between the B52’s and bands like Transvision vamp labeled alternative pop rock.
1988’s Debut album, “Let it Bee” begat “Don’t Call Me Baby” & “I Say Nothing” as minor hits, amongst other single releases. While 1991 brought a top 40 hatrick run of “Monsters and Angels”, “I Think I Love You” & “Perfect Place”.
A great paired legacy of tunes comprise those two albums, then sadly success and the band parted there for multiple creative and domestic reasons. Members (including Woody) left, the sisters returned eventually with final album “Sex and Misery” on a new label, but this afterthought did not commercially catch much interest and was never followed up, though inevitable “Best of” compilations exist, compiled from the first two albums’ tracklistings.
There is one further album however, and it was that one we threw our attentions upon as it was often overlooked; Voice of the Bee Hive – Bee Sides
Following this we passed the writing duties over to Paul Rodgers, who returned to the MIS with another one of his “Madness Facts, Stats and Figures” articles. This week Paul reported on the latest Madstock chart news. Paul’s article was short and sweet as there wasn’t too much to reveal;
“Madstock! just misses out on the official albums chart top 100 (the one including streaming), but charts at 55 on physical sales (CDs), 76 on sales (CDs and downloads) and 14 on the indie chart. Not bad for a reissue of a 23 year old live album.
Its original chart run in the days of the top 75 only is here:
Its original chart run in the days of the top 75 only, the album charted at a peak position of 22 spending 9 weeks in the charts in November 92 till January 93. Two of those weeks in The top 40.“
We brought this issue to a close by reminding you that there was still time to enter our Madstock CD/DVD prize winning competition. It would only take you a few minutes to submit an entry and this new box set could be winging its way to your door.
10 years ago…
Issue Number 598 – Sunday 17th October – Saturday 23rd October 2010
This week we kicked things off with Jonathan’s review of the recent Near Jazz Experience gig which took place at the Indo Club in Whitechapel. The NJE was the latest collaboration between the ever inventive, multi talented, musician Terry Edwards and our renowned bass man Bedders.
After a lengthy review Jonathan finished off by reporting that the band would be back on stage at the same venue on the 9th of November. One not to miss!
It was firmly back to all things Madness next as we followed up on the recent request from Madness’ management, where they were asking for short reviews for each of the cities the band would be visiting as part of their forthcoming Christmas tour.
The response had been excellent, but there were still a few cities requiring guides. These being;
– Brighton
– Plymouth
– Reading
– Cardiff
– Bournemouth
– Sheffield
On to Ian Dury news next, and we reported that a new stage show charting the life and times of one Mr. Dury would be performed at the South Hill Park on Wednesday 20th October. Tickets were priced at a very reasonable £14.
Elsewhere, and we took a look at Big 10, who had four gigs lined up for the remainder of October – two on the same day! You could keep up-to-date on all things Big 10 by going to www.big10ska.com.
We brought this issue to a close with a snippet from Paul Rodgers, who reported that Mad Not Mad had entered the UK top 200 albums chart at 156 on Sunday. Unfortunately this wouldn’t qualify for the indie chart as Virgin wasn’t an indie label.
15 years ago…
Issue 338 – Sunday 16th October to Saturday 22nd October 2005
These days customer reviews for albums and tracks being sold on the iTunes store are part and parcel of the service. Ten years ago, however, and this feature had only just appeared.
Noticing that a few Madness albums were currently for sale on iTunes, MIS subscriber Colin Robertson took matters into his own hands and added a couple of reviews himself.
If you had a spare 5 minutes we suggested you knock up a few and submitted those to the iTunes store. It certainly couldn’t harm sales.
If the serialisation of the recent Madchart wasn’t to your liking, you may have been pleased to learn that Madness Trading Ring subscriber Mark Lawrence, had put together a PDF version for you to download and plough through.
Lawrence described this new version as ” A handy all-in-one PDF to print and read on the loo”, and who were we to disagree?
Another small snippet now, from Stuart Howie and Andy Keighly who told us that this Saturday just gone Madness were playing at Old Trafford, Rugby League Final. Apparently the boys played `Our House`, `It Must be Love`, plus two others. Both commented that the sound quality was very poor indeed.
On to this week’s collection of articles, we kicked off with a full transcription of a radio 2 interview where comedian and travel writer Roland Rivron, spoke to Suggs. Suggs spoke about the early years of the band, and also what the boys were up to at the moment.
Next, we featured a huge interview with the band, which appeared in Q magazine, and that had been OCRd by subscriber Lawrence Werrett.
Unlike the usual run-of-the-mill articles where we simply re-read a potted history of the band, readers had been asked to write-in with their questions. This generated some really interesting discussion, and it was here that you actually discovered new things relating to Camden’s finest.
Moving on, and it was time to warm up the credit cards or raid the piggy banks, as Madness fan Linda Barnwell announced that the was about to put a number of autographed Madness albums up for auction on Ebay.
All albums were missing Mike’s signature, as we were told that he was “too miserable to come down from his hotel room”. Linda’s words not ours.
Now, just when you thought you were free from the Madchart for another year, MTR subscriber, Andrew Langmead, came along to give us stats about the stats! So, with Paul Muscat’s blessing, we were treated to various interesting facts, figures and stats.
20 years ago…
Issue number 76 – Sunday 15th October to Saturday 21st October 2000
This issue began with some apologies in getting this week’s MIS out on to the internet. Like a large number of people in the online Madness community, the MIS editorial team had spent the Sunday afternoon travelling home after catching Crunch at their latest gig.
One thing missing from this issue was a review of the latest issue of the Madness Unsugged fanzine. Concerned that we’d get our copy crumpled, we asked zine editor Vince Carden to hold on to it for us. Unfortunately, we forgot to pick it back up off him after the Crunch gig had finished. So, until our copy arrived in the post, we’d have to wait to see what the latest issue had in store.
Did you fancy letting Madness tribute band One Step Behind, know what you thought of them? Well, you now had your chance, as their official site now played host to a guestbook. The band we’re keen to get your feedback, so it was up to you to let them know.
Moving on, and, Friday’s edition of The Daily Star featured an article about Boxman, the website that failed to float earlier in the year, and more recently, went into liquidation. One of the main backers of the Boxman start-up was none other than the loveable Suggs, who, the newspaper reported, lost around £600,000 when the company was forced to close. Would this mean that we’d be seeing a few more ads featuring Suggs over the coming months, in an effort to rake back some of the pennies?
On a slightly jollier note, the Total Madness Mailing List’s very own `7` reported that yesterday saw the first show of the new series of that classic Channel Five TV show – Night Fever. Fans of the show would almost certainly want to catch the Halloween-influenced episode of the programme appearing later in the month, entitled `Fright Fever`. One not to be missed!
How would you like to share a pint or two with none other than the legendary Suggs? Well, now could be your chance as Suggs would be pulling pints for a fund raising event for the NSPCC on October 26th in a pub called The French in Soho, London.
If anyone managed to get along we asked if they’d be kind enough toknock up a review of the night.
Onto this week’s collection of articles, and Vince Carden gave us a slew of newsbytes he’d lovingly compiled for us for inclusion.
Meanwhile, Nutty Bex reported on the Carphone Warehouse’s new selection of Madness ringtones that were now available to purchase.
We finished off with a lengthy and detailed review of the Crunch weekend, finishing by saying that we hoped it wouldn’t be too long until we saw them again.
Rob Hazelby
MIS Feature
Full House Vinyl Competition – 1 Week to go!
Recently released to market is the “Full House” vinyl compilation. This collection of tracks takes a real potted history through Madness’ back catalogue
Previously only available as a pop-up 4 disc gatefold LP priced at around £50, the 4-disc release is now sold out on vinyl.
Now, thanks to the very nice people at record company BMG you can be in with a chance of adding this one disc Full House vinyl release to your beloved collections.
All you have to do is answer the following question:
How many tracks does the new “Full House” vinyl compilation contain?
Once you have your answer send your email to staff@madness-mis.com with the subject line of “Full House Competition”.
You have until 11:59pm on Saturday 24th October to get your answers in, with the winner being announced in the issue of the MIS going out on Sunday 25th October.
Ian Dury’s greatest moments remembered in a three-hour three-CD compilation capturing all the finest moments of his career, from the Kilburns through to the Blockheads.
As national treasures go, Ian Dury was one of the unlikeliest. A cantankerous cripple with a penchant for pills and puns, he was a living breathing saucy seaside postcard, a master of the double or even triple entendre; a Cockney caricature with cleverly constructed couplets coming out of his Aris.
A Victorian music hall entertainer born a century too late, he shot his way into our our hearts at the birth of punk. He shone like the brightest star – and, for a glorious 18 months between 1978 and 1979 soared all the way to the top of the charts. And then, in the manner prescribed by Neil Young, burned out before he could fade away.
This new compilation reminds us what we lost when he died 20 years ago – and what we had during the quarter of a century that he was making records and performing.
It’s so much more than I remember; so much more than you might imagine you do too. Ian Dury left a wealth of music and a wealth of words and the best of them are all here, preserved for posterity on three CDs and three and a quarter hours of mostly essential music. Which is at least three hours more than many musicians manage in a career.
Thankfully, whoever compiled this collection has not tried to be “fair” by giving proportional representation to the less memorable periods of Dury’s career, of which there were several, not least when he was simultaneously battling alcoholism, depression and an addiction to sleeping pills as he battled the lifelong pain of his disability – problems that made him difficult to work with, as well as affecting his creativity, and his passion for his work.
By popular consent – and his own judgment – Dury’s best two albums were his first and last – that remarkable 1977 debut, New Boots And Panties!! and that poignant swansong, Mr Love Pants in 1997 – and accordingly they make up the bulk of this Best Of compilation, which aims not to unearth unreleased oddities and rarities but simply to do what it says on the tin and collect the very best songs in one place.
Selections from the second and third albums, Do It Yourself and Laughter, are judiciously chosen to separate the wheat from the considerable pile of chaff; the ill-advised excursion to Jamaica to record Lord Upminster with Sly & Robbie is wisely ignored altogether, and selections from those subsequent solo albums are picked with care and precision. There’s also a carefully chosen selection from his days with Kilburn & The High Roads, including a demo of their signature song England’s Glory (later released on Stiff by music hall legend Max Wall) to bring the whole thing to a close.
All words by Tim Cooper. You can find more of Tim’s writing on Louder Than War at his author’s archive – https://louderthanwar.com/author/tim-cooper/. He is also on Twitter as @TimCooperES.
Time
That’s just about it for this week.
If you’ve not yet done so, please do take five minutes out if your busy day to enter our “Full House” vinyl competition. You never know, you could be walking off with a copy of this courtesy of BMG.
