1 – THIS IS WHERE THE MADNESS BEGINS – The obligatory intro.

2 – OUI OUI, SI SI, JA JA, DA DA 4 DISC SET REVEALED – The wait is
over, as earlier this week details of the Oui Oui special edition
album, landed in mailboxes around the globe. Rob Hazelby is here
with the details, and pre-order link.

3 – THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS – This week MIS co-editor, Rob Hazelby
goes back 5 years to issue number 461, and the week of Sunday 2nd
March to Saturday 8th March 2008, and then back 10 years
to issue number 199 and the week of Sunday 2nd March to
Saturday 8th March 2003.

4 – THE SKA ORCHESTRA MORE GIGS, RADIO & VIDEO NEWS – We bring you
playback of this week’s Lee Thompson Interview from EN5 Radio, but
before that we have news of a new gig date in Bristol, some early
festival appearances and video news, as The Ska Orchestra activity
ramps up towards single and album release time. Here’s Jonathan
Young.

5 – LEE THOMPSON ON EN5 RADIO – Lee performed a nice long intimate
interview on EN5 radio this week talking about all his bands past
and present.

6 – HOW CAN I TELL YOU – THE SINGLE – The next Madness single, “How
Can I Tell You”, is a 3 version download package, due for release
on April 7th. Full details here.

7 – CAMDEN TO GET HOLLYWOOD STYLE WALK OF FAME – Camden is set to
honour the biggest names in music with a new Walk of Fame. The
area in north London – where pop acts including Amy Winehouse and
Madness hail from – will be twinned with Hollywood. From BBC News

8 – SIR PETER BLAKE TO FEATURE ON MADNESS ALBUM – Artist Sir Peter
Blake is to appear on a record sleeve, after years of creating
striking images for artists such as The Beatles, The Who and
Oasis. From the Independent.

9 – MADNESS TO PLAY BBC TELEVISION CENTRE FAREWELL GIG – Madness
will perform live in the front of BBC Television Centre as part of
an evening of entertainment bidding farewell to the iconic
building. Articles from the Independent and The Mirror.

10 – THE NEW SPECIAL EDITION COVER PHOTO – Sir Peter, who designed the
sleeve for Band Aid’s charity single, Paul Weller’s Stanley Road
and Oasis’ Stop the Clocks, will appear of the front of a special
edition Madness album. Article by The Independent/MIS

11 – MADNESS TO CLOSE BBC TELEVISION CENTRE WITH GIG – Suggs’s ’80s
pop collective will perform a concert that will act as a warm-up
for a final two-hour pre-recorded show about the broadcaster’s
studios, Goodbye TV Centre. From Digital Spy. Article by Alex
Fletcher

12 – THAT’S YER LOT – A few last minute words before we finish for the
week.

[1] – THIS IS WHERE THE MADNESS BEGINS

Hello, and a very warm welcome to this week’s edition of the MIS.

After months of rumours, predictions and guesswork this week finally saw details of the Oui Oui, Si Si, Ja Ja, Da Da special edition revealed to the music buying public.

The cover artwork features a Zoltar fortune telling machine, which many of you will know featured in the film “Big”, starring Tom Hanks.
If you look closely at the Oui Oui special edition artwork you’ll notice that Zoltar is non other than Suggs. With Zoltar making Tom Hanks’ character’s dream come true in “Big”, it now looks like he’s turning his attention to us, as this release brings with it 20 new exclusive Madness tracks.

Our very own dream coming true.

Before we get this issue underway we have some rather sad news to pass on, courtesy of The Echo newspaper/website…

Music man ‘Kellogs’ dies

A SOUTHEND man who managed Madness and Van
Morrison in the Eighties, has died.

John “Kellogs” Kalinowski, 66, who was also
manager of Southend band Procol Harum, as
well as working with the Kinks, died this
week.

Popular in the Southend music circle, he was
roadie and tour manager for the Paramounts,
later Procol Harum, and contributed a bosun’s
whistle to the group’s 1969 album, A Salty Dog,
which reached number 27 in the UK charts.

He worked with Madness during their Eighties
heyday as well as Van Morrison, before returning
to manage Procol Harum in the Nineties.

In a distinguished career in the music industry,
he worked for Shelter Records in the Seventies
and Stiff Records as tour manager later that
decade.

Our thoughts go out to family and friends of Kellogs at this difficult time.

Rob Hazelby, Jonathan Young, Liz Maher, Simon Roberts
Email us at: robert, jonathan, liz, simon @mis-online.net

[2] – OUI OUI, SI SI, JA JA, DA DA 4 DISC SET REVEALED

The wait is over, as earlier this week details of the Oui Oui special edition album, landed in mailboxes around the globe.

Spanning a whopping 3 CDs and 1 DVD, this package contains a staggering 70 tracks, including:

– 9 Exclusive Band Demos,
– 7 Exclusive New Album Tracks,
– 4 Exclusive Alternate Version Tracks,
– 1st ever Live performance of the album (DVD)

Along with that you’ll also find a:

– 32 Page Booklet,
– Oui Oui Ouija Board Game Artwork
– Oui Si Ja Da – The full story unravelled before your eyes and ears

The album ships on the 15th April, and is priced at £29.99 + P&P.
If you order now you get access to an instant download of the audio of the House of Fun Weekender 2012 to keep you going.

For the full track listing, links to the artwork and pre-order link, go to: http://blog.madness.co.uk/

We’re wondering if the demo, “I Got You (Kitchen Floor)” is one sung by Nick Woodgate, perhaps during the writing process of making the album. The “La Discotheque” version of “Never Knew Your Name”, one of four completed alternate version tracks on disc 2, is Clive Langer’s other produced track for the album, and is said to be French sounding.

Rob Hazelby

[3] – THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS

This week MIS co-editor, Rob Hazelby goes back 5 years to issue number 461, and the week of Sunday 2nd March to Saturday 8th March 2008, and then back 10 years to issue number 199 and the week of Sunday 2nd March to Saturday 8th March 2003.

5 years ago…

Issue 461 – Sunday 2nd March to Saturday 8th March 2008

Was Lee Thompson a master of disguise or merely prolific? Apart from his role in Madness he’d been in Crunch, The Madness, Like Father Like Son and more.

His latest line-up were titled “Damaged Goods”, and we felt it was time to give this ensemble a brief investigation and overview.

Much like the previous two incarnations of Lee’s local based bands, the set list of music played at the homely Red Lion gig was a collection of Madness tracks and well chosen classic cover versions of great bands.

At this stage we weren’t sure if this new band was merely a one-off grouping of local talent, or the start of something more permanent.
Only time would tell.

Moving on, and as mentioned in a recent Clash Magazine interview, “The Liberty Of Norton Folgate”, from the forthcoming Madness album, this production featured in part, The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain.

Who were they? In an effort to find out more Jonathan went off to investigate, and came back with a massive in-depth report, complete with YouTube video links of The Orchestra covering various songs from down the years. Covers included Smells Like Teen Spirit, The Theme From Shaft, and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

Continuing on the subject of Madness off-shoots, and it looked as if the Crunch bandwagon was starting to get underway once more. If news if the Crunch gig at Camden’s Koko Club on the 12th of March wasn’t enough, the band had just announced another date, this time on Sunday 4th May at The Barfly, Brighton.

We brought this issue of the MIS to a close with news in from subscriber ‘Owen the Nutter’, who emailed in to tell us that Suggs could now be found providing the voice over for a commercial advertising soya beans, chicken dippers and other such goodies.
While it wasn’t worth you setting the PVR form, it was nice to see the great man keeping himself busy.

10 years ago…

Issue 199 – Sunday 2nd March to Saturday 8th March 2003

With the date of Madness’ Royal Albert Hall performance penned in for Saturday 29th of March plans for the obligatory Madmeet were well underway. The starting point was, of course, The Dublin Castle in Camden Town.

This issue contained a short history lesson, courtesy of subscriber Chris Wardell. The subject matter? The legendary Liquidator Studios in the Caledonian Road. During the mid eighties, until 1990, Liquidator was a professional 24 track recording studio owned by Madness.

News in from Chris Carter-Pegg was that on the 24th of May MGM Home Entertainment would be releasing The Tall Guy on DVD. Priced at £12.99, the 1989 film included It Must be Love, a very brief appearance from Suggs, a quick plug of Utter Madness, and some unusual piano playing.

Following the first Chas Smash web chat, which took place on Friday 28th of February, Madness Trading Ring co-maintainer, Steve Bringe was kind enough to dig through the mountains of answered and unanswered questions the 30 or so fans who were online during the session submitted during the half hour session.

Celebrating their 25th anniversary one year before The Mads, The Legendary Blockheads kicked off their quarter of a century celebration tour with a packed gig at The Marquee on the 5th of February. This guest packed show was witnessed by one Jonathan Young, who put together a detailed lowdown of the show.

Rob Hazelby

[4] – THE SKA ORCHESTRA MORE GIGS, RADIO & VIDEO NEWS

We bring you playback of this week’s Lee Thompson Interview from EN5 Radio, but before that we have news of a new gig date in Bristol, some early festival appearances and video news, as The Ska Orchestra activity ramps up towards single and album release time.

This week we’ve been listening to an amazing single mix by the band with some cool surprises, and sadly though we are itching to sing it’s praises from the bottom of our boots, it’s still under wraps and a little too early to reveal all just yet. But the Track Fu Man Chu is shaping up nicely to lead, based on what Lee said on Radio this week.
More news when we have it.

Some video editing work has been going on, as revealed by Lee in his
EN5 interview. Pool and snooker film clips have been arranged by theme, for a little project, one that now seems to be breaking further with a small additional live action shoot taking place this week to add shape for the next visual instalments of The Ska Orchestra. MIS are there to report on this for next week.

Meanwhile the May gigs, for Chelsea, Manchester and Newcastle, all on sale, are now joined by a Bristol date Lee confirmed on the radio show. Event pages are now up from The Ska Orchestra’s facebook group.
Join the gigs and fun there, with ticket links up. Fan Meet details will also follow on these pages.

Chelsea – under the bridge May 16th
http://www.facebook.com/events/337085466412381/

Bristol – Fleece and Firkin – May 20th
http://www.facebook.com/events/118659504985360/

Manchester – Band on the wall – May 24th http://www.facebook.com/events/473375666044916/

Newcastle – Think Tank – May 25th
http://www.facebook.com/events/429973203761301/

Great news for those planning to attend the Newcastle Gig is that our friends in the North, nutty band “Shut Up”, reviewed in the MIS several times, are the support band for the Think Tank gig, so twice the fun.

We can confirm dates for two festival appearances, though they are not fully announced festivals on sale yet. Don Valley Festival in Sheffield is a weekender event. LTSO’s date would be the Sunday August 11th. Running out of Don Valley Stadium, some flyers are about but no official ticket details yet. For a ska event, the weekend boasts UB40, Neville staple, Bad Manners, Lambrettas, The Beat, Cockney Rejects and more across the 2 days. So hold fire until proper announcements.

Lee has also mentioned a Belgium date at a Jazz Festival. We can exclusively tell you that is August 18th. We don’t have an announced festival yet, though we suspect Middleheim, but that’s just guessing until they announce a line up and we can bring you facts over speculation.

Lee also told us he would by appearing at 8pm 5th March on Stomp radio. http://stompradio.com/

This would presumably by the Simon Petts show.

If you aren’t already a member of the band’s group page on facebook:
www.ltso.mis-online.net then join now and get your friends to do the same. The 1,000th Member will win a signed picture of Steve Maddie.

Check out Lee’s Interview in videos we’ve put up on youtube in our next article.

Jonathan Young

[5] – LEE THOMPSON ON EN5 RADIO

Lee performed a nice long intimate interview on EN5 radio this week talking about all his bands past and present.

He spoke about his nickname Kix, his graffiti tag, and the early days of the band Madness. He was asked about the first big Madness gig, and he said The Two Tone Tour was what came to mind as the big time. “the music world in the palm of our hand and we was aiming for something”, he said.

He told the story of the recording of It Must Be Love. The writing of the current Madness album was discussed. Thommo praised the Suggs song
1978 that’s coming on the deluxe album, as well as Woody’s writing of late.

Lee tells at length the Deolalli story, the grandfather of Alan Cummings, who used to play Russian Roulette.

Check out part one here…

Madness

Lee Thompson spoke next about the birth of the idea for a Ska Orchestra, citing a chat with Joe Auckland, and then telling the tale of small claims court for the recovery of money from the first gig the band ever played. He names all the band for the benefit of the radio presenters.

Cool mastered versions of Gun’s Fever and Josephine were aired, and afterwards Lee spoke about Gun’s fever showing off all the band’s talents, saying the band has got even better live since.

The Ska Orchestra

Lee tells an outrageous story of a Camden Cowboys Butlins gig, brilliantly saying the sentence “It’s not a rude story, it involves a vibrator”, to start the tale of stage antics gone a step beyond, as well as some other touring stories, including a hilarious pin ball table incident and a dodgy character on an overseas Madness trip.

Lee then tells his side of the Jubilee and Olympics stories. Talking to the Queen out of turn, and being rammed by Elton John on his golf buggy in the palace gardens.

Camden Cowboys

EN5 Toby and Aiden Radio show. Lee Thompson
Darren Dixon videos/ Jonathan Young

[6] – HOW CAN I TELL YOU – THE SINGLE

The next Madness single, “How Can I Tell You”, is a 3 version download package, due for release on April 7th.

http://bit.ly/YXZvTq

Available to pre-order now, the bundle includes the shortened radio edit of the song, which truncates the intro, as well a live version of the track, and an exclusive demo of the track.

Previews are available to listen to online at iTunes.

Meanwhile, the band have kindly uploaded the video backdrop from the recent tour to their Madtube video pages, which you can find here:

The Kaleidoscope Karaoke Video)

News courtesy of from Madtube.

[7] – CAMDEN TO GET HOLLYWOOD STYLE WALK OF FAME

Camden is set to honour the biggest names in music with a new Walk of Fame.

The area in north London – where pop acts including Amy Winehouse and Madness hail from – will be twinned with Hollywood.

Unveiling events will be held in collaboration with the famous Hollywood Boulevard which has honoured performers since 1960.

Lee Bennett, from the Music Walk of Fame, said Camden Town was a “hotbed of creativity”.

Blur, The Who and Elvis Presley are front-runners on a list of musicians to be honoured with Walk of Fame discs along a route in north London.

Camden Town is to be officially twinned with Hollywood to create its very own Music Walk of Fame.

The first 30 discs will be laid down this summer, organisers said.

It will celebrate the world’s greatest musicians, with further discs and an Amy Winehouse statue to be unveiled in September – to mark her 30th birthday.

Front runners likely to appear on the first discs are an eclectic collection of artists including hip-hop DJ pioneer Grandmaster Flash, jazz poet Gil Scott-Heron, R&B group Soul II Soul, and Camden’s very own Madness.

Rock veterans Led Zeppelin and legendary crooner Frank Sinatra are also likely to appear on the list, organisers said. Concerts and special events will be held after all unveilings with tribute gigs for artists who have passed away.

Music promoter Lee Bennett said he would even “like to get bands who have split up back together again” for one-off concerts, when they receive a plaque.

Those honoured will be divided into five groups: innovative artists, influential artists, icons, unsung heroes and industry types like managers and producers. A committee of global industry figures and local community members are working on shortlist of nominations for the first 30 plaques.

The list will go to a decisive public vote on the Music Walk of Fame website in May.

“We hope this will be the highest accolade in music,” said Mr Bennett.
“This is an international brand not specific to Camden, but it is in Camden as we truly see it as the world’s rock and roll capital.”

It was Mr Bennett’s son Adam who came up with the idea for a Music Walk of Fame, when he was just 10 years old. “We were walking through Hollywood and Adam asked ‘why don’t we have this in the UK?'” Mr Bennett said.

The first phase will run 0.4 miles (0.64km) from Jamestown Road to the famous Roundhouse venue which has hosted gigs by the likes of The Clash, Jimi Hendrix and The Rolling Stones. But it is hoped the trail will eventually run almost a mile from Mornington Crescent to Chalk Farm.

“Anyone with a Brits or Grammy lifetime achievement will get a disc,”
said Mr Bennett.

There are plans to build a 3D hologram museum to allow visitors to perform onstage with their favourite stars and to turn Camden’s streets into an augmented reality museum.

BBC NEWS

[8] – SIR PETER BLAKE TO FEATURE ON MADNESS ALBUM

Artist Sir Peter Blake is to appear on a record sleeve, after years of creating striking images for artists such as The Beatles, The Who and Oasis.

Sir Peter will feature on a new edition of Madness’s most recent album, Oui, Oui, Si, Si, Ja, Ja, Da, Da in a photograph which was initially ditched from the version released last year.

(MIS NOTE: not sure the above is true as the band photoshoot for the above took place later than October, we believe.)

The 80-year-old artist is seen as Moses as he lines up with the rest of the band in fancy dress on the sleeve for the special edition of the album, which will come out in April.

The new sleeve was released as the band was announced to play a special concert outside the BBC’s Television Centre in west London as the corporation leaves the building for good.

The hour-long concert will be screened by BBC4 and will include hits such as One Step Beyond, I Never Knew Your Name, Baggy Trousers and Our House.

BBC4 controller Richard Klein said: “I can think of no better band than Madness to help celebrate a golden age of television coming out of the BBC’s Television Centre, and I am really pleased that one of Britain’s finest groups has agreed to come along and help BBC Four celebrate in fine style.”

The station is also to screen a celebration of the programmes and stars associated with TV Centre over the past 53 years.

For the sleeve Sir Peter dressed the figures as characters associated with a number of phrases which had been in contention to be used for the album title.

The veteran artist is best-known for creating the collage cover of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band sleeve for The Beatles in 1967.
He has also provided images for Paul Weller’s Stanley Road, Oasis’s Stop The Clocks and The Who’s Face Dances.

His Madness cover is thought to be the first in which he has featured himself on one of his own sleeves. It will be released on April 12 through the band’s website.

The independent.

[9] – MADNESS TO PLAY BBC TELEVISION CENTRE FAREWELL GIG

Madness will perform live in the front of BBC Television Centre as part of an evening of entertainment bidding farewell to the iconic building.

Celebrating its 53 year history, BBC Four will produce the hour-long programme to be shown on 22 March, nine days before TV Centre closes its doors.

MIS can tell you exclusively that the gig will be 7.30pm to 8.30pm.

…

Coldplay and Beyonce have performed in the car park in past years.

Madness, whose hits include One Step Beyond, said they are “honoured”
to be part of this “fond farewell.”

A statement from the ska act, who rose to prominence in the early 80s,
read: “We’ve played at some exciting places in London lately but the closing of BBC TV Centre… well… that is close to our hearts.

“As a band we grew up there, those walls have plenty of Madness tales to tell, a sad day, the end of an era, oh, but what a celebration.”

The band will play new material from their recent tenth studio album Oui, Oui, Si, Si, Ja, Ja, Da, Da alongside the hits Baggy Trousers, I Never Knew Your Name and Our House.

The transition to the BBC’s new London home, the central New Broadcasting House, began in October last year.

The 1960s building in west London, once home of Top of the Pops and Blue Peter and sold for £200 million, closes on 31 March and will be redeveloped into hotels, flats, a cinema and office space.

The main television studios will be retained and refurbished for leasing out to production companies, including the BBC, from 2014.

Richard Klein, controller BBC Four, said: “I can think of no better band than Madness to help celebrate a golden age of television coming out of the BBC’s Television Centre.

“I am really pleased that one of Britain’s finest groups has agreed to come along and help BBC Four celebrate in fine style.”

The concert will be followed by a two-hour special, pre-recorded on 18 March, called Goodbye TV Centre. Hosted by former BBC chairman Michael Grade in front of a studio audience, it will feature interviews with the likes of Sir David Attenborough, Ronnie Corbett, Noel Edmonds, Sir David Jason and Sir Terry Wogan.

Taken from BBC NEWS.

Last night Madness said: “We’re honoured to be the band the Beeb have chosen for this fond farewell.”

Mr Klein added: “I can think of no better band than Madness to help celebrate a golden age of television coming out of the BBC’s Television Centre.

“I am really pleased that one of Britain’s finest groups have agreed to help us celebrate in fine style. Madness, as always, are one step beyond.”

Taken From the Mirror.
Also reported by Radio Times, Yahoo and many more.

[10] – THE NEW SPECIAL EDITION COVER PHOTO

Sir Peter, who designed the sleeve for Band Aid’s charity single, Paul Weller’s Stanley Road and Oasis’ Stop the Clocks, will appear of the front of a special edition Madness album.

The artist had already designed the cover for the band’s tenth album, entitled Oui, Oui, Si, Si, Ja, Ja, Da, Da, and will now feature on the repackaged disc in person.

He appears on the cover dressed as Moses, in tribute to one of the discarded suggested titles the band considered for the album: The Ten Commandments.

Members of Madness joined him to dress up as other characters representing ‘Rake’s Progress’ (carl), ‘Man Of Steel’(Barso), ‘Dial M For Madness’(Woody), ‘Circus Freak (lee)’ and ‘Deolali’(Chris).

The original cover had featured the same proposed titles in various fonts, crossed out.

Representing positive vibes of Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da in the middle is Suggs, as fortune telling wish making machine Zoltar Speaks!!!

The telegraph/MIS

[11] – MADNESS TO CLOSE BBC TELEVISION CENTRE WITH GIG

Published Wednesday, Feb 27 2013, 09:57 GMT | By Alex Fletcher

Suggs’s ’80s pop collective will perform a concert that will act as a warm-up for a final two-hour pre-recorded show about the broadcaster’s studios, Goodbye TV Centre.

Airing in March, the show will celebrate the BBC’s flagship studios, looking back at such events as the power cut on the launch night of BBC Two, and visiting the studios used for Monty Python’s Parrot Sketch, Del Boy’s living room, Miranda’s shop and the corridors that Alan Partridge ran down with his stolen stilton.

Guests who joined former BBC chairman Michael Grade on the sofa include Penelope Keith, Ronnie Corbett, David Mitchell, Michael Parkinson, Terry Wogan, Mark Lawson, David Jason and Zoe Ball

From www.digitalspy.co.uk – @digitalspy
Passed on to us by Tony Stratton

[12] – THAT’S YER LOT

Yes, it’s the usual drill. We are indeed almost done for this week, but before we go we’ve got a few final snippets of information to pass in your general direction.

First-up, and despite what disinformation you might pick up by hanging around speculative Facebook pages, for those easily confused by ticket web sites that simply re-list old events in search pages, a Madstock 2013 hasn’t been planned.

Moving on, and for a chance to win free Suggs Live tickets, simply
point your web browser at: http://blog.madness.co.uk/?p=8908

Now, over to subscriber Ian Beatty…

“Has anyone noticed the amount of times Madness gets
played at the Rovers Return on Coronation Street?

On Friday night it was ‘Never Knew Your Name’.

There must be a Madness fan on the production staff
who keeps sneaking these gems in”

Ian also emailed in to tell us that…

“I recently stayed at a Best Western Hotel and in a
moment of boredom read their in-house magazine ‘Do
Not Disturb’ and had a pleasant surprise.

There was an interview with Suggs and a full page
picture. Also on closer inspection there was a
miniature Suggs on the front cover.

The article is about a Suggs recommended pub crawl
in Soho and background info on his young life”.

Ian has been kind enough to scan the article in, so we’ll do our best at getting it uploaded to the MIS web site. Keep an eye on the MIS Twitter feed (@MIS_Online) as we’ll announce on there if we’ve managed to put it up.

And finally, with very little Madness chart information to write about this week, Paul (Rodgers) has passed on what he calls “The scraps”. Over to Paul…

“Nothing is in the top 100. Last week Complete was at
number 143. Total Madness was at number 46 on the indie
charts. That’s about all that people don’t know yet. Oh
and Never Knew Your Name is number 78 on the year to
date airplay chart.

In this week’s indie charts Oui Oui plunges from 9 to 21
and Complete drops from 20 to 24.

If you want me to have more to write about in the coming
weeks, make sure you pre-order the deluxe version of Oui
Oui from the Madshop and the How Can I Tell You 3 track
digital EP from Imazon or aTunes. Oh and buy yer mother
a copy of Complete Madness for mother’s day so it
manages 52 weeks solid in the top 200”.

And with that, we’re done.

Until next week take care,

Rob, Jon, Simon, Liz
(With special thanks to Paul Rodgers, Tony Stratton, Ian Beatty, Lee Thompson and Darren Dixon)