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

2 – HOW CAN I TELL YOU? ABOUT THE BANNED VIDEO? – With much annoyance
we bring you exclusive leaked news of a video you wont be
allowed to see for the new Madness single thats out in just 6
days.

3 – MADNESS TV AND RADIO ROUND-UP – With the band having appeared or
lining up to appear on TV and Radio, we thought it would be useful
to provide a brief lowdown of some of these appearances along with
relevant links. Here we have details of the band’s appearance on
the BBC for Goodbye Television Centre, This Morning and
forthcoming Alan Carr’s Grand National Specstacular, While on
radio it’s Wave 105 and acoustic playing on Weekend Wogan, on
Radio Two, along with news of a forthcoming session on Absolute
radio this Monday.

4 – I’LL NEVER SEE A GIG AS GOOD AS DAD’S, SAYS IAN DURY DAUGHTER
He was the epitome of ’70s new wave cool but for the young Jemima
Dury, Ian Dury was just her dad. As she prepares for an appearance
at the Laugharne Weekend, she talks to Abbie Wightwick about her
famous father. From: www.walesonline.co.uk Written by Abbie
Wightwick, Published: Mar 29 2013

5 – THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS – This week MIS co-editor, Rob Hazelby
goes back 5 years to issue number 465, and the week of Sunday
30th March to Saturday 5th April 2008, and then back 10 years to
issue number 203 and the week of Sunday 30th March to Saturday
5th April 2003.

6 – SUGGS IS SET FOR THE KINGS THEATRE – Graham McPherson, or Suggs as
he’s better known, is part of a very exclusive club. Just him, his
Madness bandmates and Brian May have done one thing together –
performed on the roof of Buckingham Palace. To many people, this
makes him a bit of a legend. From: www.portsmouth.co.uk. Article
by Mischa Allen

7 – PAUL RODGERS CHART STATS – THE NEW ALBUM GOES GOLD – Mr. Rodgers
returns to the bits and bytes of the MIS with his latest lowdown
of all things Madchart, starting with the great news about Oui Oui
Si Si Ja Ja Da Da being certified as a GOLD album.

8 – WILKO: I WON’T PLAY AGAIN – Bittersweet comes the news that Wilko
Johnson’s appearance with Madness at TV centre might be the last
performance from the guitarist who is suffering terminal cancer,
and this week canceled gigs, saying he wont play again.

9 – ONE SHOW AND MADNESS LIVE REVIEW – Tonight’s special edition of
The One Show (BBC One) made for surprisingly tense, compelling
viewing. Not because it was exciting live television but because
it looked like Terry Wogan’s hair might get blown clean off his
head. The Telegraph reviews Madness on BBC1 and more.

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

[1] – THIS IS WHERE THE MADNESS BEGINS

Hello, and welcome to this Easter Bank Holiday weekend edition of the MIS.

We’ve good news. Read Paul Rodgers in article 7 to learn of a landmark reached by the Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da album, and a return to the top 50. Plus this is an issue stuffed full of lowdown of recent and forthcoming TV and Radio appearances by the band. If you’ve missed one of these we’ve got catch-up links, and details of shows coming up. Get those set top box recorders set!

We’ve bad news too of a video shoot that’s come to a sticky end, and elsewhere we have a nice interview with Suggs, conducted by the Portsmouth Online web site on this the week his three month solo tour begins.

Also we have a lengthy interview with Ian Dury’s daughter Jemima, from Wales Online.

Alongside this little lot we also go back to this week five and ten years ago in our regular That Was The Week That Was article, which neatly on the day Madness Cover “oh my love” on live radio, this article takes us back to when we mentioned John Lennon’s last interview in which he spoke about Madness. Spooky luck there.

We end with a hair raising review of Madness on the BBC!, contrasted obliquely with the sad news the weather at that gig may have cut short the performing career of Wilko Johnson.

The weather may still be unseasonably cold for Easter now, but don’t panic. Wrap up and sit yourself down in front of your computer, tablet or phone and get stuck into this week’s edition of the MIS.
Enjoy the read!

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

[2] HOW CAN I TELL YOU? ABOUT THE BANNED VIDEO?

With much annoyance we bring you exclusive leaked news of a video you wont be allowed to see for the new Madness single that’s out in just 6 days.

How Can I Tell You. Is a brilliant Madness single. In just 6 days you can buy it in it’s new radio edit. Along with a live version, and most interestingly a stripped bare demo that sounds as raw as a pub sing-a-long around a piano. It’s out on the 7th.

http://tinyurl.com/cau37be

Here is a small link to Amazon. Please post it around your world, facebook, twitter and wherever you talk about your favourite things. That’s How You Can Tell people.

But do us a favour while you do that. Complain. Cus we are sorely annoyed at MIS that you wont get to see a brilliant video the band shot to accompany the song. Cus it’s been banned.

These days with no major record label budget behind them, It can be hard to get all of Madness together to invest effort in a pop video.
Sugar and Spice is the last time this really happened. With Chrissy Boy’s skilfully edited film clips representing My Girl II, Or The Death of a Rude Boy preview, and a tastefully tinted i tunes edit montage made for an elegant stand in for Never Knew Your Name.

How Can I Tell You, has only been represented by a Karaoke software patterned backdrop video with a spelling mistake in it, thus far. This could have been different if a plan hatched at the BBC had been allowed to come to better fruition.

Being allowed inside the BBC after the soundcheck last Friday, we saw, members of the band were messing around with the film crew during the afternoon, working on adverts and possible inserts for the One Show. They were trying to persuade the main channel producer to show something of them with the new single playing over the top, as an introduction to them being on the show. We witnessed some of this taking place. And it was quite amusing at times. As they presented the BBC guy with a few different ideas, it sort of grew into more as the old creative juices returned.

As well as a part band Nutty Train coming out of the Tardis doors, and around the central fountain/statute area at the front of the BBC, known as the horseshoe. Band members were messing around playing on top of a cardboard cut out version of BBC TV centre in a parody of their jubilee moment, shot in close up and than panned out to the real thing. With double takes.

The theme of giving advice to children that so heavily comes across with beautiful sentiment in the song was echoed by a borrowed wig, a few coats and a stuffed dog prop, that the band messed about with in the old blue peter garden area, pretending to be children’s TV presenters, making birthday cakes and christmas cards badly.

Though we didn’t see the next part, when the band disappeared inside, Mark did later tell us, they performed miming in the empty barren studio that once used to house Top of the pops, something they planned to overlay with a transparent footage of The Prince from 1979. They even had Terry Wogan involved pretending to introduce them, while behind him a band member held a sign that said “How I can you Tel?”

Sadly the footage wasn’t deemed useful for the One Show, who wanted to focus more time on the event of the building’s closure, but the band were very happy with the days work, and wanted to do a cheap deal to buy the footage shot, if the BBC would let any of it be kept by them, barring any trademarked content that just wouldn’t work.

They have said no. They have even put a ban on the footage being released online or on any other BBC outlet internally. Showing that in 30 year’s attitudes to the band continue to be a bizarre relationship of Yes you can and No you cant.

Although “rights issues” are undoubtably tricky, a scene in the old BBC canteen involving Chris Evans, reenacting the line “The Time I stuck an Ice Cream in Your face” by pushing a 99 into his mush and then into the camera lens is thought to have changed the atmosphere of the production team manager who got a bit stressed at that point, seeing a camera covered in cones, and started having a rant about equipement, and a live show to do later, and dont they realise that kids watch the show before the watershed and could quite easily copy things they see on screen, and before you know it a switch board full of phone calls about ice cream attacks, or “whippy slapping” would get him put on suspension for not following codes of practice.

Filming stopped after this. We are wondering if he’s the reason for the ban or not.

“Dont tell anyone” we were told after witnessing this, by the BBC people. “How can we not tell” we replied defiantly, but we let a week go to see if negotiations with the band could help the release of footage in time for the single. But the position hasn’t changed in communications acquired up to today. The BBC have failed to be fluid and are adopting a totally crystalline hard line on talks. So please do voice your opinions if you think, like we do, that that this video should see the light of day today. Post about the single so people know it’s out, with the above link to Amazon. And complain publicly you want a video for this tune. We will use your voices to help our argument.

If you want to help us further please email Jonsmad@hotmail.com with your thoughts. As MIS is getting a petition together to send in, and all those who help us, we will send you our brief video camera footage of some of these events taking place, that we as yet aren’t allowed to put online either. We will send you them privately though so you can see how good this could be.

We also want volunteers to film themselves pushing an ice cream into their face. To prove to the BBC how unharmful this actually is and how unreasonable they are being basing a ban on the footage because of this.

Just one cornetto, might help us change the BBC’s mind.

Jonathan Young

[3] – MADNESS TV AND RADIO ROUND-UP

With the band having appeared or lining up to appear on TV and radio, we thought it would be useful to provide a brief lowdown of some of these appearances along with relevant links.

Here we have details of the band’s appearance on the BBC for Goodbye Television Centre, This Morning and forthcoming Alan Carr’s Grand National Spectacular, While on radio it’s Wave 105, Absolute radio sessions and Weekend Wogan acoustic tune time.

Goodbye Television Centre
BBC 1/4
Originally broadcast on Friday 22nd March http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rgr1j

As the BBC makes its exit from the iconic west London site of Television Centre, BBC Four presents a special night of celebration of the building and its 53-year history. To kick start proceedings, the nation’s favourite nutty boys and national treasures Madness take to the stage at the front of BBC Television Centre to perform an hour long concert in front of an assembled audience nine days before TV Centre closes its doors. To help launch this celebration of over 50 years of programme making at TVC Madness treat us to new material and classics alike, such as One Step Beyond, I Never Knew Your Name, Baggy Trousers and Our House. (Watch again on Youtube once the i player repeats are gone.)

—–

Originally Broadcast Tuesday 26th March
This Morning
ITV1

Madness (with John O Neil and Kevin Burdette standing in) playback a live vocals only performance of the new single “How Can I Tell You”

———-

Sunday 31st March
Weekend Wogan
BBC Radio 2
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rhvx3
With Madness (Suggs and Mike – Ed) and Sean Hughes
Duration: 1 hour, 57 minutes

Sir Terry Wogan presents his Sunday morning show, easing you into your Sunday morning with music and musings.

This week he’s joined by the ska group Madness for a session live in the studio. Formed in 1976, they became one of the most prominent bands of the UK ska revival with hits including Our House, Baggy Trousers and One Step Beyond. More recently they notably performed atop Buckingham Palace for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, and also appeared at the closing ceremony of the London Olympics. The band will be on tour across the UK throughout the summer.
Sharon Staite reports:

“Great acoustic versions of How Can I Tell You and

Oh My Love by Suggs and Mike on Wogan this morning! :0)”
Amusingly Terry played the old Terry Wogan jingle from Our House era on the show. Before talking about the new album.

———-

Absolute Radio Session.
Absolute Radio.
Monday, April 1st 9pm.
http://www.absoluteradio.co.uk/

Suggs, Mike and Carl appeared last week at Absolute radio studios in London to record a session with some backing singers added on some songs. You can see photographs now on Absoute radio website.
Tune in at 9pm to hear the tracks played back.

———-

Alan Carr’s Grand National Specstacular
Friday 5th April, 21.00
Channel 4
http://bit.ly/176NBhk

Alan presents another Specstacular to celebrate Channel 4’s first broadcast of the Grand National.

There’s a heady mixture of celebrities including Jonathan Ross, Paddy McGuinness, Kimberley Walsh, Louis Walsh, James Nesbitt, Abbey Clancy, Rylan Clark, Miranda Hart and Alex Brooker for some horse-themed studio games.

Music is from national treasures Madness.

There are also some special links from a day at the Cheltenham races with Alan and Russell Brand, including a chance encounter with Clare Balding, plus the biggest ever celebrity sweepstake involving not just the studio guests but a host of other famous faces.

Our thanks go to Cathal Smyth and Adam Devere for giving us a heads-up on the above.

——

Suggs also appeared on Wave 105. On Monday 25th of March catch up here:
http://www.wave105.com/music/catch-up/suggs-interview/

Rob Hazelby / Jonathan Young

[4] – I’LL NEVER SEE A GIG AS GOOD AS DAD’S, SAYS IAN DURY DAUGHTER

From: http://www.walesonline.co.uk
Written by Abbie Wightwick,
Published: Mar 29 2013

He was the epitome of ’70s new wave cool but for the young Jemima Dury, Ian Dury was just her dad. As she prepares for an appearance at the Laugharne Weekend, she talks to Abbie Wightwick about her famous father

HAVING a rock legend for a father could have swamped a lesser woman but Jemima Dury is proud of her father’s groundbreaking music and her bohemian childhood.
Raised by their mother – painter Elisabeth Rathmell – after their parents split Jemima, now 44, and younger brother Baxter, 41, didn’t see much of their father growing up.

But when they did he was focused on them, Jemima recalls.
“I didn’t see him an awful lot except when I was really small,” she says.

“I have strong memories of being a kid around him and then he needed to go and spend more time in London and we lived in the countryside while he got on with his career.

“But times when we saw him it was totally focused.”
Rather than take them on outings, Dury would just ‘hang out’ with his children on weekends off, famously including the then five-year-old Baxter on the cover of the Blockheads album New Boots and Panties!!
Growing up Jemima recalls some ‘aggressively male’ rock types but says nothing really bad ever happened, even though she felt she didn’t see her father enough.

As Ian Dury and the Blockheads became famous, their songs constantly on the radio, Jemima’s father became unofficial poet laureate for a generation with hits like Reasons To Be Cheerful and Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick, going straight to number one.

It was at this time she recalls being flown to gigs in Europe or closer to home in London.

“I saw them perform everywhere – at the Hammersmith Odeon, Switzerland and Italy, but mostly in London.

“We went all the time. It became second nature and I know I will never see a gig as good as that again.”

But as a child she was also aware her father led a chaotic existence and other people weren’t always kind.

“We got a bit of stick for him being famous.

“People don’t always understand how to relate to you so unless you’re in an environment where others also have famous parents it can be difficult.

“It’s just by chance how it goes being the child of someone famous.
For us it was half and half. We never put up with anything terrible it was just the lack of seeing him.”

Baxter was teased at comprehensive school in London where bullies taunted him to ‘hit me with your rhythm stick’, but Jemima says she fared better.

Always focused, she trained as a dancer at the Arts Educational School before studying drama at the University of Kent.

As Jemima carved her own life during the ’80s, her father’s fame was beginning to wane and it was only after his death from cancer aged 57 in 2000 that she sat down to examine his work and her past.
Raised by her mother in an old vicarage in Aylesbury, Jemima always felt close to her absent father and was involved in his life and fame, even if from a distance.

“Our relationship evolved and then moved along pretty quickly because he was quite young when he got ill and that made a big difference,”
she explains.

Immediately after his death she began sifting through his vast collection of papers but the task proved too emotional and she gave up until a film was made of his life.

The film, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, came out in 2010 and Jemima was involved from the start.

“He put a lot of things in storage years ago and I was prompted to look at the stuff again when the film started happening.

“It was incredible the stuff that was in there, boxes and tons of stuff and manuscripts.

“It did all stay there for a while. It took a few years to be able to concentrate on it and see what was there.

“I hit a brick wall because I felt I needed more time and hit a wall emotionally.

“It wasn’t until the film gained momentum in 2008 that I could really do it.

“I got the book deal in 2000 but it took eight years to publish, until the film really.”

Original drafts hidden among the papers convinced Jemima to publish the archives as a book along with her father’s already published lyrics.

The result, Hallo Sausages, gathers together material previously released with a collection of old demos, song fragments, notes and jottings she unearthed.

The writings reveal her father as much as the film, which is as true a reflection of their lives as could be, Jemima says.
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, in which young Welsh actor Wesley Nelson portrays Ian Dury as a child, is a warts and all portrait of the star from a young boy crippled by polio to angry struggling musician and later fame.

“I did get very involved with the film and it was a great experience,”
Jemima recalls.

“It could have been quite intrusive but we were very lucky and the director and team were fantastic.

“But we had to accept it was not entirely accurate.

“It was about a father and son relationship and there was a father and daughter relationship which you wouldn’t necessarily know from seeing it.”

The film makes much of Dury’s traumatic experiences at a school for disabled children after being crippled down one side with polio at the age of seven.

Contracting the virus in an outdoor swimming pool, he always walked with a limp and stick, none of which stopped him making it as a musician, and later as a travelling ambassador for UNICEF.
Jemima will remember her father for all these things, but it’s his writing and music that draws her back.

“I listened to his music a lot last year when I was finishing the book,” she says.

“My three kids are quite interested too. My oldest son, who’s 10, is very fascinated and talks about his grandad.”
She knows the wider world is also fascinated and is considering what to do now with all the papers stored at her home in Hastings.

“I’m a great storage space for his things now. I have gone through everything now but I wouldn’t sell it.

“There’s so much of it. I might just have to set up a rock ’n roll museum.”

Hallo Sausages: The Lyrics of Ian Dury by Jemima Dury is published by Bloomsbury. Jemima Dury is appearing at The Laugharne Weekend on April 7 at 5.30pm

Laugharne Weekend highlights:

Sunday, April 7
Peter Blake @ Millennium Hall, 2pm

The Laugharne Weekend runs from April 5 to 7.

Tickets are available from www.ticketweb.co.uk Article from Wales Online

[5] – THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS

This week MIS co-editor, Rob Hazelby goes back 5 years to issue number 465, and the week of Sunday 30th March to Saturday 5th April 2008, and then back 10 years to issue number 203 and the week of Sunday 30th March to Saturday 5th April 2003.

5 years ago…
Issue number 465 – Sunday 30th March – Saturday 5th April 2008

This week we discovered that after years of speculation and rumour, the Our House musical was to FINALLY go UK-wide! Not only that, but thanks to subscriber ‘Dicka’, we had details of the first batch of dates, too!

Elsewhere we had news of two new Madness gigs for the summer months, which would see the band performing at Newbury and Newmarket racecourses. If the previous week’s news revealing that Madness were to perform at Sandown Park Racecourse on Thursday 7 August wasn’t enough, these two new gigs should certainly have made you happy.
If that lot wasn’t enough Chris Carter-Pegg was here with a report explaining that the legendary Bull and Gate was now under threat, whilst a certain Fred Boeuf seemed to have dug up something Beatle and Madness related from the archives. Recorded a mere two days before John Lennon’s death, it was the last interview he made with the BBC, and in it he sings a small snippet of One Step Beyond.

Here’s a short excerpt from the article….

“I’m a champion of it now, I like it, you know, I
mean look when they catch up to the Yoko Ono
Plastic Ono band, then let him ask me that
question again, they haven’t reached that yet,
So that’s the answer to that, and anybody who
thinks, dumb old Lennon just got stuck in the
60’s to do “Starting over” & “Losing You”, you
can hear it all there.. I’m aware of the B 52’s
and Madness…”

John goes into a mock impression praising the
intro of One Step Beyond, which is wonderfully
halfway between Chas Smash and a Monty Python
Gumby voice “Don’t do That, Do This… I think
that is the most original thing, actually
because It’s so peculiar.”

He returns to his normal voice. “You know, out
of all that mob that was one of the most original
sounds, very good drumming, very good bass and
all that.”

10 years ago…
Issue number 203 – Sunday 30th March – Saturday 5th April 2003

Following Suggs’ week-long stint at the Cambridge Theatre the previous week, the MIS featured a round up (courtesy of Chris Carter-Pegg) of press reviews reporting on Mr McPherson’s appearance in the musical.
As well as that, MIS subscriber Jipster kindly put together a cracking review of one of Suggs’ performances upon her return from the show.

No sooner had Suggs finished appearing in the Our House musical, he was back on Radio 4 for a brand new series of comedy show “I Think I’ve Got a Problem”.

We’d heard some weird and wonderful (no pun intended!) stories in our time, but one announcing that Steven Spielberg was interested in converting the `Our House` musical into a fully-fledged film must surely take the biscuit. With quotes from the man himself it had to be non other than our usual April Fool’s joke.

With many recovering from the antics of Madness’ gig at The Royal Albert Hall (was it really half a decade ago?!), we featured an massive lowdown of the pre concert meet, as well as the gig itself.
For those unable to get there, or who were too plastered to remember what exactly went on, this was essential reading.
And finally, with many now recovering from the antics of the RAH concert we now all looked forward to the next Madness gig, as on Friday 4th July Madness were booked to play at the Museumszeile in Bonn, Germany! Thanks to Madness Trading Ring co-maintainer, Steve Bringe we had all the information you needed to get yourself hold of a ticket.

Rob Hazelby

[6] – SUGGS IS SET FOR THE KINGS THEATRE

From: http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/
by Mischa Allen

Graham McPherson, or Suggs as he’s better known, is part of a very exclusive club. Just him, his Madness bandmates and Brian May have done one thing together – performed on the roof of Buckingham Palace. To many people, this makes him a bit of a legend.

Last January Suggs turned 50 and shortly after his birthday he was lying in the bath nursing an epic hangover from the celebrations the night before, when there was an almighty crash.

‘I jumped out of the water,’ he says, ‘and there, lying amid shards of broken glass, was our four-year-old cat, a British blue called Mamba.

‘I was 50. My kids had recently left home and now the cat was dead.
I was really upset. It triggered a deluge of emotion, an event that somehow tipped me over the edge.’

We’re speaking on the phone and Suggs is mucking about, sounding like Darth Vader. But he quickly laughs at himself.
‘It’s half a century. Up to that point it’ was just numbers, but then I thought about my frazzled memories.’

The result is Suggs: My Life Story, a show which explores his past and his adventures when Madness were getting a string of Top 10 hits in the 1980s. And he’s just about ready to show it: ‘I’ve spent a long time fiddling about with it to make it exactly how I want. Finally, I have the chance to get it going and it is terrifying.’

And the first stop on the tour is the Kings Theatre, Southsea, on Tuesday. His most recent time in the city was following an appearance with Madness at the Isle of Wight festival – he ended up getting stuck in Portsmouth.

He says: ‘I remember having a marvellous night in this pub that I can’t remember the name of. It was tremendous.’

Having grown up in 1970s Soho, Suggs didn’t have the most conventional of upbringings. He lived with his mother Edith in a succession of rented rooms, the young boy trailed around after her when she went drinking in famous watering holes like the Colony.

He says: ‘You’d enter a room full of artists and actors and various hangers-on. But, amid all the booze, it was a creative hotbed. Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, George Melly, Jeffrey Bernard – they were all regulars.’

And he never really knew what happened to his father: ‘He disappeared when I was three and the last thing I remember was that he was in a lunatic asylum. I guess it’s a journey of self-discovery. It’s me reflecting on myself.

‘I sing about five or six songs too, which are all Madness ones. I also talk about Baggy Trousers, which is self-explanatory, but I explain why I wrote it.’

The tour will take Suggs to venues across the country for more than two months, and the performer says he hasn’t done a similar tour since 1979.

‘It doesn’t give you quite the same crazed adrenaline as a Madness concert,’ he explains, ‘but this is something I can stretch out and have a wander. It can evolve.’

Suggs first came up with the concept for the show at the start of 2012, which turned out to be a particularly big year for the band.
Most people will remember Madness turning up on top of Buckingham Palace during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in June, performing Our House.

It was just as incredible for Suggs: ‘I stood there and thought “What on earth are we all doing?” We were expecting to be asked to leave. I reckon they stuck us on the roof to keep us out of trouble.
‘It really was quite incredible, an extraordinary and remarkable experience. Stuff happened that we couldn’t have envisioned. It really seems to have made a big impact.’

The band went on to perform on stage as part of the London Olympics’
closing ceremony and in the same year they released their tenth album, Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da.

For Suggs, it was important to create a new album: ‘I think we were in danger of falling back in as a 1980s nostalgia band. For about five or six years we were doing tours at Christmas but it was an ever-destructing creative hole, so what we tried to do is write great songs.’

And 2013 looks to be a year that is just as popular for the band. The day after we speak they performed outside BBC Television Centre as part of celebrations marking its demise.

Suggs says: ‘I have memories of going in there when I was 18 to perform on Top of the Pops. I’ll never forget it.

‘The younger ones don’t really know about it. They were the days when dads would throw their newspaper at the TV when it was on. I mean 14 million people watched it, everybody watched it!’

The string of performances Madness has done in the past year just shows their lasting popularity since they first shot to fame in 1979.
‘It was a big thing but at the time we really weren’t aware of what was happening,’ laughs Suggs. ‘I’d known some of these characters since I was about 13 or 14, and all of a sudden I was going around the world making music with my friends. It was unbelievable.’
He adds: ‘‘Madness have always been about accentuating the positive.
It’s no accident our songs are still played 30 years down the line.

They’re a clear-eyed celebration of life as it’s lived. And we’re still together, still making music.’

After the tour finishes in June, Suggs still has a number of events lined up over the summer including performances and a possible book.
He says: ‘Madness are playing some race courses. I think there’s something marvellous that Madness and losing your money go together.
‘I’m also trying to write a book. I think I’ve nearly bankrupted a publishing house because I keep pushing back the date, so that needs to be done now.’

Suggs Live Tour begins this week, for the next three months.

[7] PAUL RODGERS MADNESS STATS – NEW ALBUM GOES GOLD

Well it’s been another good week for Madness albums. First up, and pointed out to me by the good ship JF Young, is the news that Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da has gone gold. Only 5 months after release
100,000 copies have been shipped to retailers. This does not yet mean that album sales have definitely passed 100,000 (I put the figure for sales closer to 68,000 based on sales figures published in Music Week magazine for albums near Oui Oui in the charts each week, up to this point.) The figures for orders by retailers will have received a recent boost from the announcement of the deluxe edition. If the Madshop has ordered 5,000 copies of the deluxe album to match pre-orders that would be higher than the weekly sale of the standard version for any of the last two months. Retailers such as Tesco will also have placed repeat orders based on Madness’ live appearance on BBC4 and the airplay and promotion due to go with the How Can I Tell You single.

On the album chart this week Madness had three albums in the top 200 for the first time since the chart dated 10 November 2012. And it’s the same three: As we know Complete Madness was number 84, Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da rose 74 places to number 121 and Total Madness re-appeared from nowhere at number 131.

I wonder if I am the only person who has noticed that Complete Madness regularly trumps the other compilation albums despite only having the hits as far as House Of Fun on it? Total Madness has the occasional blast into the top 40 or top 75, but disappears almost immediately. Total has spent 29 weeks in the top 200, Complete has spent 98 there. This is despite Total Madness having six more top 10 hits on it including, arguably Madness’ most famous song, Our House. Of course some versions of Total Madness come complete with the videos for the singles, although I’m not sure how readily available that version is.

I can’t help thinking that there really should be a deluxe version of Complete Madness issued. Ok so a lot of the bonus tracks on it would have already appeared on other compilations and deluxe editions, but there are still some unused rarities. A couple that spring to mind are the reprise version of One Step Beyond… from the 12” single and the version of Night Boat To Cairo which sneaked out in Portugal.

Or how about the alternate Don’t Quote Me On That and the other version of House Of Fun. My suggestions are not meant to be exhaustive. I am sure there are others I’ve forgotten about. Videos of the Top Of The Pops appearances could be added and you’re spoilt for choice for B sides. Complete Madness should really be a lavish 3 or 4 disc set celebrating the golden period of chart domination from
79 to 82. The single disc jobbie is ok as a cheap way to sell the crown jewels to the masses, but it is also an incredible undervaluation of those same jewels. I’ll stop now as I may have mentioned this before. I look forward to receiving it from USM/Salvo at some stage, looking lovely with a booklet containing the odd spelling mistake & factual errors. It’ll go nicely with all the others.

Right onto other matters modern. How Can I Tell You is not yet making a massive splash at radio, but it is getting about 7 plays per week from both Radio 2 and Absolute. Those plays on those two stations will make a sizeable chunk of the total audience for the single.
Absolute still have it on their C list, but Radio 2 have it B listed.

In a week the single has risen from 140 on the airplay chart to number 71. In that time it has added at least 1.8 million people to the number who have theoretically heard it in the preceding 7 days. The latest figure for listeners is 11.5 million. Its highest
7 day audience was achieved a couple of days ago when around 13 million would have heard it. An appearance on Alan Carr’s Chatty Horse show next week will no doubt boost the single when it is released a little over 24 hours later. I feel I must warn readers to be very careful when viewing this programme as the world’s least funny tall woman with a bent nose will also be appearing. I can’t believe there is now a female comedy performer more irritating and less funny than Catherine f***ing Tate. Actually I can. Please let there never be a double act. I bet something awful will happen like Hart presenting Madness with some hookey Gold Discs for Oui Oui.
Non Non!

Something I neglected to keep readers up to date with is Oui Oui’s continued presence in the year to date album chart. Although it is now in decline it is still the 89th best selling album of 2013. That said it is likely to be higher in the charts for the next few weeks than other albums in the 80s so it could overtake them again. I suppose it all depends on how much of a boost How Can I Tell You and the deluxe version of the album give it in the charts. The release of the deluxe version should prompt sufficient sales to see the album return to the top 40 for a third time. At the moment that would mean sales of around 3,000.

Moving on to this week’s chart and it’s another great week for my favourite 80s group and their new album as Delta Machine by Depeche Mode, which is a real return to form, enters the chart at number 2.
Slightly further down the chart we find Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da at number 49. Judging by the graph of its chart performance so far the words yo yo should perhaps be added to the title. The album has now spent 21 weeks on the top 200. The album has either been steeply climbing or falling the chart for every one of those weeks.

This week Music Week magazine sees fit to publish its chart analysis
15 or so hours earlier than normal and they include the following
snippet: “Madness also got a TV boost, appearing on The One Show on BBC1 and in their own Madness Live: Goodbye Television Centre on BBC4. Their latest album Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da, which debuted and peaked at number 10 last November, re-enters the chart at number 49 (2,667 sales).

A little further down the chart we find Complete Madness at number 91.
During its latest run of 54 straight weeks on the top 200 it has an average position of number 141. At the very least the album should now be certified as silver (60,000 copies to retail) although with 99 weeks on the top 200 in total it is more likely that it could be certified gold with the BPI. Perhaps if this album, along with Total Madness, were officially certified as gold Madness might have more chance of getting a lifetime achievement award at the Brits. It strikes me as a good idea to officially point out to the BPI that Madness have shipped at least 400,000 albums to retailers since 2009.
That is just across Complete Madness, The Liberty Of Norton Folgate, Total Madness and Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da. There will have been plenty of other sales on all the other titles issued in that period.
On the indie chart Oui Oui climbs from 32 to 10 on its 22nd week on the chart. Complete Madness jumps from 25 to 20 on its 201st week.
Total Madness is not far behind at 29, climbing from 34 on its 183rd week on chart.

Meanwhile over on the singles chart my least favourite pop duo Decadent are a re-entry at number one with their dreadful ditty Let’s Get Ready For Rhubarb. Apparently 84,000 people are stupid enough to download this tripe 20 years after it was first a hit.
I guess we know where the lifetime achievement Brit will be going next year don’t we?

Normally at this point I’d remind you readers to pre-order the download EP of How Can I Tell You from iTunes, Amazon or 7Digital, but in the light of the previous paragraph I think there’s little point.

That’s all for now. Any more would be depressing.

Paul Rodgers

[8] – WILKO: I WON’T PLAY AGAIN

Bittersweet comes the news that Wilko Johnson’s appearance with Madness at TV centre might be the last performance from the guitarist who is suffering terminal cancer, and this week canceled gigs.
Posting on facebook came the news…

Important Announcement: Due to health reasons, tonight and tomorrow night’s Canvey Island concerts have been cancelled. An official announcement from management will follow shortly. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience for those fans that have already made their way down to tonight’s concert.

The Daily Echo newspaper later had this to say…
LEGENDARY Canvey musician Wilko Johnson, who has terminal cancer, has revealed he won’t play again.

The musician was due to play two final gigs in Canvey – one of them with 80s singer Alison Moyet – but the 65-year-old had to cancel when he was feeling unwell.

He has been performing for more than 40 years with rhythm and blues band Dr Feelgood but after cancelling the final two gigs of his farewell tour due to illness he has decided enough is enough.
Wilko, 65, was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer before Christmas and had been touring the country to say goodbye to his loyal fans. His last gig was alongside 80s band Madness at the closure of BBC Television Centre in London last Friday.
He said the conditions that day were terrible and said they could be the reason for his poor health at the moment – with Wilko suffering from suspected flu.

“I only performed one song but it was freezing and the wind was blowing up an absolute gale. It was whipping into my face and how Madness performed for an hour I have no idea. It was very very very cold and I think this is why I feel down.”
Wilko was supposed to take to the stage at the sold out Oysterfleet Hotel in Canvey on Sunday and Monday night with Alison Moyet but called off the shows on Sunday afternoon as he had been unable to recover. He said he felt terribly sad not to perform the home gigs one last time.

“It is really upsetting not to perform for the people of Canvey at the end. I really wish I could have done it and if one little bit of me thought it was possible I would have done it.”
Wilko refused chemotherapy when he found out he had cancer as he looks to enjoy the last three months of his life. He said he never thought he would look back on a career like his as he had never wanted to be a musician in his youth.

I look back with puzzlement. I never intended to follow this path but it all just happened. I was caught up in the fabulous seventies and I have had a great life.

[9] ONE SHOW AND MADNESS LIVE REVIEW

Tonight’s special edition of The One Show (BBC One) made for
surprisingly tense, compelling viewing. Not because it was exciting
live television but because it looked like Terry Wogan’s hair might
get blown clean off his head.

This rain-lashed instalment of the middlebrow magazine show was the
last live programme to be broadcast from Television Centre and
launched an evening of entertainment bidding a dewy-eyed farewell
to the BBC’s historic question mark-shaped home in West London after
53 years.

The first guest welcomed onto the outdoor set by presenters Chris
Evans and Alex Jones was twinkly station stalwart Wogan. Sir Terence
was on mischievous form, taking potshots at recent Prime Ministers
and BBC top brass. With the crowd cheering his more feisty comments,
it momentarily seemed like the old stager was about to stage a protest
sit-in.

However, with rain audible in the background and stiff winds buffeting
the plucky audience, Wogan’s locks took on a life of their own. Viewers
were suddenly on the edge of their sofas, wondering if his hair would
leave the building ahead of schedule.

Matt Baker re-enacted Roy Castle’s memorable, record-breaking, Busby
Berkeley-style mass participation tap dance in the circular courtyard
nicknamed “the Doughnut”. Former Strictly Come Dancing judge Arlene
Phillips had trained 600 members of the public inside four hours and
although the final result didn’t have the impact or panache of the
original, it was a decent homage.

There were neat nostalgic touches and clip montages. Free-runners leapt
and flipped around the empty building. Glimpses of retro BBC logos,
idents and clocks prompted Proustian rushes. Evans drove around “the
Doughnut” in a miniature car like Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear, then
showed us the original plans for the now familiar building, sketched
in a pub on the back of an envelope. A Dalek loomed menacingly in the
background throughout.

Proceedings creaked audibly at times. Shoddy lookalikes were used rather
than some original stars. Corporation drivers, archivists and continuity
announcers shared their memories, which lapsed into mawkish
self-indulgence. Evans interviewed two former Timelords but sadly it
was the worst two: Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy from Doctor Who’s
poor 80s period. Evans borrowed Baker’s multi-coloured Doctor frock
coat and grilled former BBC chairman Michael Grade while still
wearing it, which made an odd sight.

The show was played out by pop-ska veterans Madness performing live
in the forecourt – OK, the car park – to a soggy but bouncy anorak-clad
audience. Midway through the band’s opening song, the aptly-titled One
Step Beyond, the action switched to the Beeb’s artsy digital channel
for their full set on Madness Live: Goodbye Television Centre (BBC Four).
Here they gamely trotted out the hits – The Prince, Shut Up (restyled
as a duet with rapper Kano), House Of Fun, Baggy Trousers, Our House,
My Girl, Madness (joined by blues guitarist Wilko Johnson) – as the rain
lashed down, along with some new material that no-one really wanted to
hear but which was presumably a condition of their contract.

Some frustrated licence fee payers have accused the BBC of
“self-obsession” and “self-congratulatory claptrap” over its extensive
coverage of what is a glorified office move. The Madness gig was to be
followed by a two-hour pre-recorded special, Goodbye TV Centre, making
tonight’s celebrations come in at three-and-a-half hours total.
Fitting send-off or navel-gazing? Milestone or irrelevance? Justified
look back at cultural history or like foisting your holiday snaps on
a stranger? I’ll give the BBC the benefit of the doubt but I suspect
others won’t be quite so forgiving.

Oh and if you see some hair blowing down Wood Lane, please catch and
return to T Wogan Esq – but not at the usual address. Send it to
New Television Centre, Central London. Doesn’t have the same ring,
does it?

Michael Hogan. The Telegraph.

[10] – THAT’S YER LOT

Just before we go we’d like to point you in the direction of a ]
fantastic Mike Barson masterclass, which has been recorded and
uploaded by My Taratata.com.

In the 6-minute long video Mike demonstrates how to play the
classic “My Girl” on the piano.

If you’re a budding keyboard player then this video is an absolute
must.

Check it out at:

Some last minute News from Paul Rodgers, as he tells us The Madness
album has re-charted at Zero in the charts. This is a special number
reserved for released albums that sell no copies at all on pre-order
or first week sales. We guess either no one likes it, or it’s the
misprinted Z on the spine that’s putting people off buying this
latest EMI Re-release, just to complete their collection.

Finally we’d like to extend our congratulations to Owen Collins, who
completely a 103.2 hour radio show along with his Co-host, this
week at student radio “Insanity FM”. Amongst all the references and
songs Madness related that Owen managed to cram into the show amongst
other things during the 5 days, included Marshmallow Mastermind,
where Owen managed to win by answering questions on Madness with a
mouth full of marshmallows. Impressive. But more so is the money
raised for Teenage Cancer, over £1000. Well Done.

And with that, we’re off.

Until next week take care, and try not to eat too much chocolate!

Simon, Rob, Jon, Liz
(With thanks to Cathal Smyth, Sharon Staite and Adam Devere)