Madness - The Business - A Greatest Hits And More With A Difference

Introduction To Madness - The Business

Well that is exactly what this is. It is another that briefly went on my Discogs sale pile, and when I gave it a last listen it came straight off. It contains their early hits and best songs and was issued in 1993 by Virgin.

There are three compact discs consisting of over three and half of music over sixty nine songs, and any band can put out a “Best Of” or a “Greatest Hits” but this has something extra, and has spurred me to write this about it.

Getting Down To Business

Madness are from Camden Town, North London, and formed in 1976. At prominent band of the late 1970s and early 1980s two-tone ska revival, they continued to perform with six of the seven members of their original line-up.Madness's most successful period was from 1980 to 1986, when the band's songs spent a total of 214 weeks on the UK Singles Chart.

The members are:

Current

Chris Foreman – guitar (1976–1986, 1992–2005, 2006–present)

Mike Barson – keyboards, piano (1976–1984, 1992–present)

Lee Thompson – saxophone, percussion, vocals (1976–1977, 1978–1986, 1992–present)

Graham "Suggs" McPherson – vocals (1977, 1978–1986, 1992–present)

Dan Woodgate – drums, percussion (1978–1986, 1992–present)

Mark Bedford — bass (1978–1986, 1992–2009, 2012, 2013-present)

Former

Cathal "Chas Smash" Smyth – bass (1976–1977), vocals, trumpet, dancing (1979–1986, 1992–2014)

Although they were commercially successful in the 1980s they are still performing live and their songs while originally rooted in ska and reggae developed to rival the likes of The Beatles, Beach Boys , Kinks and Squeeze in their construction and sophistication.

Get To The Point Mike, Why Are You Writing This?

Although most will know Madness for their own songs, they started with covers and “The Dangerman Sessions” was an album of ska / reggae covers. They showed respect for the songs they covered but gave their own the same deserved respect.

Here is the point of this story. You put on the first disc and listed on the label is “The Prince” their debut single, a Prince Buster cover backed with “Madness” (an eponymous Prince Buster cover) nailing their flag to the good ship Ska and Two Tone’s mast.

The Interviews

However before this starts there is an interview about this first single, how it came about, which pub they met in (The Spread Eagle in Camden Town) and how the decision was made to release the single.

These appear interspersed between all the songs on this compilation giving you insights into how the band came to be like they are and some funny stories about lots of encounters.

Some of the sound bites are very short but it does give this compilation an interesting documentary feel.

The interviews are mostly with people outside the band, so it makes you feel as though you are looking in on them with the various commentators.There are some songs that have no attached commentary but by the time we hit their first really big hit (although “The Prince” was successful) “One Step Beyond”, another Prince Buster cover and this is probably one of their early hits that you really associate with Madness.

The songs and interview soundbites continue over the three compact discs and give a great insight into the development of the band over their career. How they did not understand the importance of being on time, lacing their Doc Martin Boots instead of being on stage for Top of the Pops.

There were fights, mild bullying (this seems to have been good natured) with people getting sacked after a fight at a gig and the band showing concern for them losing their job.

Conclusion

If you like Madness or even just Ska and Two Tone this record is well worth a couple of hours of your time.