MADNESS – MAD NOT MAD LP – Nr MINT UK ZARJAZZ 2 TONE SKA

Madness – Mad Not Mad
(Zarjazz/Virgin Records 1985  JZLP1)
Matrix No’s: A3/B1 – UK Pressing

Sleeve & Inner Sleeve in Nr MINT condition
– a little wear to edges of outer

Vinyl in Excellent+ condition
(there are some surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality apart from some light pops/crackles)

Madness are an English ska band from Camden Town, London, who formed in 1976. One of the most prominent bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s 2 Tone ska revival, they continue to perform with their most recognised line-up of seven members.

Madness achieved most of their success in the early to mid-1980s. Both Madness and UB40 spent 214 weeks on the UK singles charts over the course of the decade, holding the record for most weeks spent by a group in the 1980s UK singles charts. However, Madness achieved this in a shorter time period (1980–1986).

Madness have had 15 singles reach the UK top ten, one UK number one single (“House of Fun”) and two number ones in Ireland, “House of Fun” and “Wings of a Dove”.

Mad Not Mad is the sixth studio album by the English ska/pop band Madness. It was originally released in September 1985, and was their first official release on their own label Zarjazz, which was a sub-label of Virgin Records.^[4] The album was recorded over a period of two months in 1985, at Westside Studios in London, and at Air studios also in London. The album is generally regarded as the culmination of the smoother, more adult-oriented sound of the band’s later work. It features three prolific guest backing vocalists, including the female duo Afrodiziak (composed of Caron Wheeler and Claudia Fontaine), and Jimmy Helms. The album is notably the band’s only album not to feature their keyboardist and founding member Mike Barson, who had left the group the previous year to spend more time with his now ex-wife Sandra in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Barson’s keyboard parts were filled by synthesizers and Steve Nieve joined the band to take his place. Two years after the album Madness disbanded, but Barson did join them for the recording of their one-off single, “(Waiting For) The Ghost Train”. The album was their last recording of original material until they officially reformed in 1992. The album peaked at No. 16 in the UK charts, and achieved silver status from the BPI. However, the album remains the band’s poorest selling studio album to date. It featured the songs “Yesterday’s Men”, “Uncle Sam”, and “Sweetest Girl” which were all released as singles, with corresponding music videos. The three singles that were released all reached the Top 40 in the UK charts, however the latter two failed to make the Top 20, which was a first for any Madness single. The aforementioned “Sweetest Girl” was a cover version of a song by the British post-punk/new wave band Scritti Politti.

On release, the album was received favourably by the majority of music critics, although opinions have become much more negative in subsequent decades. And after only a few weeks of its initial release, the writers of NME listed this album at number 55 on their list of the “100 Best Albums of All Time”. The band themselves have been quite vocal in that they were less satisfied with the album. In a BBC Radio 1 interview in 1993 their lead singer, Suggs described Mad Not Mad as “a polished turd” (referring to its distinctively glossy mid 1980s over-production by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, who had both produced all of Madness’ work since their debut). However, NME are still favourable for the album, including it in their 2015 list of “50 Albums Released in 1985 That Still Sound Great Today”.

The album was re-released in the United Kingdom, in October 2010 on Virgin featuring rare bonus content. The reissue was a 3-disc set which comprises a 14-track with the original album digitally remastered from the original 1/2″ mix tapes; alongside three bonus single remixes and ‘(Waiting For) The Ghost Train’; a Bonus 10-track CD including demos of all the album’s singles and their respective B-sides; plus a Bonus DVD containing all the music videos for the singles as well as live performances from five BBC TV shows. It also features liner notes written by comedian and Madness fan, Phill Jupitus.

Track listing

Personnel

Madness

• Suggs (Graham McPherson) – lead vocals
• Chris Foreman – guitars
• Mark Bedford (Bedders) – bass guitars
• Lee Thompson – saxophones
• Daniel Woodgate (Woody) – drums, lynn drum programming; keyboard sequences
• Chas Smash (Cathal Smyth) – backing vocals; lead vocals on “Tears You Can’t Hide”
• Steve Nieve – keyboards

Production team