Buzzin Pop Music

Madness Madness They Call It Total Madness

Total Madness celebrates 30 years of hit singles from Madness together for the first time on one album.

Madness are the ultimate British singles band, holding the record for British single sales in the 1980’s when over 6 million Madness singles were bought by the British public.

Over a thirty year career, their string of Top Ten hits are part of the lifeblood of British popular music and their influence on generations of musicians cannot be overstated.

Their ability to document serious issues within seemingly sweet pop songs can be heard in the likes of The Smiths, Blur, Arctic Monkeys and a host of other huge acts that followed their appearance in the late 70’s.

With their latest album, The Liberty Of Norton Folgate, collecting continuous praise from the critics and re-establishing the band in the UK Top Five, this collection is the ultimate Madness Best Of and a great introduction to or reminder of one of the UK’s most cherished bands.

The album spans the band’s debut single, The Prince through to NW5, the lead track from this year’s critically-acclaimed return to form The Liberty Of Norton Folgate and contains all the singles that formed a record breaking run of 20 Top 20 UK singles from that 1979 debut to 1985’s Yesterday’s Men.

Across the 23 tracks, the depth of Madness’ songwriting is apparent, the familiar  anthems such as Our House, Baggy Trousers, It Must Be Love and Wings Of A Dove standing alongside the rush of One Step Beyond and Night Boat To Cairo. When a band can balance such uproarious pop with the bittersweet beauty of Grey Day and My Girl what you get is an album that is the benchmark for pop writing.

To accompany the audio disc, Total Madness also features a DVD of the classic videos for all tracks save for the b-side and li ve favourite Madness. Madness are rightly remembered for their pioneering attitude towards the format throughout their careers, the band themselves coming up with the ideas which are now also woven into British music history.

Whether Lee Thompson flying in Baggy Trousers, the chemist shop in House Of Fun or a succession of interviews with bemused passers by as introductions to each short, the videos, all shot in one day, have stood the test of time, mixing the dark humour of Monty Python and Derek and Clive with the slapstick of Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd.

The latest Madness Greatest Hits collection comes on the back of recent chart success of The Liberty Of Norton Folgate and successful and very popular performances on this year’s summer festivals circuit, not least at Glastonbury and most recently two sets at Rock en Seine.

Total Madness, the CD and DVD is released on September 21st through USM Media

CD1: Total Madness The Music:

01 One Step Beyond
02 Baggy Trousers
03 House Of Fun
04 Embarrassment
05 My Girl
06 Our House
07 It Must Be Love
08 wings of a Dove
09 The Sun And The Rain
10 Tommorrow’s Just Another Day
11 Cardiac Arrest
12 Driving In My Car
13 Bed And Breakfast Man
14 Grey Day
15 NW5
16 Lovestruck
17 One Better Day
18 Michael Caine
19 Los Palmas 7
20 The Prince
21 Shut Up
22 Madness
23 Night Boat to Cairo

CD2: Total Madness The Videos Tracklist:

01 One Step Beyond
02 Baggy Trousers
03 House Of Fun
04 Embarrassment
05 My Girl
06 Our House
07 It Must Be Love
08 wings of a Dove
09 The Sun And The Rain
10 Tommorrow’s Just Another Day
11 Cardiac Arrest
12 Driving In My Car
13 Bed And Breakfast Man
14 Grey Day
15 NW5
16 Lovestruck
17 One Better Day
18 Michael Caine
19 Los Palmas 7
20 The Prince
21 Shut Up
22 Night Boat to Cairo

Total Madness is due for release on 21st September 2009 via USM Media.