Track Listing

1. The Prince
2. One Step Beyond
3. My Girl
4. Night Boat To Cairo
5. Baggy Trousers
6. Embarrassment
7. Return Of The Los Palmas 7
8. Grey Day
9. Shut Up
10. It Must Be Love
11. Cardiac Arrest
12. House Of Fun
13. Driving In My Car
14. Our House
15. Tomorrow's Just Another Day
16. Wings Of A Dove
17. The Sun And The Rain
18. Michael Caine
19. One Better Day
20. Yesterday's Men
21. Uncle Sam
22. Waiting For The Ghost Train
23. Lovestruck
24. Johnny The Horse

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44372 in Music
• Released on: 2000-06-05
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered

Amazon.co.uk Review
In the early 1980s, Madness were one of the most popular bands in Britain; their zany style and dedication to fun shined through in their music resulting in a number of hits. This excellent compilation contains 22 of their earlier singles: from the bouncy "One Step Beyond" to "Baggy Trousers", the jerky "House of Fun" and "It Must Be Love". These were all short, jaunty tunes with lyrics about real life--sometimes amusing, sometimes sombre in tone, but always grounded in the real world. This CD is an excellent introduction to a band that was very much a product of their time. --Carina Trimingham

Customer Reviews

Fun ska-pop music with depth
Superficially, Madness seemed to be a lightweight pop group who had a lot of fun, but some of their songs had a lot of depth. I've seen them compared to the Kinks - both groups having (in their different eras) offered interesting insights into London life. This is high praise indeed so although I wouldn't quite put Madness on the same level as the Kinks, their music has far more to offer than you might think.

Between 1979 and 1983, Madness had fifteen UK top ten hits and two UK top twenty hits. Taking their group name from a Prince Buster song, their first hit (The Prince) was a tribute to him and their second hit (One step beyond) was a cover of one of Prince Buster's songs. They later had another cover hit with It must be love (Labi Siffre) but wrote most of their own material.

Their biggest UK hits were House of fun (UK number one) and Wings of a dove (UK number two - an original song, not a cover of the old gospel standard), but they also made the UK top five with My girl, Baggy trousers, Embarrassment, Grey day, It must be love, Driving in my car, Our house and The sun and the rain.

After one of their members quit in 1983, the hits generally became smaller although Madness continued to make great music. They disbanded in 1986 but have re-formed intermittently since then. One such reunion (with the original line-up) recorded a new album in 1999, which yielded the UK top ten hit Lovestruck and another great song, Johnny the horse, both featured here.

Their first hits compilation was titled Complete Madness and their second was called Utter Madness. Between them, these two volumes (both available on CD) contain every UK hit of the eighties, however minor, but do not cover their 1999 comeback. This compilation covers their whole career and contains all the essentials and some of the minor hits. If you just want one Madness CD, make it this one.

this cd is ONE STEP BEYOND the rest on the market!!!!!
Once upon a time there was music. And then there was Madness! Of all the events of the twentieth century the release of divine madness will go down in folklore as one of those moments beyond words. People will ask 'where were you when Divine Madness was released?'. The CD quite rightly, was praised by the institute of dieting horses due to its kilo-cutting powers. Who would forget those hazy nights dancing the nutty dance into the early hours of the morning? I alone have shed pounds in the last few minutes. I earge you, nay demand you, the people of the world to go out and purchase this disk. Heck, you could even buy three.

Nutty
Energetic, droll and never knowingly understated; Madness were peerless in their early-80s prime and remain living proof that the decade that taste forgot was fertile ground for imaginitive and fun pop music. This compilation has been updated since I bought it so I've bought it again; new tracks 'Lovestruck' and 'Johnny the Horse' aren't quite up there with classics such as 'The Prince' and 'Wings of a Dove' but are still better than much of today's pop music. Remains a must buy.