Madness
One Step Beyond (Re-issue)
(Union Square Music)
Their classic 1979 debut album re-issued with a host of bonus tracks chucked in is the greatest step back in time you’ll ever have
If there’s anything to say about Madness which hasn’t already been said then it’ll probably not even be relevant! To date they’ve released 9 studio albums, 12 compilation albums, 3 live albums, 35 singles and 4 compilation videos. What else is left for them to do? Absolutely nothing! Madness have become a cultural representation of themselves and of good old ska/pop nostalgia’s whimsical embrace pre 1984 - for that is when they were good at what they did - and when everybody loved their nutty ways and cloaked themselves in it, if only to forget how horrible reality was for a while. When the band split after 1984’s “Keep Moving” they left a stunning legacy which remains solid to this day. Sadly the “commercially unsuccessful” performance of comeback album “Wonderful” and everything after it failed to match the vibe they whipped up 15 years previously and there, it seems, is where a line has been drawn by old skool Madness devotees and history does indeed record the band’s glory years being 1979-1984 with no recent evidence to suggest otherwise.
It’s a no-brainer then to reissue their 1979 debut “One Step Beyond” because that is where it all began and where the genius of them can be truly heard, in all it’s fresh originality. The brilliance of “Night Boat To Cairo”, “Madness” and “Bed & Breakfast Man” are still as utterly catchy and exciting as they were 30 years ago and makes you ever so grateful to have been a musically aware youth at that point in time. Everything about it which you thought was brilliant in 1979 remains brilliant in 2010. Bonus tracks include a John Peel Session, original versions of singles, b-sides of key tracks and live tracks from the “Dance Craze” film. It’s the greatest step back in time you’ll ever have.
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