Madness '(Waiting For) The Ghost Train'

Chart Peak: 18
YouTube

Their farewell single after 21 Top 21 hits! 'Ghost Train' features the return of pianist Mike Barson

Well, when the subject crops up of bands who were active in my childhood and used humour and entertaining videos to get some interesting subject matter over... well, you can't not mention Madness so it's good timing for them to turn up here. Good timing doesn't mean they were having a good time though, and by the middle of the decade the strain was starting to show as the singles weren't going Top 10 any more. Barson seems to have been a key figure in keeping the septet into some sort of order and after he'd left the remaining six obviously weren't having so much fun.

So they finally decided to split up, which called for a second best-of collection (Utter Madness
 to follow Complete Madness) and this new single. Tellingly, I have no memory of hearing this at the time at all, and when I did first encounter it (on a boxed set my dad bought at a car boot sale in the mid-90s) I wasn't keen. Over the years I've grown much fonder of it, the only Madness hit written entirely by Suggs (unless you count 'Forever Young', which peaked at 199 in 2010) which is apparently a song about apartheid in South Africa; I'd never have guessed but you can sort of hear it when you're looking out for it, especially in the chorus "It's black and white, don't try to hide" and in the accent with which he sings certain lyrics. Although the track was, like every other hit they had in the 80s, produced by regular collaborators Langer & Winstanley, it does sound decidedly of-its-time, dominated by brittle-sounding drums and synthesisers and a phasing effect that sounds a bit like they were playing about. Arguably they could have put more effort into the structure of the song than messing about with the gimmicks but I suppose they were losing focus a bit. Still, the song is strong enough to shine through and has the advantage of not being as overplayed as the big Madness songs.

Also appearing on: Now 1, 2, 3, 6, 21, 43
Available on: Mad Not Mad

Madness 'One Better Day'

Chart Peak: 17

YouTube

One of a few acts to have appeared on all the first three volumes, a run that ends at this point as they're not on Now 4 (or Now 5 for that matter). 'One Better Day' was also the last Madness single to be released on Stiff records, and indeed one of the last big hits on the original version of that label before it ran out of money a couple of years later; it's presumably for this reason that there was no video budget available and the band had to fund it themselves, and they saved a few bob by using Bette Bright (aka Mrs Suggs) to play the part of the homeless woman. It's good that they bothered though, because there's something rather sweet about the finished clip which amplifies the song's sentiment, a reminder that the poor and dispossessed are still humans with feelings.

In sound only, this is probably the furthest of all their singles from their most famous Madness sound, although it does occur to me that if all the Madness songs you'd ever heard were the ones on Now albums you'd get quite a different impression of them from their best-known songs. The title (buried in a middle-eight) is of course a play on the phrase "seen better days" and there are no laughs to be had here as such, just a sympathetic depiction of life in and out of hostels. Of course, anyone who really knows Madness and their music will realise that the undercurrent of sadness and social commentary has always been there, but rarely did they foreground it as much as here. Though somewhat of its time, the track is brilliantly arranged and the soon-to-depart Mike Barson is particularly impressive on percussion and piano, with that quotation from 'Dancing Queen' (possibly via 'Oliver's Army') providing an additional hook. And even as an agnostic when it comes to saxophone solos, I can't fail to notice Lee Thompson's versatility - his bluesy lead-sax part here is completely different from 'One Step Beyond' but feels totally natural. It's a good record, but it's not what people expected or wanted from Madness, hence the relatively disappointing chart position: their lowest ever peak at the time though each of their next three singles did progressively worse.

Also appearing on: Now 1, 2, 6, 8, 21, 43
Available on: Total Madness

Madness 'Uncle Sam'

Chart Peak: 21

YouTube

Madness' first single of 1985 'Yesterday's Me' became their 20th consecutive Top 20 single in Britain. The follow-up, 'Uncle Sam' had just entered the Top 40 by the end of October and was beginning its climb.

Bad luck again here, because in the event this fell once place short and became the first single of their entire career to miss out on a Top 20 placing. Their next single couldn't even made the Top 30 and the one after that was a farewell release, for a while at least. This track comes from their last studio album of the 1980s, Mad Not Mad, and as the title implies they were at a slightly confused time in their career, even more directly political and gradually shredding the nutty image that had made them famous. Sometimes this worked pretty well - the aforementioned 'Yesterday's Men' was one of their straightest singles and whilst it's probably not anyone's favourite Madness song it's an enjoyable number that should probably be better remembered than it actually is.

The trouble with 'Uncle Sam' is that it seems to fall between two stools, somewhat, attempting both to make a serious point (about the relationship between the British and American military) and to restore the old japery; but it sounds like their hearts aren't really in it. On a commentary track on the now-deleted Divine Madness DVD, keyboard player Mike Barson (who had of course left the band by this point) mentions that nobody plays the off-beat, which would have improved things significantly but still not made this a classic Madness single because the songwriting isn't really up to scratch. It has the air of a forced attempt at a single when they'd left this style behind a bit. Even the video feels a bit like a rehash of past glories, although there's a subtle touch with Lee Thompson's blue face make-up, presumably a reference to their earlier (and better) anti-war song 'Blue Skinned Beast'. And a nice nostalgic view of the old John Lewis Partnership logo at 2:46.

Also appearing on: Now 1, 2, 3, 8, 21, 43
Available on: Mad Not Mad

Suggs 'I'm Only Sleeping'

Chart Peak: 7

YouTube

It's a coincidence that I happen to be writing about this song this week. I recently treated myself to The Beatles In Mono and as such have had the opportunity to listen to this (not my upload, I hasten to add!) and compare all the variations between the mono and stereo versions of the original. Hours of fun for all the family there. Thinking back to 1995, though, I was nowhere near as familiar with the original version: I knew it was a cover of a Beatles song, of course, but somehow Revolver was one of the few Beatles albums we didn't have. The advantage of this was of course that I was much better placed to appreciate this on its own merits.

That said, I - like many other people who grew up in London in the 1980s - had a lot of residual affection for the former lead singer of Madness. Well, I say former: technically speaking, the band were sporadically back in action in the mid-1990s, playing Madstock concerts annually, although they didn't release new material until 1999. Thus the launch of Suggs as a solo artist was his first studio collaboration in over a decade with Mike Barson, who co-wrote and produced much of the album. With that sort of reunion in prospect, it seems slightly odd to launch the project with a cover version (officially it was a double A-side with 'Off On Holiday' but only this side seemed to get any exposure). However, it is an attention-grabbing sort of track.

It's a pretty hackneyed observation, but when you cover a Beatles song there's not a lot of mileage in trying to outdo them at their own game; the only worthwhile tactic is to approach the song from another angle. And they certainly do that here, recasting the hazy, stoned original into an upbeat old-fashioned ska track with lots of trombone and cartoon sound effects. It's catchy (adding its own hooks as well as those John Lennon supplied), jolly and an enjoyable listen. The major flaw is that this doesn't entirely match the subject matter of the song, although some sort of excuse might lie in the chorus lyric "please don't wake me"; all this noise is interrupting his sleep. That certainly seems to be the interpretation the video's based on. Anyway, you can always ignore that bit and just listen to the trombone.

Also appearing on: Now 34
Available on: 100 Hits - 90s

Suggs 'Cecilia'

Chart Peak: 4

YouTube

It's statistically unlikely that you'll need a link to the original of this, but here it is anyway.

My strongest memory of Suggs's solo career is that in May 1996 (or around that time at least) I was torn between buying his album The Lone Ranger or The Sun Is Often Out by Longpigs. Much to my brother's derision, I ultimately plumped for the latter (but guess what he got for his birthday that year). Whilst I still think I made the right choice, this doesn't necessarily mean I have a complete downer on the one I decided against: if I remember correctly, I actually took it with me when I moved out of the house, but I did have to give it back eventually. It's no masterpiece but there are some decent chunks of Madness-like pop on there (indeed the song '4am' was later recycled on a Madness album) thanks to his renewed collaboration with ex-colleague Mike Barson. And then there's this.

At the time, I actually thought this was quite good. It's certainly a good-natured treatment of Paul Simon's original, which lends itself better to Ska than might have been predicted; I don't even know whether there might have been ska versions of the song before. And, I suppose the extra vocals from Louchie Lou and Michie One add a slight spark of originality. But still, this hasn't aged at all well - it sounds like a bit of a novelty now. It was novel enough for a lot of people though: in a time when almost every hit single entered the charts at its peak position, this managed to leap 33-9 in the second week of release, thanks to an appearance on the televised lottery show if I remember rightly. It went on to peak even higher and sell over half a million copies, and inspiring them to team up again for the less successful 'No More Alcohol'.

Oh, and some people might not forgive me if I neglected to link to this. Naughty Top Of The Pops producers!


Also appearing on: Now 32
Available on:Platinum Collection

Madness 'The Sun And The Rain'

Chart Peak: 5

YouTube

One of the dominant pop acts of my youth, Madness always seemed to have a new single and crazy video out: this was their fifteenth Top 10 hit since 1979, though it proved to be the last of their original career. In a way, you could see this as the beginning of the end for Madness - it was their last single written entirely by keyboard player Mike Barson, who handed in his notice soon afterwards - and tiredness was starting to creep in. By their high standards the actual performance is slightly weak; they never quite seem to get the tempo right, almost as though they're in a hurry to get through it.
That said, though, 'The Sun And The Rain' is the second track from this project that's on my MP3 player, and not without reason. It's a long way from the ska sound of their early material, reverting to the style of classic sixties pop, and particularly seeming to channel the Kinks, demonstrating one great skill that Madness seem to have learnt from them: the ability to make the everyday seem fascinating and often joyous. This is just a song about splashing about in puddles, but they make it sound like it matters. Particular credit is also due to the brilliant but not overexposed string arrangement.

One other fact: at the time of writing this is the only track on the album not available as a download, the licence on their back-catalogue having expired a while ago. Re-issues are apparently pending though.

Also appearing on: Now 2, 3, 6, 8, 21, 43
Available on: Millennium Collection: the Best of [Us Import]