Madness - Ultimate Collection (19 tracks) +Album Reviews

A Bit of the Best, but not quite "Best of"

K. Brown | Walnut, Ca USA | 04/12/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This really is a pretty decent dose of Madness, and it was good to see they picked a generous selection from the first two albums. The only downer is: the first two Madness albums were fantastic, and, in my opinion, they lost much of their pizazz on future releases. It's hard to picture a Madness "Best of" without tunes like "Bed and Breakfast Man," "Middle of the Night," "You Said" and "E.R.N.I.E," especially when they include mediocre songs like "Michael Caine."This is a good ---but not great--- Madness collection. But if you want an excellent selection of Madness tunes, search for their first album and "Absolutely.""

A good collection

Jonathan Monaco | Hicksville, NY United States | 07/26/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This collection brings you what someone considered to be the best of the British Ska group Madness.
First off, every song on this CD is good, great even. The major draw back is, as if with every "best of" album, it's only worth buying if you're not a huge fan. If you are a fan than you should already own every Madness CD in which case there is no reason to buy this CD.
If you're new to Madness, or you just want their major US hits like Our House, It Must Be Love, House of Fun, and One Step Beyond than this will be great for you.
The other draw back to this album is that it features nothing from "Wonderful," which is a 'wonderful' album but never realesed here in the states.
All that said it's still a great album featuring many great songs."

The Nutty Boys are Back

Victoria Vaughan | Oberlin, Ohio | 02/16/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I defy you to listen to track 4 ("Baggy Trousers") without doing that ridiculous SKA dance; you know, the one where you lose all flexibility in the knees and your head bobs back and forth like a chicken! This fab compilation successfully manages to maintain a sense of chronology without reverting to the 'this is all we've done with our lives' sense of decline which other 80s bands have resorted to in their "Best Of" albums. It's hardly up to the standard of Duran's "Decade", and is noticably lacking one excellent Nutty track "Cardiac Arrest" (perhaps this track wasn't released in the USA?) but other gems are there, notably the glorious scalic piano introduction in "Shut Up", the inimitable 'Michael Caine", everybody's fave "Our House", and the ultimate sing-a-long finale in "Wings of Dove". Well worth its exceptional bargain price."

Madness is all in the mind

Tim Brough | Springfield, PA United States | 10/01/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The "Ultimate Collection" of Madness goes a long way towards proving that these "nutty boys" were a terrific singles band. From the opening bellow of "One Step Beyond" to the inspirational "Wings of a Dove," there really isn't a dud in the bunch, and the CD clocks in at over 70 minutes. Even with these little nuggets of radio gems (sadly, hardly any of them US charters), it is easy to underestimate the influence of Madness. I recall one Saturday morning in college as the dorm TV was on, and a cereal commercial had a bunch of little kids doing that "One Step Beyond" dance/walk during the Saturday cartoons.

Which meant that, despite meager American success for "Absolutely" and "One Step Beyond..." (enough so that Sire dropped them and the next two albums came out on Stiff as imports), there were a lot of eyes on these seven young Brits. Their mix of pop, R'n'B, goofy personalities and - of course - ska made them irresistible to those exposed. But once you scratch the surface, darker themes flowed beneath the shiny surfaces. "Embarrassment" dealt with a real life family reaction to an out-of-wedlock pregnancy from an interracial relationship and their not-so-enlightened response. Both "Tomorrow's Just Another Day" and "Grey Day" deal with people who discover their dreams have run aground.

However, it was a peppy piece of nostalgia that finally broke Madness stateside. "Our House," with memories of growing up, caught the fancy of American ears and went top ten. It also helped that Geffen records, determined to prove they were an "artists record label," put considerable effort at breaking the Madness album, cobbling tracks from the first four albums (two of which had not even been released in the US), and even sneaking the cover "It Must Be Love" into the top 40. But it was also at the moment that Madness seemed to be growing up. Madness Presents the Rise & Fall was a strikingly mature album, and the ska was breaking down to pop.

Pop thrills, nonetheless. The coming of age classic "Baggy Trousers" is still inescapably catchy, and the carnival fair music that permeates "House Of Fun" is still a blast. But as the bittersweet "Michael Caine" (featuring a one line cameo from the subject in question) and "The Sun and The Rain" tracked, Madness was gradually moving into mature territory and their fans weren't necessarily following. "Mad Not Mad's" single "Yesterday's Men" was more than a little prophetic, and the band broke up afterwards. (Subsequent reunions are not represented here.) But all the joy and exuberance of the boys' style is here. If you don't want to dig deep, "Ultimate Madness" has all the goodies."

Grab Your Pork Pie Hat and Dance

skritch | Seattle, WA USA | 11/26/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you are a looking to re-create some of that whacky fun music of the '80s, you can't go wrong with the Ultimate Madness collection. All the essentials are here: One Step Beyond, Baggy Trousers, Night Boat To Cairo...If this gets you in the mood for more Ska, definately delve into The Specials - Singles Collection. They are the one that brought the genre into the college radio circuit. If you want to go back into ska history a bit, search for The Skatalites or Jump With Joey."

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