[MIS] NEWS AND INFORMATION - SUN 23RD DEC - SAT 29TH DEC 2007
Robert Hazelby
robert at hazelby.co.uk
Sun Dec 23 07:47:56 EST 2007
M.I.S ONLINE - NEWS AND INFORMATION - SUN 23RD DEC - SAT 29TH DEC 2007
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ISSUE NUMBER 451 MIS ONLINE: http://www.mis-online.net
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1 - WISHING OUR READERS A MERRY CHRISTMAS - Intro time.
2 - TIME OUT: MADNESS SEVEN WONDERS OF LONDON - Time Out’s Seven
Wonders of London feature has proved very popular with
capital-nerds. But we feel that there is more to London’s
wonderment than mere bricks and mortar, wattle and daub. The band
Madness have long been synonymous with the capital, so we asked
drummer Daniel ‘Woody’ Woodgate and guitarist Chris ‘Chrissy Boy’
Foreman to nominate their own specific 7 musical wonders of the
city.
3 - HEY YOU! SUGGS AND CO ARE BACK - "What's the first sign of
madness?" someone asked me the other day. Sensing an opportunity
for childish humour, I quipped in reply: "Hey you, don't watch
that, watch this." Taken from a pre tour article in the Barking
and Daghenam Recorder.
4 - FT O2 - No it's not the cousin of a Robot out of star wars, It's
the Financial Times no less reviewing the O2 arena concert.
5 - TURNING THE PAGE - A Poem for Madness by Colin Galbraith. Colin
Galbraith is the author of several books of poetry, and also
someone daft enough to rise to our challenge of penning a Madness
tinged poem following the recent Christmas tour. Colin kindly
obliged, and here is the finished piece.
6 - OUR HOUSING ASSOCIATION IN THE MIDDLE OF PRESS BACKLASH -
Government Quango plays "Our House" as part of Change Management
course.
7 - THE YOUNG ONES: 25 YEARS DVD BOX SET - Regular readers will know
that Jonathan had a bad experience with a comedy hero slagging
off Madness on a DVD commentary a few issues back. So we're happy
to report for our Christmas issue that there is good karma still
out there in the world, thanks to Nigel Planner, Far out man!
Nigel praised the band directly along with some further indirect
praise from the show creators of the legendary "The Young Ones" on
a new 25th year uk box set. We bring you a review of the box set,
and part of the documentary that deals with the bands and Madness
being on the show.
8 - WE'RE GOING BACK IN TIME - MIS co-editor Rob Hazelby takes a
seasonal lookback to the world of Madness, five years ago this
week.
9 - THAT'S JUST ABOUT IT - A few last minute words before we finish
for the week.
[1] - WISHING OUR READERS A MERRY CHRISTMAS
Hello, and a warm Christmas welcome to this week's edition of the MIS.
Whilst you lot have been out buying the last of those presents, and
scrawling on mountains of cards, we've been hard at work putting this
week's issue together, so that when you finally find five minutes in
your pre-Christmas rush to put your feet up, you've got something to
read.
It's a packed issue, so without further ado we'll let you dive
straight on in!
Robert Hazelby, Jonathan Young, Simon Roberts (MIS Online Editors)
robert at mis-online.net, jonathan at mis-online.net, simon at mis-online.net
[2] TIME OUT: MADNESS SEVEN WONDERS OF LONDON
You wait ages for a Seven Wonders of London to come along and two
arrive at once. Madness choose their own Seven Wonders of London
Time Out’s Seven Wonders of London feature has proved very popular
with capital-nerds. But we feel that there is more to London’s
wonderment than mere bricks and mortar, wattle and daub. Its people,
atmosphere and amazing capacity for random events are equally
inspirational and defining qualities. By happy coincidence
(well, happy for us because ours came first), Madness; The
Transport From London show is part of a seven-date tour in which
the original Los Palmas Seven were reunited.
The band have long been synonymous with the capital, so we
asked drummer Daniel ‘Woody’ Woodgate and guitarist Chris
‘Chrissy Boy’ Foreman to nominate their own specific musical
wonders of the city, so it wouldn’t clash with what either of us
are doing elsewhere.
1 Immigration
Woody: ‘The first one that I think shaped a lot of our musical
landscape is immigration. Any ethnic influx that comes into the
country obviously changes it, and London is just a brilliant melting
pot of musical influences. The stuff that the Asians have done, and
the Jamaicans who came over in the ’50s – blimey, that was just an
explosion. Now the influences that they brought over are a part of
our heritage. People associate Madness with being a very London band,
and all the stuff that we nicked is from all over the place! We’ve
had influences from as far away as India; we had a song called
“New Delhi”, which has an Asian twist. “Night Boat To Cairo”, the
chords in that song are just slightly off, but they’re accepted in
our society now, because we understand that kind of musical genre.
So immigration is, I think, just fantastic.’
Chrissy Boy: ‘The Jamaican thing is really important. A few of us
in Madness were skinheads. I kind of was a skinhead, although I
think I had long hair. I remember hearing “Al Capone” by Prince
Buster; the whole sound of it was strange, it was something I hadn’t
heard before.’
2 Street hawkers
Woody: ‘What I think’s very London and very musical, but I don’t
think people really realise it, is market sellers and newspaper
sellers. It’s just one of those things – “Stannit! Staaaanit!
Stannit!” – it’s like a tune of London. And those market sellers who
bark bananas and apples and all that. I remember Camden Market when
it was a proper market; people used to sell fruit and veg and stuff.
It just had that atmosphere, people almost singing. There’d be tunes
everywhere. No one ever says, “Oi mate, d’you want to buy a banana?”,
it’s all done in that kind of “roo-de-loo-do-doo” melodic way.’
3 Buskers
Woody: ‘I can’t imagine London without buskers, especially on the
tube. That is a true London thing. You get buskers all over the
country, but there’s something about that lovely echoey sound. You
get all kinds of diverse musicians as well. There’s one guy who was
at Victoria for a while, and he played a drum, a big African drum,
and it was really noisy! It was fantastic! I think it’s a bit sad
that they’re licensed now. I don’t know how they get a pitch; you
probably have to buy it! I just think it’s a shame that they made
it illegal in the first place. There must be some miserable bastards
out there who just don’t like music.’
Chrissy Boy: ‘I always give them money. As long as they’re good; I
know some of them can be a bit dreadful. I’m sure that a lot of
people disapprove of it. You can tell they probably think it’s some
sort of begging. But I always like someone playing the sax.’
4 Mobile phones
Woody: ‘They’re one thing that’s constant, if you travel in London.
They’re going off all the time. And it’s not just “ring ring”, it’s
tunes, songs coming out all the time.’
Chrissy Boy: ‘I like to try and guess whose phone it is – like
you’ll hear a hip hop tune blaring out, and it’ll be some old
granny! That’s quite funny. Some people you just think: God, aren’t
you embarrassed that that’s your ringtone?’
5 Big Ben
Woody: ‘The most archetypal musical thing that you can get in London
is Big Ben. It’s the defining musical instrument of the city. Isn’t
that wonderful?’
Chrissy Boy: ‘I’ve done this kind of intro film for the tour and
it’s got Big Ben in it, of course. We were talking about it
yesterday, but the actual “dong, dong”, I don’t know if that is
Big Ben the bell, or if Big Ben is one of the other chimes.’
6 Fairgrounds
Chrissy Boy: ‘There’s a general noise, a cacophony. Then you get
different tunes on each ride, so you hear all sorts of different
stuff. That’s another thing I remember from growing up: they’d
always play old reggae at fairs. And some of them now do still
play “Liquidator” as you go whizzing round. We used to go to
Hampstead Fair, every year, and I’d always see Jonathan Ross, who
I don’t really know. Although actually, my son is his postman. And
I must say Jonathan Ross is very nice to him, always gives him a
drink at Christmas.’
7 Notting Hill Carnival
Woody: ‘Rio’s got its Carnival, we’ve got Notting Hill. It’s a
massive musical event, which I think’s as much a part of the London
landscape as the Last Night of the Proms. That is so typically
London based, as is Notting Hill Carnival. I don’t really go down
there, though. I’m a boring old fart now who doesn’t leave his home.
But I think it’s a wonderful thing. It’s another way for people to
be able to express themselves through the arts, and come together,
which I just think is brilliant.’
From TIME OUT.
[3] - HEY YOU! SUGGS AND CO ARE BACK
What's the first sign of madness?" someone asked me the other day.
Sensing an opportunity for childish humour, I quipped in reply:
"Hey you, don't watch that, watch this."
"This is the heavy, heavy monster sound, the nuttiest sound around.
And if you've come in off the street and you're beginning to feel
the heat, well listen buster, you'd better start to move your feet
to the rockinest, rock-steady beat of Madness - One Step Beyond!"
That I was able to quote the intro to One Step Beyond verbatim after
nearly 30 years is good enough, but that several other people in the
pub were also able to join in without thinking, is the clearest
testament possible to the enduring popularity of the "magnificent
seven" Madness.
And such a response will be multiplied by thousands when the Nutty
Boys return to their native London for the closing date of their
nationwide tour at The O2, Greenwich.
A national - and especially London - treasure, these are the boys
who brought us everything from the early ska stylings of The Prince
and Night Boat To Cairo, the number one hits House of Fun and It
Must Be Love, the groovy pleasures of Wings of A Dove and The Sun
and The Rain to the more contemplative One Better Day and
Yesterday's Men. A novelty band they aren't.
Featuring the full strength original Madness line up of Suggs, Chas
Smash, Chrissy Boy, El Thommo, Woody, Monsieur Barso and Bedders,
the band promises some "big"surprises for their London finale.
And Suggs for one can't wait. Having played an intimate show at The
Astoria on Monday, the ebullient as ever singer said: "We like
playing small venues but we also love the idea of being able to put
on a grand theatrical, show at somewhere like the O2.
"It's great to have the seven of us back together. We get on like
houses on fire. We still have the same feel for the band and we are
still working as a band. We have spent two years recording a new
album and it's brilliant. It's great. As James Brown once said: 'I
feel good!'."
Indeed, as well as all the hits - and there are a lot of them from
the most successful singles band of the 1980s - fans at the O2 will
be treated to a taste of the material from that aforementioned
album, with the working title of LUCKY7, due for release early next
year and heralded by new single NW5.
So what is the secret of their enduring popularity? Taking time off
from his radio show and those annoying fish finger ads, Suggs
added: "I don't really know. We thought we'd made it when we got a
residency at a pub in Camden in 1979 so to be still here and loving
it is pretty special. I think it's probably the fact that we are all
still mates and we still 'feel' the music. Can you feel it? Come and
see us and find out"
Barking and Daghenam Recorder
[4] - FT O2
Madness, 02 Arena, London
As if God weren’t already busy in the run-up to Christmas, Suggs,
Madness’s frontman, added a monumental task to His to-do list with
the lyrics “God bless pissheads”. There was a special subset of
them at the O2 last Friday. The unofficial dress code was big boots,
jeans, beer belly, tattooed neck and the kind of uncompromising
haircut that might leave divine hands with unsightly stubble rash.
Skinheads have always favoured ska. They enjoyed it so much in the
1980s that Madness, one of the leading bands of its revival, were
in the singles chart for an astonishing total of 214 weeks, owed
in part to 14 top-10 singles between 1980 and 1983. At the O2, the
ageing skinheads showed their appreciation with chants of
“olé, olé, olé...Madness, Madness”, lending the arena the feel of
a football stadium. Like football, though, Madness have far-reaching
appeal so it was no surprise to see a small but significant minority
of grannies and children joining in.
Madness has featured a shifting cast over the years but this show
was billed as the “full-strength line-up”. Natty in slick suits,
shades and trilbies, the Nutty Boys are in seriously good nick for
a bunch of late-forty-somethings. If Lucky 7, the album due for
release in early 2008, doesn’t perform as they hope, they could
always put out an exercise video of what seems to be the signature
Madness dance. If you’d like to try it, do the Twist with your
upper body while jogging on the spot with lateral flicks of the
lower leg.
Almost everyone in the audience broke into this for “House of Fun”,
the band’s sole number one, and even the backing band waggled their
instruments like choreographed nodding dogs. The forthcoming single
“NW5” didn’t enjoy the same reception. It was the old favourites
such as “Baggy Trousers”, with helter-skelter dizzy skittering
from one accented off-beat to the next, where things took off,
especially for the saxophonist El Thommo. Soaring above the stage
in a safety harness, he was brought back down to earth by Suggs’s
cheeky-chappie quip of “you’re wearing my socks”.
Laura Forman Financial Times
[5] - TURNING THE PAGE: A Poem for Madness by Colin Galbraith
Colin Galbraith is the author of several books of poetry.
Fringe Fantastic: The Poet's Experience of the Edinburgh Fringe
Festival, was his first paperback release and met with critical
acclaim in December 2005. Brick by Brick was published in April 2005,
and his most recent, Silly Poems for Wee People Vol.1, in March 2006.
He has since been working on a novel called Gatecrash. Colin lives
in Edinburgh, Scotland, with his wife and daughter.
He is also well known to be a life long Madness Fan, and had been
part responsible for many of the McMadmeets in the past during his
time running the Magnificent Seven website, that was. He has been
quoted as saying: "Madness at the Dublin Castle, May 22nd 2004, was
undoubtedly the happiest and most glorious day I have ever experienced
(my wedding day excluded – ahem)."
Given these two strands of his life and the excellent reviews of
Scottish gigs he has written in the past we decided to challenge
him to write a poem of his experiences at this year'S Aberdeen gig.
We knew he was the man to rise to this special challenge. He jumped
to the task with much enthusiasm and we were rather impressed with
the resultant take on Madness fandom in general. Lyrical, brilliant,
with a mix of emotion and humour in there too, So we are proud to
bring you this pre christmas prose treat... Thanks to Mr G.
TURNING THE PAGE
A Poem for Madness
I was sitting in school one boring day
Mad sax on the radio blew me away
Like ice on fire through red hot veins
It rose from my gut and into my brain
That nutty sound it seemed to me
Was what was missing from society
A dash of reggae, a splash of two tone
My mother screaming: “Use your headphones!”
Fifteen records made the top ten
As familiar and clockwork as old Big Ben
Then one day I woke to the awful news
They were no more, they’d blown a fuse
The days they passed like eternal dark
Until the earthquake in Finsbury Park
The music was back, the thrills and spills
Now I could cease my depression pills
And now it’s Christmas two thousand and seven
New songs, new album, a tour; it’s heaven
Off round the nation on the nutty train
Sound check rehearsals again and again
The energy builds high as they perform live
Even sing a new song, NW5
The words and tunes roll off my tongue
But not so easily (yet) for Forever Young
And that’s how I feel for an hour and a half
That boring old school when life was a laugh
Through One Step Beyond and Night Boat To Cairo
When my only duties were a ruler and biro
The crowd chant “Madness”; they smile and wave
For one more hit of the drug we crave
And when it’s over I look up at the stage
My life, with theirs, has turned another page
...
www.colingalbraith.co.uk.
Copyright Colin Galbraith 2007
[6] - OUR HOUSING ASSOCIATION IN THE MIDDLE OF PRESS BACKLASH
Quango plays "Our House" as part of Change Management course.
HOURS spent watching cartoons, writing limericks and listening to
loud pop music: it sounds like a child's idea of a well-spent
afternoon.
But employees of Scotland's largest social landlord have been getting
seminars involving the likes of SpongeBob SquarePants by a "mood guru"
flown in from South Africa - all at taxpayers' expense.
Mandy Lebides has worked as a member of staff with the Glasgow Housing
Association as a "culture change" facilitator for nine months, It is
understood that she has travelled between the two cities six times in
the last six months to assist with what the GHA describes as "change
management".
Officials with the GHA yesterday refused to divulge how much public
money had been spent on the sessions. However, the organisation has
a budget of £1.55 million a year for management consultants.
One employee who has attended the seminars offered by Ms Lebides
described their content as "nonsense". The source said: "Everybody
finds this mood guru stuff depressing."
"One minute we were writing limericks about how good GHA was, the
next she was blasting out the song Elevation by U2."
"Throughout, there was a video loop of SpongeBob SquarePants, and at
one point we had to listen to the song Our House, by Madness."
Officials with the organisation, which is charged with care and upkeep
of the city's tower blocks and former council housing stock, insist
that Ms Lebides employs a "variety of creative methods" to help
improve the body's internal culture.
But Sandra White, the Glasgow SNP MSP, described the courses as "like
something out of a pantomime".
She added: "This is a disgraceful waste of money, especially at a
time when far too many GHA tenants are living in horrendous
conditions.
"It really is just unbelievable that they can get away with doing
this. People are being taken to court because they cannot afford
to pay the GHA's demands, but they have enough money to do this."
City councillor Grant Thoms, who represents North-east Glasgow, added:
"This is yet another example of GHA wasting tenants' money on
management fads.
However, a GHA spokeswoman defended Ms Lebides' methods. "Change
management involves working with a wide and diverse group of people to
challenge their approach to customer service and using a variety of
creative methods to drive the organisation to greater excellence. We
are more than satisfied the temporary contract between GHA and this
contractor represents excellent value for money."
CRAIG BROWN Scotland.com
[7] - THE YOUNG ONES: 25 YEARS DVD BOX SET
Regular readers will know that I had a bad experience with a comedy
hero slagging off Madness on a DVD commentary a few issues back. So
I'm happy to report for our Christmas issue that there is good karma
still out there in the world, and the exact opposite has happened
which puts everything right, thanks to Nigel Planner, Far out man!
Nigel praised the band directly along with some further indirect
praise from the show creators of the legendary "The Young Ones".
A new 25th year uk box set has been released this year, bringing
both series together for the first time. And this time there are
some DVD extras too added to the set, A Making of documentary,
2 further featurettes and a couple of commentaries.
Here's a review of the box set, and further down we bring you the
part of the documentary that deals with the bands being on the show
and Madness' appearances, in a short transcript extract.
"OH HAVE WE GOT A VIDEO?"
The DVD Menu’s are reminiscent of the Young Ones computer game style
box, with messiness, stains, cut up text and an overhead view of a
bubbling lentil pot. Let them play to the end to witness the farting
hamster SPG woosh across the screen! The slip case packaging is nice.
A union Jack design cardboard foldout, I like the rat on the spine.
Content wise there is good and bad points about this new DVD set for
collectors of UK comedy.
Firstly we get all 12 shows of the classic sitcom here. Brilliant
stuff, from the bursting through the wall entrance of Vyvian in the
pilot to the bank robbing, double decker bus crashing final episode.
Genius rebellious 80s groundbreaking comedy, from the hilarious comic
strip, comedy store regulars, and packed with guest stars who all
went onto great things in uk comedy. Each show containing an 80's
band too from the 2 great appearances of Madness playing Our House
and House of Fun, there is also Dexy's, Motorhead, Amazulu and more.
Secondly I cant spot any edits, the original UK DVDs omitted Jools
Holland and Ken Bishops nice Twelve singing a Bob Dylan number,
but it's here on this box set, so it appears to be the complete
uncut shows, which is fantastic.
Onto the new Extras.
I think advertising “commentaries” on the back of your dvd and not
saying how many or who is involved is a bit of marketing angle rip
off in my mind. People may assume 12 commentaries and them being full
cast. Neither of which is true.
Secondly, the non appearance of Rik, Ade, Chris Ryan, and Ben Elton
in the dvd documentaries and commentaries is a huge gaping hole in this
attempt at being some kind of 25th year celebration DVd. Alexi and
Nigel are interesting and great, but cant carry the whole documentary
from everyones view point in the main cast, and the complete non
mention of Chris Ryan is an insult, yeah so we didn't expect a huge
focus on him, but no mention at all in the documentary!(though this
is made up for in the commentaries.)
Thirdly, although lengthy and interesting, the main documentary lacks
structure. It’s got a good beginning and a good end, with people
saying which bit they liked most. The middle wanders all over
different aspects of the show without much focus. Sure they do split
the memories up by series a little, but the end of the Young Ones
and the bus comes up 3 times I think in different bits. Otherwise
it's an interesting 75 minute show about the making of.
And now the good bits, Lise Meyer (often overlooked co writer) she’s
great and we get a real in-depth insight from her. Plus tons of Ed Bye
and Paul Jackson. It's great hearing about the start of their careers
in comedy production. Guest stars Andy De la Tour and Mark Arden are
interviewed along with Geoff Posner (series one director). It’s nice
to see them and get their input. The talking is wider than some
previous Young Ones documentary stuff thats come on TV before so we
do get some new insights.
The talking about special effects and animation is great stuff, and
early glimpses of Neil character pre Young Ones I’d never seen, though
had seen the Rik poet ones. The way they cover the flash frames topic
is very well done.
The guests stars and bands, and the alternative comedy movement
get their own short featurettes, which isn't much or very long, at
around 10 minutes each, but it’s nice it’s been included to highlight
these aspects of the show. No one new is interviewed in this section,
though.
Well better than no commentaries at all, are 2 commentaries over
“Demolition” and “Summer holiday”, by Paul Jackson and Geoff Posner.
Both a delight to listen to over the first (pilot) and last show.
Paul Jackson, despite getting the odd fact wrong, pretty much never
lets a gap appear in the commentary and is interesting through out
the 70ish minutes these two shows cover. Just like a good commentary
should do this sheds new light onto the show, pointing out people,
effects and recording techniques that I hadn't thought of before in
relation to the show. They cover other episodes too, sometimes within
the plot, and find out the inside exclusive on what happened to SPG!
and which main stream comedy double act influenced Vyvian trousers
in Summer Holiday!
This set could have been a whole lot more, but the little more that
it is over previous uk single series releases is greater than just
leaving this show extra less on DVd. I enjoyed the documentaries and
I'm glad they made some kind of effort to beef up a uk box set
release. I’m still keeping my region one box set though to go along
with it, as it contains sketches and other making of material. I
would have wished for deleted scenes, out takes or more cast
involvement, but without that in the budget they could have at least
included comedy connections show from the BBC, or the usa box set
extras or more "boom boom out got the lights" tv show footage of the
cast to flesh this out to something truly all the more encompassing.
However, for kids that grew up in the 80's with a sense of humour all
their own, these shows remain crazy fun unlike most shows since, and
with a musical edge within them, that contains 2 nutty tunes - they
are classics.
So, Stay Forever, Young Ones!!!!!!
"ACHOO, Oh Wow I Hope Mike hurries back with the cure,"
"No Neil, it's Madness this week."
The Guest Stars of The Young Ones (Bands extract)
Alexi: My Memory of it is the BBC had comedy department, and the light
entertainment department. Split into two. 1 was comedy which was
sitcoms and 1 was light entertainment which was broken comedy or
sketch shows. Paul (Jackon the producer) was sketch shows and it was a
requirement of sketch shows to have a musical act in so The Young Ones
was ostensively a sketch show even though it was really a sitcom. So
we had to have a band every week.
Lise Mayer (writer): Paul Jackson alerted us to the fact that if we
had live variety acts or musical acts in the show we could come under
the opuses of the variety department rather than comedy which
instantly meant larger budget. Since we had been planning to go off
on tangents and sketches anyway it was perfect for us, having bands in.
(Clip of Madness House of Fun starts.)
Rik: Do any of the you know summer Holiday by Cliff Richard?
Suggs: You hum it, i'll smash your face in.
Lise Mayer: It was a fantastic excuse for getting in people you
admired, and meeting your hero's.
Nigel Planner: There was never difficulty including bands in plots or
anything really. The plots were you know as Rick said at the end of an
episode of Flithy Rich and Catflap "You didnt expect that to happen
did you, but we solved it just by being stupid." You could always
get around it someway or another.
(clip of Dexys midnight runners)
Rik: Point 1: Abolish poverty, Point 2: Abolish capitalism, Point 3:
Dexy's Midnight Runners playing for free, daily in the university
library.
Mike: But I told them to set up in our lavatory.
Lise Mayer: If you try and think of how to get a band into a sitcom,
It either has to be surreal or sort of knowing. So you'd either go
"Crumbs it's Amazulu in the living room"
(clip of Amazulu)
...or you might get a transition scene like when motorhead are playing
Ace of Spades and it's a bridge to take you from one thing to another.
Geoff Posner (director): Because you had to go to record companies
some times it was hard to get them on the day of recording, So some of
them were completely unheard of then and since. But they were all just
what we wanted to put on. Also Rick and Ade had favourites. So we
tried to get people we liked in it was a great treat to have them in
the show.
(clip of Our House with Madness)
Nigel: My Favourite band was Madness. That was who I was most of a fan
of. Dexy's... All pretty amazing bands. It really added to the whole
show. Having a band in a sitcom it's Mad! Exciting as an actor to be
there with the bands like being on stage. That was cool.
Jonathan Young
[8] - WE'RE GOING BACK IN TIME
MIS co-editor Rob Hazelby takes a seasonal look-back to the world of
Madness, five years ago this week.
Issue number 189 - Sunday 22nd December - Saturday 28th December 2002
The Christmas 2002 edition of the MIS proved to be a lengthy one,
with reader reports from a number of the recent gigs providing much
of the bulk, and at the same time, making a nice change from all of
the press reviews we'd seen of late. After all, it's nice to get a
lowdown of a Madness concert from a fan rather than a member of the
music industry.
On the subject of the concert, it was nice to see that the general
consensus from the online Madness community was that the band had
given some of their best performances since their 1992 comeback at
the original Madstock. Not only that, but the sheer effort the band
had put into the impressive sets had gone down very well indeed, with
the string of concerts proving to be a treat for both the eyes and
ears.
Those who had consumed far too much at the McMadmeet, and had only
hazy memories of what went on would now have an opportunity to fill
in the blanks, thanks to Wee Stoo and Stevie Ward, who kindly
uploaded a batch of photos taken from the event.
Meanwhile, MOT drummer Dan Fossard got in touch with us with a
fantastic tale of how, at the recent Newcastle gig, Carl had
dedicated a song to him. The track? Non other than the legendary
Night Boat to Cairo, and on Dan's birthday of all days.
Moving on, and it was the turn of Andrew Langmead to write in with a
heads-up of Madness' next TV performance. On Boxing Day, the band
would be appearing on BBC1 as part of the 'It's the Number One Party'
celebrating 50 years of the UK singles charts. On the same day Virgin
Radio repeated their Virgin Superstars edition with Suggs as the
guest.
Elsewhere, and on a slightly worrying note, Steve Chapman wrote in
with a review of a recent Bad Manners gig, which did not sound good
at all. Here's a snippet of Steve's original post;
"Douglas Trendle is NOT a well man, he should not
have been on stage tonight. He stood proud for
only one song before making a hasty exit one line
into Fatty Fatty, leaving the band to finish the
song instrumentally (save for the chorus, which
they did themselves!). The musicians battled on
with a couple of instrumental numbers before
following the big man off the stage
In short to let this man go ahead with his tour
in this state is (excuse the pun) madness. He
may need the money but first and foremost he needs
to recover. Perhaps he will do in time for the
next live appearance, but walking onto a pokey
little stage at the late time of 11:15pm, in a
very smokey venue, having just had meningitis
doesn't seem a sensible way to achieve this!!!".
The sad news continued, with the news from Jonathan that Vince
Carden's stunning fanzine "Madness Unsugged" had just hit it's final
ever issue. Keen to help maximise sales of this woefully underrated
but much loved fanzine, MIS co-editor Jonathan Young compiled an
in-depth review of this ultimate edition, and declared it a "Madness
Masterpiece".
With a conscious effort to not finish the issue on a downer, we
rounded off this edition of the MIS with reviews of the Docklands
gig and Madmeet by a certain Rob Hazelby, with one Jonathan Young
providing a blow-by-blow review of the NEC concert.
Rob Hazelby
[9] - THAT'S JUST ABOUT IT
We're almost done for this week, but have one or two final bits and
pieces before we finish...
News in from Vince Carden is that Woody has updated his page over on
the Official Madness web site with masses of new photos - the majority
of which have been taken from recent Blackpool Weekend which took
place back in September.
Pop over to www.madness.co.uk, and click on Woody's door in The Band
section to take a look!
Next-up is a seasonal message from those loveable rogues over on the
French MIS. Here's JP, Misterb b, Fred, and Stef;
"Hi !!
All the french-mis wish a merry xmas to all the
mis-online and mtr.
Hope we see madness in paris next year to drink
a good beer with all of you.
All the best,
JP and all French-MIS : Mister B, Fred, Stef..."
We'd like to finish this issue by wishing all members of the online
Madness community a very merry Christmas.
We'll be back next Sunday with all the latest Madness news, plus part
one of our lookback at 2007.
Until then, take care, and have a very merry Christmas,
Rob, Jon, Simon
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