Hiya Stephie and all you Maddies,
Well I was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy of the album sampler
yesterday. I wasn't sure whether I should brag about it onlist (I know how
jealous *I* get when some lucky sod gets an exclusive;-)) but I'm so
excited about it after listening to it intently all last night that I have
to reply to Stephie's request for a review. So here goes:
It opens with the "radio-friendly" version of Johnny The Horse. Top song
and should easily make the Top 20. The final version sounds a lot "fuller"
than the excerpt played on the Radio 2 show a few months back. I don't know
how but they've managed to get away with having a chorus consisting almost
entirely of "Doodle do do do de doodle..." Incredible;-)
Drip Fed Fred is one strange little song. Reminiscent of early dance-y
Madness but slightly slower for the older ones amongst us;-) Starts with
narrative from Mr. Ian Dury Esquire, then comes Lee continuing the story in
a posh BBC accent with Carl providing Fred's voice. Then Lee, in another
posh voice, is welcomed to the pulpit as the Right Honourable Reverend
Greene by Suggsy. Took a couple of listens to get used to all that's going
on in this one. With the ska beat and the odd lyrics it initially sounds
like a bit of a novelty song but there is a lot of hidden depth in there.
And it has some fantastic piano playing on the close from Monsieur Barso.
It's a bit stop-start at times. Brilliant tune, and who knows, it may make
a brilliant single. When I first heard Blur's "Parklife", I thought it was
too like Madness and too off-the-wall to be a single, but they released it
anyway and it became a classic!
Elysium is the choice cut IMHO. Absolute class. Fantastic. Superb. The most
90s sounding track I've heard from Madness yet. Strangely, the bit of this
on the Maddley didn't grab me much, but the whole song is amazing. Classic
Madness. Could have been from Keep Moving. The feel of the whole thing
reminds me of Terry Hall's brilliant "Forever J" (for anyone familiar with
the solo workings of the god-like genius that is Mr. Hall). I love the
little spoken bits by Lee in the background.
Saturday Night, Sunday Morning is the weakest of the five tracks, I reckon.
That's not to say it is poor, as we're talking about songs of an incredibly
high standard here. Quite a bit different to how I remember it from the
live gigs of a couple of years ago. It's got a bit of a rock 'n' roll beat
to it. Great intrumental ending to it. You can picture it as a live
favourite too with the "oh oh oh"s towards the end.
The Wizard is the last one up. I loved the bit of this on the Maddley and
the whole song has the same impact as that initial clip had. Brilliant
brass parts on this one. Love the bit that sounds like it came out the film
The Mask, sort of 50s big band sounding.
So that's it. It looks even more certain that the album is going to be a
classic. One thing that struck me though is that in many of the songs, for
the middle eight (as they call it in the biz;-)) they actually stop, which
is a bit unusual for Madness. Usually they just tear straight into a
different part. But that is a very minor point.
Cheers for now,
Peter
****************************************************
Dr. Peter T. Gardner
Rowett Research Institute
Bucksburn Tel: 01224 - 712 751
Aberdeen AB21 9SB Fax: 01224 - 716 629
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
****************************************************
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