Hey Now! I was in bed last night watching the old box and low and behold, VH-1 were showing Take it or Leave it, to be followed by Madstock 4. Anyway between the 2 programmes were a number of Madness videos, the first being one �Johnny the Horse�. This was around 2.45am. The video opens with a flick back to yesteryear and the traumatic birth of �Johnny� with his father (Chas) in a panic with the Doctor (Bedders) and mother before the joy of birth itself. This is all done in black and white and harks back to perhaps the 1920�s or 1930�s. Very authentic in its depiction. Next the timecapsule shows us the growth of the young boy, from playing football on the street to his first kiss, soon to be scolded by the authoritarian figure of one Mike Barson. Suggs is in �modern day� appearance throughout and in his dashing blue suit narrates the story of the young mans life. Next we see the older, grown up Johnny (Chas) in Army Service regalia as he buries a box in the ground with all pictures and memories, before �he said goodbye to his wife and child� before setting out on his downfall into madness and despair. The Chorus is next and the maddies resort to highly successful and impressive �morphing technique� they employed in the promo adverts for 1992�s Divine Madness. This is class and truly compliments the catchy-ness of the sing-along infectious chorus. We see the lads then in the pub in libation mode, drinking back and cheerfully singing along, before the old and now decrepit figure of the aged Johnny is seen walking towards us down a street. He is now a bitter and old figure (well done make-up crew) and in a black suit and gloves resembles a beefier version of Finnegan in the movie �Oliver�. Busking on the street is a tramp-like figure of Lee Thompson for the sax break which really gives a good visual depiction of the rough sax playing he churns out in this solo. Again Suggs is ever present and the old Johnny dances to Lee playing only to loose his walking sticks and fall flat on his arse. All band members then sing the chorus outside what appears to be a hospital, only to throw their seven bowler hats in the air in rejoice. Next we see the now dying Johnny in his hospital bed .�Taking his battered bones and broken dreams� his life quickly flashes by in front of him, returning to his birth, growing up, departure to his present circumstances. A very emotional moment here as he �gazes into that goodnight� and passes away. Suggs closes Johnny�s eyes in what is actually a very sad and dark moment. This is further enhanced by the death like appearance of Chas in his hospital bed and does alight memories of all loved ones now no longer with us. In a bizarre-like way the other guys are shown around the bed, toasting a drink to their fallen friend and proceed with an instant wake for the now deceased Johnny (as seen by the tag on his toe). As they all leave the room, the highly believable figure of the PallBearer (as excellently depicted by Mike) measures up the corpse before slowly and un-emotionally leaving the room. Happily Suggs returns to take the young soul from the old body of Johnny with him. The video ends with the body lying in state and veers towards the tag on the toe again. Very tasteful done and highly emotional. Not since the video for �Cardiacarrest� have Madness come up with such a story-like film which follows so closely the tale of every line in the song. Yes they may look al little older in this film however they have matured finely with age. Keep your eyes out for this one folks,its a true gem so set those VCRs! All the Best Vince! ===== "If it ain't Vince, it ain't worth a F*CK!" ICQ 46099201 NEVER SAY NO TO A MAD IDEA! __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com - ______________________________________________________________ Visit the Total Madness Mailing List website for: latest news, madmeet info, list charter, games, and more ... http://members.xoom.com/totalmadmail/ Contact the TMML Moderators at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] and in the message body put: unsubscribe total-madness
