Hello all in Maddieland,
This isn't going to be my own views on the album as that would be almost
identical to the might Vince's. Elysium is still the tops for me but the
tracks which didn't appear on 5 Cuts are as good if not better than most
which were on the promo. If I Didn't Care - Rise & Fall quality, No Money -
brilliant stuff, The Communicator - I just can't stop dancing. But here are
a couple of reviews which appeared in Sunday newspapers this week. Top
reviews again. This must be the most widely acclaimed Madness album ever.
The worst review I have seen gave it 3 out of 5! Hopefully, despite the
single not doing well the publlic will eventually realise this. Some TV
advertising would do the business for it. Look what it did for Travis!!!
Anyway, on with the reviews I dug up:
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Madness - Wonderful (Virgin)
Before I played Madness's first studio album in 15 years, I thought, "It
will never happen, but wouldn't it be brilliant if they could still write
songs as catchy as The Sun And The Rain?" But the amazing thing is, they
can. Madness were always a great singles band, and Wonderful, like its
Eighties predescessors, is chock full of instant pop classics such as The
Wizard and the lovely 4am. Their jaunty tunes are still nicely under-cut
with just a hint of wistfulness; Suggs still sounds like a chipper
twentysomething; and the band are still veering merrily from tinkly pub
piano through swirly waltzes to lively ska. The only problems with it are
(a) continual reunion gigs have given Madness a slightly wearisome image
and (b) over a decade on, it all sounds slightly irrelevant. If none of
that bothers you, then you'll find Wonderful an absolute joy.
James Delingpole, The Sunday Telegraph
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Everywhere you look at the moment, you see an Eighties pop group getting
back together. Nobody has done it less suddenly than Madness. They have
given enough performances in the past seven years to become a fixture in
the London calendar - Finsbury Park every summer, Wembley every Christmas -
but only now, 13 years on from their last new album, have they written any
new material.
The Nutty Boys are nutty middle-aged men now, but you wouldn't know it from
their sound. These eleven songs exude the same joie de vivre as Madness's
early videos, while following the musical pattern of their later work -
chirpy pop with hidden depths.
They return to their ska roots with an irresistaable blast of warmth called
The Communicator, and pay tribute to a major influence by getting Ian Dury
to sing on Drip Fed Fred, a pleasantly preposterous gangster anthem. But
more often they echo the Beatles, and show how to do that without sounding
remotely like Oasis, taking their cues from songs like Eleanor Rigby and
Norwegian Wood - homespun yarns, with plenty of aching emotion between the
lines.
If I Didn't Care, a mellow love song with a brooding soul groove, is almost
as good as It Must Be Love. Buy this album for your children, and if you
don't have any, buy it for yourself.
The Mail On Sunday
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Cheers for now,
Peter
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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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