Hiya Vince and all you Maddies,
This was originally sent last week but must have got lost in the great
information highway while we had problems with the list. While I'm here, a
thank you to all who helped me out on the question of whether DVD players
could played enhanced CD-Roms. Cheers.
Firstly, I want to send my condolences to Vince and everyone else who was
preparing themselves for the launch of the Madnesss Tour in Dublin. I can't
believe they've had to cancel and now all these scary thoughts are going
through my head. What if they cancel more of the tour??? What if they
cancel Newcastle??? This is disasterous!
Meanwhile, Vince has voiced his doubts about DFF as a single. Upon first
hearing this song I had the same doubts. I thought it would only appeal to
Madness fanatics, and mainly just the fanatics who yearn for the old-scholl
ska and don't care so much for Madness' later material. It is the type of
song which the public thought Madness did all the time and in many ways,
the reason for Madness never being taken seriously or given due credit for
the geniuses (or is that genii?) we all know them to be. It is comedy ska.
Ingenius comedy ska, yes, but the sort of thing that people will have a
laugh at and not the sort of thing which will drag them along to a record
shop to buy "Wonderful". Or so I thought....
When I got the album promo, I took it back home to deepest, darkest
Lanarkshire to ram it down the throats of all my mates. None of them, how
can I put it, have the same affection for Madness that the likes of us
have. Although a couple of them have the odd album and used to sort-of like
them. But that was mainly the later stuff. So I rammed on "Elysium", being
the classiest song on the album thinking this was a dead cert to impress
them. Sure enough, they thought it was rather good. Then on came DFF. I
didn't think they would take to it at all. I thought they would piss
themselves laughing. So imagine my surprise when they sat there and said it
was "f**king brilliant" and demanded to hear it again! Their reasoning? "It
is just so Madness!" I was amazed at this and it changed my view of the
song entirely as a potential single. And it was probably singled out more
than any other track in album reviews too.
So overall, I would say it may be a good choice for a single and may
restore them to the Top 20 (at least). However, even if it is a hit it may
end up being a false dawn as "Cec***a" was for Suggs. Massive hit but still
nobody cared about the album. It was a novelty hit and nothing much more.
However, on the positive side of things, it could be to "Wonderful" what
"Parklife" was to Blur's, err, "Parklife". When I got that album, I loved
the song (because it was just so Madness) but never thought it would make a
great single because of it's quirky Englishness. But they had the balls to
release it, it was a hit and won best single and video at the BRIT awards
and is one of the most defining moments of 90s British pop music! Just
another opinion.
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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