Arab Strap

Swearing to grow old disgracefully
Moffat and Middleton come of age

Journalists and DJs in particular are familiar with the works of Arab Strap – usually because caution is required when printing or broadcasting any of their works. more… “Arab Strap”

James King

And the LoneWolves
and the LoneWolves

Music fans of a certain vintage will recall a pop revolution from Scotland in the 1980s, with acts like Wet Wet Wet, Lloyd Cole and Del Amitri more… “James King”

Slovenly Hooks

Silence is golden
with Craig B

A change is as good as a rest, and for Craig B, formerly of Aereogramme, The Unwinding Hours and Ganger, a break from music has seen him come back in fully creative form. more… “Slovenly Hooks”

Bas Jan

A coming-of-age story
and going Back To The Swamp

Welcome to the world of Bas Jan. Beneath the perky post-punk tunes of the band fronted by Serafina Steer, there lies a host of curious and intriguing storytelling. more… “Bas Jan”

Vince Clarke

Songs of Silence drone on

It’s hard to believe, but as co-founder of Erasure, Yazoo and Depeche Mode, the Ivor Novello winning and songwriter behind countless chart-topping pop songs, Vince Clarke is only now embarking on a ‘solo career. more… “Vince Clarke”

Madness

Crazy times ahead
in the Theatre of the Absurd

It’s a full seven years since ‘Can’t Touch Us Now ‘, but Madness, one of the UK’s most beloved bands, are finally back.


The Camden outfit’s 13th full length album goes by the rather cumbersome title ‘Theatre Of the Absurd Presents C’Est La Vie’, although it may also be apt.

The title track and lead single ‘C’Est La Vie’ gives a taste of what’s to come from the album’s 14 thacks. With an eerie space-ska feel, the song reflects on the perils of everyday life. According to composer/keyboard-wrangler Mike ‘Barso’ Barson, the title track is “about these crazy times we’re living in, and how I just want to stay on my boat and not be a part of all this madness.

“But of course, I’m a member of a group called Madness,” he points out. Perhaps we should have called ourselves ‘Sanity’…”

After a disparate couple of years which saw the band at their most polarised and fragmented, Madness reunited at the beginning of 2023, where Suggs, Mark, Chrissy Boy, Mike, Lee and Woody realised that what united them was always bigger than what divided them.

“For us, recording it was the perfect antidote to the chaos of the past few years,” the band said. “We were all there, properly in the zone. It was just us, in an industrial unit in Cricklewood, playing together. We loved it!”

For the first time ever, a brand new album came into the world that they were all completely agreed on. ‘Theatre Of The Absurd…’ is the band’s inaugural foray into self-producing, working alongside engineer and mixer Matt Galsbey (Ed Sheeran, Maisie Peters, Rag’N’Bone Man).

A special prologue runs through the album, supplied by actor Martin Freeman. A longtime fan, the relationship formed with the band when Madness’ manager found Martin in a meet and greet queue and introduced him to the members.

Freeman will doubntless enjoy the results – an album of typically timeless brilliance that also reflects the wonky years of its creation, representing the cream of the bumper crop of tunes the group cooked up, whittled down this punchy, focused set. There are moments of ineffably catchy pop excellence (drummer Daniel ‘Woody’ Woodgate’s beguiling, bittersweet carousel ‘Round We Go’, Chrissy-Boy’s anarchic anthem to perhaps-justified paranoia, ‘Run For Your Life’), while the album is bookended by two of Suggs’ finest compositions.

All based on, the band say, the governing principle behind the album: “Let Madness be Madness”.

Talking about the album, Madness said: “Well, well, well, here we are… Our thirteenth album (lucky for some) is ready for your ears. For us, recording it was the perfect antidote to the chaos of the past few years – we were all there, properly in the zone. It was just us, in an industrial unit in Cricklewood, playing together. We loved it!”

Madness famously emerged from the backstreets of Camden Town in the late ’70s and recently released a three-part original docu-series with TV channel AMC about the beginnings of the band in the area. Before We Was We: Madness by Madness, chronicles the rise of one of the most loved bands in British culture.

Throughout their career, Madness have had 10 UK top ten albums, 15 top ten singles and have won a multitude of awards including a prestigious Ivor Novello. They’ve performed on the top of Buckingham Palace as part of the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations and set the record for the biggest ever audience for the BBC’s Live New Year’s Eve Broadcast – the most watched TV music event of 2018. One of the most enduring and evergreen live shows this country has to offer, their everybody’s-welcome celebrations of life’s ups, downs and everything in the middle(s), continue to attract new generations of fans from across every walk of life.

TRACK LISTING
Theatre Of The Absurd
If I Go Mad
Baby Burglar
C’est La Vie
What On Earth Is It (You Take Me For?)
Hour Of Need
Round We Go
Lockdown And Frack Off
Beginners 101
Is There Anybody Out There?
The Law According to Dr. Kippah
Run For Your Life
Set Me Free (Let Me Be)
In My Street

‘Theatre Of the Absurd Presents C’Est La Vie’ is out now. This article originally appeared in the Portsmouth News.