Madness Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C est La Vie Review mojo4music.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mojo4music.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
MADNESS SPENT more weeks in the British singles charts in the 1980s than any other group except UB40 (with whom they share the accolade). They have been repeatedly anthologised, releasing more hits compilations than original albums. Madness are often thought of as a “singles band”, with all the term’s implied frivolity, as distinct from the supposed heft and substance of an “albums band”. In fact, Madness have been excellent at both.
They made “The Liberty Of Norton Folgate” (2009), which many critics consider their best album, three decades after their debut. That record was the apotheosis of everything the septet do so well. As creators of kitchen-sink pop, they belong in the first rank with The Kinks and Squeeze; as observers of their home city of London, they are heirs to Charles Dickens and Peter Ackroyd, a modern writer. Their gift is to combine all this in irresistible servings of pop jollity. A century and more of show business, working-class culture and street