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Total Madness

## Madness Album Navigation

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Ultimate Madness

**Total Madness** is a 2009 compilation CD/DVD album by Madness, released by Union Square Music. It is principally a singles collection, though it also includes two album tracks from their debut album, One Step Beyond.... On release in the UK it reached #11 in the Official Album Charts, making it Madness' second hit album of 2009, the second being *The Liberty of Norton Folgate* (#5).

Due to licensing problems, none of the four singles that Madness released on Zarjazz Records in 1985-86 are included.

The album effectively supersedes the now deleted *Divine Madness* collection. *Total Madness* should not be confused with the earlier US-only *Total Madness — The Very Best of Madness*.

## Promotion

Union Square put significant effort into the album's promotion. As well as a TV advert campaign, a large billboard featuring the album's cover was erected on Hanger Lane in London. In addition, there was a flyering campaign during the band's performance at Regent Street festival, and also an old AEC Routemaster bus was recommissioned and redecorated to match the vehicle on the album cover. This bus made several appearances on Madness' 2009 Christmas Tour. This makes *Total Madness* one of the most heavily promoted Madness albums since their reunion in 1992.

## Track listing

The collection comprises a CD and DVD sold as a single package.

Digital download bonus tracks
 Total length:
Wings of a Dove

## Music Video

"**Wings of a Dove**" (also known as "Wings of a Dove (A Celebratory Song)") is a song by Madness. It was released in 1983 as a stand-alone single and later in 1984 it was included on the American version of their album *Keep Moving*. The single spent 10 weeks in British charts peaking at number 2. It peaked at number 1 in Ireland.

"Wings of a Dove" was written by Suggs and Chas Smash and they also share lead vocals here. The song featured steel drums by Creighton Steel Sounds and the gospel choir The Inspirational Choir of the Pentecostal First Born Church of the Living God. In 1985, Madness offered the song as their contribution to the multi-artist compilation *Greenpeace – The Album*.

The song enjoyed a brief resurgence in popularity in 1999 when it was featured in the movie *10 Things I Hate About You*. Madness performed a version live on BBC1 on New Year's Eve, 2018.

## Promotional music video

The music video for the song depicts all involved in the record (including the steel band and choir) performing in a party atmosphere on board an aeroplane piloted by Chas Smash and co-piloted by Suggs. They all bail out in a small white van after Smash loses control of the plane, the final sequence shows the van, a first-generation Iveco Daily, parachuting gently down to earth. However, there is the back of a Ford Transit shown on the plane before the fall.

The clips of the parachuting Iveco Daily were originally filmed for a French television advert for the van. Dave Robinson, the founder of Stiff Records, as well as the sole director of Madness' music videos, had bought the rights to the footage some time earlier with the intention of including it in a Madness video, and the lyrical content of "Wings of a Dove" gave him the opportunity to use it.

## Chart performance

position
 Ireland (IRMA)
 UK Singles Chart
Madness

Disambiguation page for MadnessThe following is a list of links to pages that might share the same title.Please follow one of the disambiguation links below or search to find the page you were looking for if it is not listed. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.
Madness has titled some of their songs and/or albums similarly to other items relevant to this wiki. If you followed a link to this page, please fix it to one of the following pages

* Madness (band), the band consisting of Graham "Suggs" McPherson, Mike Barson, Dan Woodgate, Mark Bedford, Chris Foreman and Lee Thompson
* Madness (song), a song by Prince Buster covered by Madness
* Madness (album), a compilation album by Madness released in 1983
Full House: The Very Best of Madness

**Full House: The Very Best of Madness** is a compilation album released by Madness in 2017. It was released on the Union Square label. It contains 42 tracks from 1979's One Step Beyond... and 2016's Can't Touch Us Now.

## Track listing

1. The Prince
2. One Step Beyond
3. My Girl
4. Bed and Breakfast Man
5. Night Boat to Cairo
6. Madness
7. Baggy Trousers
8. Embarrassment
9. The Return of the Los Palmas 7
10. Grey Day
11. Shut Up
12. It Must Be Love
13. Cardiac Arrest
14. House of Fun
15. Driving in My Car
16. Our House
17. Tomorrow's (Just Another Day)
18. Wings of a Dove
19. The Sun and the Rain
20. Michael Caine
21. One Better Day
22. Uncle Sam
23. Yesterday's Men
24. (Waiting For) The Ghost Train
25. Sarah's Song
26. Lovestruck
27. Johnny the Horse
28. Drip Fed Fred
29. Simple Equation
30. Girl Why Don't You
31. NW5
32. Dust Devil
33. Forever Young
34. Sugar and Spice
35. My Girl 2
36. Never Knew Your Name
37. How Can I Tell You?
38. Misery
39. La Luna
40. Mr. Apples
41. Can't Touch Us Now
42. Another Version of Me
Shame and Scandal

## Music Video

"**Shame and Scandal in the Family**", also known as "**Shame & Scandal**" for short, is a song written by calypso singer Sir Lancelot for the movie *I Walked with a Zombie* in 1943 and originally titled "Fort Holland Calypso Song". Sir Lancelot issued his recording of it in the late 1940s. The Sir Lancelot version was covered by folksingers Odetta and Burl Ives. In 1962, Trinidadian calypsonian Lord Melody wrote new lyrics for the verses while keeping the melody and the chorus. The Historical Museum of Southern Florida said of Lord Melody's version that "No calypso has been more extensively recorded".

The song was covered by Madness in their 2005 cover album The Dangermen Sessions Vol. 1.
Johnny the Horse

## Music Video

"**Johnny the Horse**" is a single by British band Madness from their 1999 album *Wonderful*. The song struggled to make an impact in the charts after the success of "Lovestruck", and peaked at #44 in the UK Singles Chart.

Carl Smyth explained that "The song Johnny the Horse was inspired by a couple of tramps who I used to see often sitting and drinking cheap booze on a wall locally. One day one of them was crying and, after asking him what was the problem, he told me that his friend had been beaten and killed whilst trying to sleep in an empty building. The name is the kind of tag that Scots or Irish might give to a strong drinking hard man type." Another quote states that "...it's funny how people's lives can unravel y'know. So that's what it's about. Who remembers them, they've had a life and then sort of fall between the cracks."

Although bonus track "You're Wonderful" is listed as a remix, this is the only version of the song to be released.

There is also a 'radio edit' of the single, where the line "*Johnny the Horse was kicked to death, he died for entertainment*" is replaced by the line "*Johnny the Horse, who passed this way, he died for entertainment* ". This radio edit also appeared on the 2010 reissue of "Wonderful".

## Chart performance

position
The "Sweetest Girl"

"**The 'Sweetest Girl'**" is a song written by Welsh singer Green Gartside. It was originally performed by Gartside's band Scritti Politti, and released in 1981 as a single. The single peaked at No. 64 in the UK Singles Chart. The keyboards are played by Robert Wyatt.

The song became a marginally bigger hit five years later, when covered by ska band Madness. Their version of the song peaked at No. 35 in the UK and No. 29 in Ireland in early 1986. Madness changed the title of the song slightly, losing both the definite article and the quotation marks around the last two words in "The 'Sweetest Girl'", thereby rendering it as "Sweetest Girl".

## Madness version

The cover of the song by ska-pop band Madness was included on their 1985 album *Mad Not Mad* and released as a single the following year. The song spent six weeks on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at No. 35. Whilst reflecting on the *Mad Not Mad* album, Suggs said that "The Sweetest Girl” was my idea – let’s get really serious and take a song that we don’t even understand."

## Music Video

### Video

The song video was featured in the 1986 BBC *Omnibus* documentary *Video Jukebox*.

### Chart performance

 Irish Singles Chart
Madness Wiki

**Welcome to the Madness Wiki!**
This is a community for the band known as Madness.

We're a collaborative community website about Madness that anyone, including you, can build and expand. Wikis like this one depend on readers getting involved and adding content. Click the "ADD NEW PAGE" or "EDIT" button at the top of any page to get started!

## Featured Articles

Every week brings a new featured article from each category on the Madness Wiki. Featured articles are updated Sundays at 15:00 BST. As new pages are added, new categories are bound to pop up, so new categories will appear for featured articles over time.

Bare in mind that administrators will not always be available at the set time to update the articles, so they may be updated earlier or later than Sundays at three.

Due to some categories being similar, the following categories will not have a featured article:

* Category:Singles by Madness, Category:Songs by Madness, Category:Singles will not have a featured article due to being close to Category:Songs
* Category:Albums by Madness will not have a featured article due to being close to Category:Albums

## New Articles

1. Forever Young
2. Sugar and Spice
3. Dust Devil
4. NW5
5. Sorry

* Rules of this wiki
* Getting Started
* How to Contribute
* Managing your new community
* Guides
* All Help articles

You can also be part of the larger Fandom family of communities. Visit Fandom's Community Central!

*Community Founders*: Write a good and paragraph-length description for your welcome section about your topic. Let your readers know what your topic is about and add some general information about it. Then you should visit the admin dashboard for more tips.
The Prince

## Music Video

"**The Prince**" is a song by British ska/pop band Madness. It was written by Lee Thompson, and was the band's first single. On 10 August 1979 the single was released through 2 Tone Records and peaked at number 16 in the UK Singles Chart, spending a total of 11 weeks in the charts.

"The Prince" is a tribute to Jamaican ska singer Prince Buster, who influenced Madness (the band took their name from one of his songs, "Madness", which they covered on the b-side of "The Prince").

## Music video

As this was the band's first single, they were relatively unknown prior to the release. Due to this fact, no music video was filmed for the single. However, the band later bought the rights to a performance on Top of the Pops from 6 September 1979. This performance has since become associated with the single, and has featured on compilations featuring the band's music videos.

## Different recordings

The song was initially recorded on 16 June 1979 at the Pathway Studios, Highbury. The track was then remixed on 9 July of the same year, along with the single's B-side, "Madness". The remix was in order to remove the hum from Thompson's saxophone solo. However, Mike Barson showed displeasure at the mix of "Madness".

The song was re-recorded later that year for the *One Step Beyond...* album. As well as having a distinctively clearer sound, the song had a slight change in lyrics and Mike Barson later admitted in the 33 1/3 book One Step Beyond... that he preferred it to the single version. The B-side, "Madness", was also re-recorded for the album in a more multi-layered arrangement.

## Chart performance

position
A Guided Tour of Madness

***A Guided Tour of Madness*** is a 3-CD/1-DVD anthology box set by English band Madness, released in 2011 on Union Square Music's collector's label Salvo. It features 70 singles and album tracks (from 1979’s *One Step Beyond...* to 2009’s *The Liberty of Norton Folgate*) and an exclusive DVD of the band's comeback concert at the Madstock festival in August 1992. It also includes a booklet with interviews with the band, photos, the cartoon *Nutty Comic* (1981) and the *Madness Map of Camden*, the band's historic stomping ground. With the exception of "Sweetest Girl," "Sorry," and "The Harder They Come," every one of the band's 34 singles to date is represented.

The compilation is notable as containing the only official physical release of the track "Le Grand Pantalon", which closes the collection. This slower, waltz version of "Baggy Trousers", complete with accordion and double bass, as well as French lyrics, was originally created as part of Madness' participation in Kronenbourg Brewery's 'Slow the Pace' ad campaign. However, its popularity led to the band recording a full version, initially available only as a free download.

## Critical reception

AllMusic rated the box set 4 stars out of 5, saying, "A cut above most hastily assembled retrospectives, *A Guided Tour of Madness* is a cleverly selected affair which should satisfy anyone wishing to investigate more than their more ubiquitous commercial hits." The Super Deluxe Edition website wrote, "The care and attention in the included booklet, combined with the overall quality of the packaging, makes this an easy box set to recommend, even for the casual listener."

## Personnel

See individual albums for full personnel credits.

Madness
* Graham "Suggs" McPherson – vocals
* Cathal Smyth – vocals, trumpet
* Mike Barson - piano, keyboards
* Chris Foreman – guitar
* Mark Bedford – bass
* Lee Thompson – saxophone, vocals
* Daniel Woodgate – drums

Additional musicians on bonus track "Le Grand Pantalon"
* Rachael Lander – strings
* Kirsty Mangan – strings
* Natalie Holt – strings
* Stephanie Benedetti – strings
* Louis Vause – accordion
* Lester Allen – banjo

Technical
* Clive Langer – producer (disc 1: 1-27 / disc 2: 1-22 / disc 3: 1-9, 15-21)
* Alan Winstanley – producer (disc 1: 3-27 / disc 2: 1-22 / disc 3: 1-9, 15-20), DVD sound mix
* Steve Dub – producer (disc 3: 10-14)
* John "Segs" Jennings – producer (disc 3: 10-14)
* Charlie Andrew – producer (disc 3: 21)
* Tim Turan – mastering
* Mark Brennan – compilation
* Daryl Smith – compilation
* Martin "Cally" Callomon – box theme, art direction, design
* Eric Watson – front cover photograph
* Clare Muller – black and white band photographs
* Paul Rider – band photographs
* Gavin Martin – booklet interviews

DVD
* Meedja – DVD authoring
* Juliet De Valero-Wills – executive producer
* Malcolm Gerrie – executive producer
* Dione Orram – producer
* Rocky Oldham – producer
* Gavin Taylor – director
Lovestruck

## Music Video

"**Lovestruck**" is a song by English ska band Madness, released as the lead single from their seventh studio album, *Wonderful* (1999), on 19 July 1999. This release marked the first time Madness had put out original material for over 10 years and signified their return to music. "Lovestruck" peaked at number 10 on the UK Singles Chart, which was the first time a new Madness release had reached the top 10 since the 1983 release "The Sun and the Rain". The song also charted in Iceland, reaching number 36 on the Íslenski Listinn Topp 40.

## Charts

 Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)
 Scotland (OCC)
 UK Singles (OCC)
Our House: The Very Best of Madness

**Full House: The Very Best of Madness** is a compilation album released by Madness in 2017. It was released on the Union Square label. It contains 42 tracks from 1979's One Step Beyond... and 2016's Can't Touch Us Now.

## Track listing

1. Our House
2. It Must Be Love
3. House of Fun
4. Baggy Trousers
5. Embarrassment
6. NW5
7. One Step Beyond
8. The Prince
9. Wings of a Dove
10. Mr. Apples
11. Bullingdon Boys
12. Night Boat to Cairo (US Version)
7

**7** (also known as **Madness 7**) is the third album from Madness. Released in October 1981, it reached No. 5 in the UK album chart. All but one track was recorded at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas in the summer of 1981, the exception being "Grey Day" which was recorded in London earlier in the year. Although in 2011 co-producer Alan Winstanley started in the the Guided Tour of Madness boxed-set that much of the album was re-recorded in London when they returned from Nassau.

## Track listing

There were several different versions of the album released throughout the world. Some territories removed the not so tourist-friendly "Day on the Town" while others replaced it with "Never Ask Twice", which was issued on the "Shut Up" 12" in the UK. In Belgium "Never Ask Twice" was issued on a one-sided 7" single with initial copies of the album. France renamed "Day on the Town" as "A Place in The City". Australia added "It Must Be Love" and "Never Ask Twice", Spain replaced Cardiac Arrest with "It Must Be Love" and Japan added "In the City", which was issued there as a single after it was initially written for and used to promote Honda City cars in television adverts.

Initial vinyl pressings featured different mixes of some tracks (most notably "Mrs. Hutchinson" and "Day on the Town"), which haven't been used since.

## Personnel

Madness
* Graham "Suggs" McPherson – lead vocals
* Mike Barson – piano, organ, vibes, marimba, tubular bells
* Chris Foreman – guitar, sitar
* Mark Bedford – bass
* Lee Thompson – saxophones, burps, squeaks, lead vocals on track 10
* Daniel Woodgate – drums, congas
* Chas Smash – backing vocals, trumpet

Technical
* Clive Langer – producer, engineer
* Alan Winstanley – producer, engineer
* Arun Chakraverty – mastering
* Stella Artwork – cover
* C-More – cover
* Mike Putland – photography

## Chart performance

### Album

position
 Swedish Albums Chart
 UK Albums Chart

### Singles

 Sep 1981
 Feb 1982
The Very Best of Madness

## Madness Album Navigation

### Previous

Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da (chronologically)Forever Young: The Ska Collection (compilation)

### Next

Can't Touch Us Now (chronologically)Full House: The Very Best of Madness (compilation)

**Madness - The Very Best Of** is a compilation album released by Madness in April 2014. It was released on the Union Square label. It contains two discs of 16 tracks from 1979's One Step Beyond... and 2009's The Liberty of Norton Folgate. It was the last album released with Chas Smash as a member of the band.
Sorry

## Music Video

"**Sorry**" is a single by the English ska band Madness, released in March 2007 as a stand-alone single, not included on any album. Unusually for Madness, it is a song that was written for them by outside writers—all previous Madness singles had been either original compositions by the band, or covers of previously existing tunes. "Sorry" was given to them by their new management group to fill the gap between The Dangermen Sessions Vol. 1 and The Liberty of Norton Folgate; Madness themselves worked on the song enough to gain a co-writer credit on the finished track.

In an attempt to gain more air play from a variety of radio stations, two different versions of the song were issued. One version featured just the band, while a second featured an interlude from UK rap artists Sway DaSafo and Baby Blue. This second version was featured in *FIFA 08*.

The band brought it out via their own label Lucky 7 Records, entering the UK chart at #23 on Sunday 11 March 2007, their highest UK chart single entry since "Lovestruck" in 1999. The single also went to #1 on the UK Indie Chart. At the time, guitarist Chris Foreman had left Madness, and does not feature on the single or the video. This is the only Madness track Foreman does not appear on.

## Chart performance

position
It's... Madness

**It's... Madness** is a compilation album by Madness released in 1990. It combines some of the band's hit singles and b-sides. A sequel to this, It's... Madness Two, was released the next year.

## Track listing

1. "House of Fun"
2. "Don't Look Back"
3. "Wings of a Dove"
4. "The Young and the Old"
5. "My Girl"
6. "Stepping into Line"
7. "Baggy Trousers"
8. "The Business"
9. "Embarrassment"
10. "One's Second Thoughtlessness"
11. "Grey Day"
12. "Memories"
13. "It Must Be Love"
14. "Deceives the Eye"
15. "Driving in My Car"
16. "Animal Farm"
Girl Why Don't You

## Music Video

"**Girl Why Don't You**" is a song originally performed by Prince Buster, covered by ska band Madness for their 2005 album, "The Dangermen Sessions Vol. 1." It was the third cover of a Prince Buster song to be released by the group, following "Madness" and "One Step Beyond". The single failed to attract much air play from radio stations and made little impression on the *UK Singles Chart*, failing to reach the top 75.
Keep Moving

Disambiguation page for Keep MovingThe following is a list of links to pages that might share the same title.Please follow one of the disambiguation links below or search to find the page you were looking for if it is not listed. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.
Madness has titled some of their songs and/or albums similarly to other items relevant to this wiki. If you followed a link to this page, please fix it to one of the following pages

* Keep Moving (album), Madness' 1984 album
* Keep Moving (song), Madness' title track in their 1984 album
One Step Beyond...

**One Step Beyond...** is the 1979 debut album by Madness. It was released by Stiff Records. The album was recorded and mixed in about three weeks, and peaked at number two and remained on the U.K. Albums Chart for more than a year. The album has received much critical praise and was ranked 90th in a 2005 survey held by Channel 4 to determine the greatest 100 albums of all time.

It was the first album produced by the Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley team, who went on to produce more Madness albums.

## Background

The title track, released as a single, was originally written and recorded by the Jamaican ska musician Prince Buster, and it's "Don't watch that, watch this..." introduction is adapted from another Prince Buster song "Scorcher." The track The Prince is a tribute to Buster and a re-recording of the band's debut single, originally released on the 2 Tone label. Its B-Side, "Madness," was also re-recorded for the album. "Madness" and "Bed and Breakfast Man" were released as singles in North America through Sire Records.

After the album's initial release, reissues were released in 2009 and 2014 by Union Square Music's collector's label Salvo, each containing additional material such as video productions featuring the band.

## Tracks

### Extra Material

The 2009 reissue also includes the music videos for "The Prince", "One Step Beyond", "My Girl", "Night Boat to Cairo" and "Bed and Breakfast Man". The first four of these were also included on the verson of *One Step Beyond...* issued as part of the box set *The Lot*. The bonus disc contains B-Sides as well as three songs previously only released on the Work Rest and Play EP in April 1980.

A 35th-anniversary edition was released in 2014. It includes 14 of the 20 tracks from a 1979 rehearsal tape entitled "Fab Toones" and a DVD featuring videos, *Top of the Pops* and *Old Grey Whistle Test* appearances and a BBC documentary.

## Personnel

* Graham "Suggs" McPherson - lead vocals
* Mike Barson - keyboards
* Chris Foreman - guitars
* Mark Bedford - bass
* Lee Thompson - saxophones, backing vocals, lead vocals on tracks 5 and 10
* Dan Woodgate - drums, percussion

### Additional personnel

* Cathal "Chas Smash" Smyth - backing vocals, "various shouts and fancy footwork", lead vocals on tracks 1 and 15
	+ NOTE: Smyth was not an official member of the band at the time of the album's recording or release. He would formally join Madness only a few weeks after *One Step Beyond...* was issued in October 1979.
* John Hasler - minder

### Technical

* Clive Langer - producer
* Alan Winstanley - producer
* Stiff Records - cover artwork
* Julian Balme - cover artwork
* Eddie King - cover artwork
* Cameron McVey - front cover and band photography
* Chris Gabrin - back cover photography
Our House

## Music Video

"**Our House**" is a song by British ska and pop band Madness. It was released as the lead single from their fourth studio album, *The Rise & Fall*, on 12 November 1982. The song charted within the top ten in several countries, and was the band's biggest hit on the *Billboard* Hot 100. It won the category Best Pop Song at the May 1983 Ivor Novello Awards.

## About

Released in November 1982, it peaked at No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart. "Our House" was their biggest hit in the US, reaching No. 7 on the *Billboard* Hot 100 in 1983. On the US rock chart, the song peaked at No. 9, and it reached No. 21 on the US dance chart. It received heavy airplay by radio stations.

The B-side, "Walking with Mr. Wheeze", is an instrumental. The title is a play on "Groovin' with Mr. Bloe", a 1970 instrumental hit by the session group Mr. Bloe.

## Music video

The band portrays a working-class family in the video, including one with a stubbly face, dressed in an apron and bonnet, playing the mother. The band members perform with their instruments in the living room, as they prepare for work and school. The family play squash and relax in a hot tub. The video includes exterior shots of other houses, such as the Playboy Mansion, Stocks House in Hertfordshire, and Buckingham Palace. The domestic property featured in the video is a terrace house on Stephenson Street in north-west London, near Willesden Junction.

## In popular culture

In 1984, Madness made a guest appearance in the series 2 episode "Sick" of *The Young Ones*, performing "Our House". They had previously appeared in series 1, performing "House of Fun".

A musical called *Our House*, featuring Madness songs, ran in London's West End between October 2002 and August 2003. A recording of the show was broadcast on BBC Three and was released as a DVD.

In Chile, the song was used in the theme song of Chilean Canal 13 TV series, *Papá Mono*.

The song has been adapted into an anthem by fans of football club Aston Villa, to refer to centre back Kortney Hause.

The song is used in TV commercials for HyVee. The lyric and verses are slightly modified to match with the commercial's theme.

"Our House" appears in a 2021 TV commercial for Allstate.

"Our House" was featured in a *Dead Ringers* parody of Jeremy Vine's Radio 2 programme on 9 July 2021.
Michael Caine

## Music Video

"**Michael Caine**" is a song by British band Madness, released on 30 January 1984 as the first single from their album *Keep Moving*. The song was written by Carl Smyth and Daniel Woodgate, and features Smyth on lead vocals in place of usual Madness vocalist Suggs. "Michael Caine" spent eight weeks on the British chart, peaking at number 11.

## Lyrical content

The song is about an informer during the Troubles, and the lyrics suggest a state of paranoia and mental disintegration. It is named after English actor Michael Caine and includes his vocal samples, recorded specifically for this song. The song's hook, a repetition of Caine introducing himself by name, recalls his role in the 1960s spy film *The Ipcress File*, in which his character, Harry Palmer, repeats his name while trying to stay sane under torture.

When he was approached to appear on the record, Caine initially turned it down, but his daughter on hearing his decision made him change his mind, telling him how popular they were.

Speaking of the song's lyrics and the idea behind the use of Caine's name, Carl Smyth told *Record Mirror* in 1984, "The record's about informers. If you think of informers who are current news then that's a clue. At the same time, I wouldn't do a song just about Michael Caine – it's not a tribute or anything like that. I was trying to think of who could be used to illustrate it, and his name seemed right – his film *The Ipcress File* had the sort of atmosphere I wanted to create – we even used some of the phrases."

## Music video

The music video was also based on *The Ipcress File*, and featured a lightbulb being shot, as seen in the title sequence from the television spy series *Callan*. A photograph of Michael Caine from the 60s is also seen being shredded in the video. The video took longer to complete than usual, due to being shot on 35mm film as opposed to 16mm. As a result, Mike Barson is absent for much of the video; he had a plane to catch, and could not stay for the whole filming session.
Mike Barson

## Monsieur Barso

**Michael Barson** (born 21 April 1958) is a Scottish-born multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and composer. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Barson came to prominence in the late 1970s as the keyboard player for the band Madness.

## Early life

Barson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He grew up in North London with his two brothers, Dan and Ben, who are also musicians (with Ben being one of Roland Gift's collaborators). He is often known by the nicknames "Monsieur Barso" or "Barzo".

Prior to forming Madness, Barson and fellow future Madness member Lee Thompson gained some notice as graffiti artists in the mid-1970s. After reading about the emerging New York graffiti scene, they spray-painted their nicknames ("Mr B" and "Kix") along with two friends' names "Cat" and "Columbo" around north London. They managed to spray their nicknames on George Melly's garage door, prompting Melly to write a newspaper article declaring: "If I ever catch that Mr B, Kix and Columbo, I'm going to kick their arses".

Barson co-founded a band called The Invaders in 1976. The band later changed their name to Madness after the song by Prince Buster.

## Career

Main article: Madness

Madness became a successful British band during the late 1970s to mid-1980s, having initial success as part of the Two-Tone movement. Barson was and is a prominent songwriter in the band, and effectively the musical director. He left in 1984 after the recording of their fifth studio album *Keep Moving* and appearing in the promotional music videos for the two singles from that album – "Michael Caine", and "One Better Day". Two years later, Madness disbanded, but Barson did join them for the recording of their final single, "(Waiting For) The Ghost Train."

Madness reunited in their original line-up in 1992, and Barson still plays with them. In 1995, he co-wrote and produced a number of songs for Suggs' first solo album *The Lone Ranger*. When No Doubt were recording songs for their fifth studio album *Rock Steady*, Barson was asked to play piano on the London version of the song "Everything in Time". Barson obliged and the track was produced by Madness producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley. The track was not included on the album, but was released a year later in 2003 on the compilation album *Everything in Time (B-sides, Rarities, Remixes)*.

Both Barson and his bandmate, Suggs, have contributed to Audio Bullys' album *Higher Than the Eiffel*. They both appear on the tracks "Twist Me Up" and "Goodbye".

## Polotical views

In September 2016, Barson told the website *The Canary* that he was a member of the left-wing campaigning group Momentum and voted for Jeremy Corbyn in the Labour Party leadership election. He said: "I heard all these unpleasant people on the news saying how terrible Momentum was so I thought I'd give it a go! I also heard how Jeremy could never win an election so I thought I'd have to vote for him too..."
It's... Madness Too

**It's... Madness Too** is a compilation album by Madness, released in 1991. It combines some of the band's hit singles and b-sides and is a sequel to It's... Madness, released the previous year.

## Track listing

1. "The Prince"
2. "Madness"
3. "One Step Beyond"
4. "Mistakes"
5. "The Return of the Los Palmas 7"
6. "Night Boat to Cairo"
7. "Shut Up"
8. "A Town With No Name"
9. "Cardiac Arrest"
10. "In the City"
11. "Our House"
12. "Walking with Mr. Wheeze"
13. "Tomorrow's (Just Another Day)"
14. "Victoria Gardens"
15. "The Sun and the Rain"
16. "Michael Caine"
NW5

## Music Video

"**NW5**" is a song by the band Madness, which was debuted live at the Brixton Academy in December 2006. The single was released in January 2008 on the band's own label, Lucky 7 Records, and entered the chart at no.24 on Sunday 20th Jan 2008, going to no.1 on the UK Independent Label Chart on Sunday 20th Jan 2008. It was very well received by fans and critics alike.

The song was subsequently included on their critically acclaimed 2009 album, The Liberty of Norton Folgate and has become a regular at Madness concerts.

The song's title is a reference to the UK postal code area for the north London district of Kentish Town, from where the band originated. It was written by saxophone player Lee Thompson and pianist Mike Barson, who also wrote some of the band's other hits including "House of Fun".

## Chart performance

position
Complete Madness

***Complete Madness*** is the first greatest hits album by ska/pop group Madness. It was released in 1982 and included Madness' biggest hits from their first three studio albums and the stand-alone singles. *Complete Madness* spent 99 weeks on the UK charts, peaking at number 1.

## Content

This compilation includes the original 7-inch single mixes of most tracks (*House of Fun* being an exception). The vinyl and initial CD releases have shortened fade-outs for many tracks, to reduce the running time of each side of the original LP version. The first time the songs appeared in full for this compilation was on the 2003 Virgin CD reissue.

The original Australian version of the album, issued some months later than in the UK, replaces *In the City* with 13th UK single *Driving in My Car*.

## Music video

An accompanying video cassette was also released, containing all thirteen of the group's music videos up to that point (the twelve UK singles plus *Bed and Breakfast Man*, which was a single in Canada), with specially filmed introductions to each video, together with the car adverts the band had done for Honda in Japan.

## Personnel

* Graham "Suggs" McPherson – vocals
* Mike Barson – keyboards, harmonica, vibraphone, marimba, tubular bells
* Chris Foreman – guitars
* Chas Smash – vocals, trumpet
* Lee Thompson – saxophones, vocals
* Mark Bedford – bass
* Dan Woodgate – drums, percussion

Production
* Clive Langer – producer
* Alan Winstanley – producer

## Chart performance

 Australia (Kent Music Report)
 Dutch Albums Chart
 New Zealand Albums Chart
Dust Devil

## Music Video

"**Dust Devil**" is a single by the ska/pop band Madness, released 11 May 2009, precisely one week before their album *The Liberty of Norton Folgate*.

The B-side, "The Roadette Song" was originally recorded by Ian Dury with his band, Kilburn and the High Roads. The Madness cover version was originally intended to be on their 2005 album *The Dangermen Sessions Vol. 1*.

## Music video

The music video for "Dust Devil" was released onto YouTube on 20 April 2009. It features Jaime Winstone and her then-boyfriend Alfie Allen.

## Chart performance

position
Madness Live: To the Edge of the Universe and Beyond

***Madness Live: To The Edge Of The Universe And Beyond*** is a double live album by British ska band Madness. It was released in November 2006 as in-lays in two consecutive issues of the newspaper *The Mail on Sunday*.

## Content

Although *Madness Live: To The Edge Of The Universe And Beyond* is named after the group's 2005-6 tour of the same name, many of the recordings are in fact older and some had been issued before ("Razor Blade Alley" and "The Sun and the Rain" in particular contain distinctive ad libs which make them easily recognisable as coming from the band's previous live LP, *Madstock!*). Two tracks, "Prospects" and "March of the Gherkins", appear in mono.

## Track listing

Part 1
1. "The Prince"
2. "My Girl"
3. "Embarrassment"
4. "House Of Fun"
5. "The Sun and the Rain" *(from Madstock!)*
6. "Bed & Breakfast Man"
7. "Razor Blade Alley" *(from Madstock!)*
8. "Prospects"
9. "Grey Day"
10. "It Must Be Love"

Part 2
1. "Baggy Trousers"
2. "Our House"
3. "Shut Up"
4. "Lovestruck"
5. "Close Escape"
6. "Wings of a Dove"
7. "Driving in My Car"
8. "March of the Gherkins"
9. "In the City"
10. "Night Boat to Cairo"
Cardiac Arrest

## Music Video

"**Cardiac Arrest**" is a song by British band Madness from their third album *7* and other compilation album called *Complete Madness*. It spent 10 weeks in UK charts peaking at number 14.

The song was written by Chas Smash and Chris Foreman and tells a story of a workaholic who suffers a fatal heart attack on his way to work. It was the first Madness single since "The Prince" which did not reach the UK top 10.

The album version of the song ends after the second chorus with a dramatic cut to a coda representing the man's heart thudding and then stopping. The single version replaces this with a repeat of the more optimistic first chorus, which fades out.

The music video for "Cardiac Arrest" featured Chas Smash as a person having a heart attack and the remaining band members playing roles of people advising him not to work so hard. The video follows the single version of the song rather than the album version.

The B-side, "In the City", was originally written by Bill Crutchfield, Chas Smash, Chris Foreman, Daisuke Inoue, Suggs, and Mike Barson for a Japanese television advertisement for Honda City cars. The various versions of the advert, including variations using "Driving in My Car" instead of "In the City", appear between tracks on the *Divine Madness* video.

In the Netherlands the single was released as a double A-side, and peaked at number 15 in the Dutch Top 40. In the USA, "Cardiac Arrest" was released on the compilation album *Madness* and the B-side of their "Our House" single.

Although the song was a chart success, it was very rarely performed live - apart from featuring in a few gigs around the time of its release, it was not performed again until the "Can't Touch Us Now" tour in winter 2016.
Universal Madness

### Next

Wonderful (chronologically)Madness Live: To the Edge of the Universe and Beyond (live)

***Universal Madness*** is the second live album by ska/pop band Madness, released on 2 March 1999 through the Goldenvoice label. It was recorded at the Universal Amphitheater on 26 April 1998 in Los Angeles. The show was Madness' first in America since 1984.

## Reception

As the album features most of the band's singles, it "ultimately serves as mere nostalgia," according to AllMusic, "not quite a hollow experience, but not an epiphany either." They felt that while the album "doesn't disappoint too greatly, it rarely captures the giddy glee Madness can pull off," adding that the band "sounds fine in a workmanlike way." *Trouser Press* wrote, "The musicianship is tight as ever ([Lee] Thompson sounds particularly inspired on sax) and the sound quality is good, but [Graham] McPherson's singing falters more and more as the disc goes on. ... *Madstock!* is the better choice for anyone searching for a disc of live Madness."

## Personnel

Madness
* Graham "Suggs" McPherson – lead vocals
* Mike Barson – keyboards
* Chris Foreman – guitar
* Lee Thompson – saxophone, backup vocals
* Daniel Woodgate – drums
* Mark Bedford – bass
* Cathal Smyth – backup vocals, trumpet

Technical
* Cedric Singleton – executive producer
* Guy Charbonneau – engineer
* Charlie Bouis – assistant engineer
* Jerry Finn – mixing
* Chuck Sperry – artwork
* Ron Donovan – layout, design
Yesterday's Men

## Music Video

"**Yesterday's Men**" is a song by British band Madness, released in 1985 from their sixth studio album *Mad Not Mad*. It was written by Graham McPherson and Chris Foreman, and produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley. The song spent 7 weeks on the UK Singles Chart peaking at number 18. The song was edited for release as a single, the album version being some thirty seconds longer. A music video was filmed to promote the single, directed by Chris Gabrin. This single is notable for being the first single released with Mike Barson absent, as he had left the band after 1984's Keep Moving.

## Critical reception

Upon release, Paul Bursche of *Number One* stated: "A grim portrait of a land without hope. A real grower this that finally emerges into one of the best songs the group have ever done. Very Sade-ish but even the orchestration can't disguise a new lush Madness sound." Ian Cranna of *Smash Hits* wrote: "This mournful little exhortation to hang on in there with gentle percussion and varied instrumental weaving must be quite satisfying to record after being so nutty for so long, but it's hardly soul-stirring stuff." The song was ranked number 7 among the "*Tracks of the Year*" for 1985 by *NME*.

In a retrospective review of *Mad Not Mad*, Darryl Cater of AllMusic described the song as "dwell[ing] on themes of transience and aging". Terry Staunton of *Record Collector* noted: "The wacky humour of old, already on the wane in their previous outing, *Keep Moving*, was almost totally eclipsed by sombre tones of resignation, best exemplified on the single "Yesterday's Men"."
Madness (Is All in the Mind)

**Madness (Is All in the Mind)** is a song by British band Madness from their fourth album The Rise & Fall. It spent 9 weeks in the UK charts, peaking at number eight in February 1983. It was released as a double A-side with "Tomorrow's (Just Another Day)", with the latter being the side which got most airplay. Unlike most Madness songs this features Chas Smash on lead vocals. It should not be confused with "Madness", the Prince Buster song previously covered by the group.

## Chart performance

position
Wonderful

### Next

Our House: The Original Songs (chronologically)The Dangermen Sessions Vol. 1 (studio)

## Singles

### 3.

Drip Fed Fred

**Wonderful** is the seventh studio album released by Madness, released on 1 November 1999. It was the band's first studio album since Mad Not Mad in 1985, and also the first to feature their classic seven-piece-line-up since 1984's Keep Moving. The album saw Madness reunite with their original production team, Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, who had produced all of the band's previous work.

## Reception

The BBC's Chris Charles said "... *Wonderful* finds the boys in their best form since 1981's Madness 7." Allmusic's Evan Cater gave the album 4 out of 5 stars and said "On the whole, it's a pretty successful return." In a review of the 2010 re-release, Terry Staunton of *Record Collector* stated that although "All the essential components are in place...something doesn't quite gel...". Staunton thought the opening single "Lovestruck" was well done but "elsewhere there's a...feeling that the band are trying too hard to replicate the sound of yore, studiously ignoring the fact that times - and the players themselves - have changed."

## Personnel

Madness
* Graham "Suggs" McPherson – lead vocals
* Mike Barson – keyboards
* Chris Foreman – guitar
* Mark Bedford – bass
* Lee Thompson – saxophones, guest vocals on track 6
* Daniel Woodgate – drums
* Cathal Smyth – backing vocals, lead vocals on track 3

Additional personnel
* Jason Bruer – saxophone
* Terry Edwards – saxophone, brass arrangements
* Michael Kearsey – trombone
* Jason McDermid – trumpet
* Pablo Cook – percussion
* The London Session Orchestra – strings
* Gavyn Wright – orchestral and strings leader
* Simon Hale – string arrangements, conductor
* Ian Dury – guest vocals on track 6
* Steve Donnelley – dobro guitar on track 5
* Mitch – backing vocals on track 4
* Sarah Cracknell – backing vocals on track 8

Technical
* Clive Langer – production
* Alan Winstanley – production
* Mark Bishop – assistant engineer
* Martin Parr – front cover photography
* Mark Bedford – design
* Robert Stimpson – design
* Dani Golfieri – design assistant
* Neil Evans – design assistant
Can't Touch Us Now

Disambiguation page for Can't Touch Us NowThe following is a list of links to pages that might share the same title.Please follow one of the disambiguation links below or search to find the page you were looking for if it is not listed. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.
Madness has titled some of their songs and/or albums similarly to other items relevant to this wiki. If you followed a link to this page, please fix it to one of the following pages

* Can't Touch Us Now (album), Madness' 2016 album
* Can't Touch Us Now (song), the title track in Madness' 2016 album
The Harder They Come

"The Harder They Come" is a reggae song by the Jamaican singer Jimmy Cliff. It was first recorded for the soundtrack of the 1972 movie of the same name, in which it is supposed to have been written by the film's main character, Ivanhoe Martin.
"The Harder They Come" has been covered by many artists and was ranked number 350 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

## Music Video

"The Harder They Come" was released as a single by the band Madness in 1992 after a successful reunion concert held at London's Finsbury Park. The single was recorded live at the event along with its B-sides. Although in 1992 Madness had success with reissues of "It Must Be Love" and "My Girl", their version of "The Harder They Come" failed to make the top 40 in the UK Singles Chart; it peaked at #44.
MC/OC TEMPLATE

## PROFESSIONAL

### Occupation

Ronin, Sword Who Cuts the Heavens, whichever line of work they consider worth mentioning

### Attunement

percentage of attunement throughout the books

## RELATIONSHIPS

### Family

relevant family (ie: Mother (Deceased) and so on)

### Friends

friends! if mentioning other ronins, link to their page

## VOICE ACTORS

### English

english VA for the character

 —and here's whoever said it

Write an introduction paragraph for the character with the most general and important information. This is where people get the gist of the character.

## APPEARANCE

Describe the character's appearance here, with as much detail as you'd like with a minimum of two or three paragraphs. Do not make a lists (ie: Hair : black. Eyes : black) but use actual descriptions (ie: "They have short, black hair that is cut in an assymetrical style")

## PERSONALITY

Describe the character's personality here, with as much detail as you'd like with a minimum of two or three paragraphs.

### STATS

Describe your character in relation to the game stats within each section (ie: how does their calculated nature manifest? perhaps they're stuck between brutal and finesse, how does that affect their techniques? etc). Mark their assigned stats in **BOLD** and *ITALICS* for easier reading!

**Delete this entire section if your character isn't an MC/Ronin and therefore has no stats.**

* IMPULSIVE (%) - CALCULATED (%)

Text here.

* PERVERTED (%) - CHIVALROUS (%)

Text here.

* CHARMING (%) - STOIC (%)

Text here.

* DRIFTER (%) - PROTECTIVE (%)

Text here.

* BRUTAL (%) - FINESSE (%)

Text here.

## BACKGROUND

Describe the character's background here. For reference, it should be a general rundown of their life before the start of Book 1.

## TRIVIA

* Write a bullet list of fun trivia and details about your character that don't fit anywhere else. For example, if your character has a fanon spirit animal that differs from the game, mention it here!
* Perhaps share their favorite food or color.
* Or maybe tells us which characters from other media inspired you to create them.
* Feel free to write as much as you'd like!

## GALLERY

To insert a gallery, press on INSERT and then GALLERY - you'll be prompted to pick the pictures relevant to the character from the wiki's database, so make sure you've submitted them properly. The names of the file are case sensitive!
Our House: The Original Songs

**Our House: the Original Songs** is a greatest hits album by Madness, released in 2002. It was released as a result of the stage show "Our House", and comprises the tracks which were included in the musical. The album features two new songs, "Simple Equation" and "Sarah's Song".

## Track listing

1. "House of Fun" 2:49
2. "Our House" 3:20
3. "Simple Equation" 4:00
4. "My Girl" 2:41
5. "Baggy Trousers" 2:46
6. "Prospects" 4:13
7. "Embarrassment" 3:10
8. "Driving in My Car" 3:18
9. "Grey Day" 3:38
10. "Shut Up" 3:26
11. "The Return of the Los Palmas 7" 2:01
12. "The Sun and the Rain" 3:30
13. "Tomorrow's (Just Another Day)" 3:12
14. "Night Boat to Cairo" 3:30
15. "Wings of a Dove" 3:01
16. "One Better Day" 4:06
17. "Rise and Fall" 3:15
18. "Sarah's Song" 3:45
19. "White Heat" 3:48
20. "Michael Caine" 3:39
21. "It Must Be Love" (2002 Mix) 3:25