REVIEW: MADNESS – ONE STEP BEYOND
Madness
‘One Step Beyond’
(Salvo)
4.5/5
30th anniversary reissued classic debut album, digitally remastered with a bonus disc of related tracks, booklet and a forward by Irvin Welsh. Try if you can to not get sidetracked by the success of Madness, their endless influence on bands that continues to present day and their revolutionising of the pop video. These things are all good and well, but right at the start, the band got into good habits early: strong songwriting and unique delivery through their own inimitable & quirky way. Madness have always been associated with ska, and on One Step Beyond (the song and the album) this is more apparent than most of their other work. But it’s ONLY an influence- their sound has always been so much more complex. They have more in common with The Beatles or The Kinks (in terms of creativity and originality) than say Prince Buster, The Skatalites or any other first wave ‘60s ska artists. Although often seen as a singles band, they also have a string of fantastic albums under their belts, including this one. Their B-sides and album tracks are every bit as potent as their singles, and quite often more so, because catchy songs can get tedious due to overplay. Having said that, I will never tire of hearing My Girl or Night Boat to Cairo. And yes, they got their name on the map with the nutty image and crazy videos, but even this early on in their career, they showed that they could do so much more: the serious and dark Razor Blade Alley is the proof here. The bonus disc on this set includes the tracks from the brilliant Work Rest & Play EP and all B-sides of the singles from the album, plus the John Peel session. A perfect document capturing the first year of a British treasure.
Words: Arash Torabi
