Reunited with the Langer-Winstanley production team that propelled them to their commercial peaks in the 1980s, the original Madness line-up has just turned in a serious contender for their best ever album.
A hymn cycle to an almost lost parish (or liberty) of London near Shoreditch, the album skanks, slopes and steals its way around the capital’s back streets, alighting to immerse itself in a bit of dub here, a little tuneful guitar harmony there, some music hall bounce and a big dollop of ska. It’s like the slightly batty cousin of The Good The Bad & The Queen and a funny friend to Peter Doherty’s Grace/Wastelands.
The best (not the most popular) Madness songs of old made you feel ever so slightly sad and nostalgic for something unknown – this is it.
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