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Rude Boy Ska plus dashes of the Piranhas and Chas and Dave .....
Madness
Moonlight Club
TOO 'OT, MUCH TOO HOT ... Prince Buster had it sussed yonks ago. Tuesday night down the Moonlight and people are evaporating just standing still. Feverishly trying to balance lager in-take with sweat out-take I'm straining the old mince pies to penetrate the heat haze hovering above the percolating punters stage front.
And, yep, I can just about make out Madness' skin vocalist, Suggsy (on guitar in the pic) silly smile blessing his boat, as the band, who've lifted their moniker from a Prince Buster number of yore, launch into another of said reggae potentate's priceless heritage, their instrumental opener, 'One Step Beyond'.
Hey, this is good. Catchy Specials-like reggae with the added benefit of Lee Thompson's sax picking out the melody line for a straightforward exercise in insistent dance music of the '69 kind. Madness mooooonstompin'.
But hang on in there, cos Madness ain't just (just?) a ska-ed for life and J Arthur Skanking outfit. As the set progresses they emerge as something like a cross between the Specials and the Piranhas with a little touch of Chas and Dave in the vocals thrown in for good measure. Intriguing huh, pop-pickers?
So the bluebeat hustles with doo-wop, a neat line in lyrics (or so it seemed - couldn't actually discern too much with me aural cavities flooded with sweat) and the classy sax appeal that generally works fair-to-goodly. Except, it has to be said, on their rendition of the Cats' '68 reggae re-working of 'Swan Lake' (on BAF I fink) where Thompson allowed his brassy wind instrument licence to obscure the simple attraction of the song. He should either sit that one out or pick out the melody line along with Mike Barson's joanna.
My other reservation concerns their version of 'Tears Of A Clown'. In fact any version of 'Tears Of A Clown' - including you Merton Parka chaps - apart from Old Smoke's smacks of unpardonable sacrilege to these purist ears. How can you fuel-inject a song so tenderly poignant, so genuinely moving, so, so, BAH .....
No, but hold on there a tick, cos this is starting to sound like a slagging which it patently ain't. No sirree. That these boys are a classy dance band is evidenced by their spiffing eponymous 'Madness' and home grown reggae-in-your-jeggae in the shape of their tribute to its author 'The Prince' and the sarky Borstal broaching 'Land Of Hope And Glory'. Not to mention the rock 'n' roll sortees of 'Steppin' Into Line' and 'Rockin' In A-Flat'.
Temperature rising, juke box blown a fuse. So move your feet to the nifty beat of this here year-old looney Camden Town 6-piece. Hustle your bustle to the rest of the roll-call; Mark Bedford, never outta place on the bass, Woody havin' lotsa fun bashin' the drums, and Barry Sheene look-alike Chrissy Boy jugglin' with Ska on the Rickenbacker guitar.
Actually it weren't a Rickenbacker but this is what artistic licence is all about. Besides they weren't a bum note in evidence. And loads of people danced and had a good time (knoworrimean) so all that remains to be said it's fanx to Carol and Paul Cook for putting me on to them and, huh? What dat you say?
- Contributed by Sean Gaskin
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