You're clearly a person of taste. Check your inbox thing for presents.

Gracias senor. I will be waiting with baited breath!

I'm only getting around to listening to these gals now. They're a lot mellower more laid-back than bands like Dolly Mixture which is something I'm digging. Great stuff.

Yeah, very underrated album. Almost like a cross between Camera Obscura and YMG's. Which is . . . *drools*

Keep this up. Typing these names into Last.FM is turning me on to all kinds of stuff.

I liked it much more so than the stuff that he's put out in between No Flashlight and now. It's a lot easier to listen to.

It's really good so far, mane. Keep this list up!

http://991.com/NewGallery/Madness-Absolutely-177747.jpg

94
Madness - Absoulutely
1980
Ska pop/2 Tone

Best tracks: On the Beat Pete, Disappear, Baggy Trousers, Embarrassment, E.R.N.I.E.

"The essential singles band" they call 'em. Bollocks to that. I've always seen that as a hacks way of saying a particular group has never produced a quality album, lest they upset the sacred cows. Madness did release a lot of great, memorable singles, but no Madness hits collection holds a candle to One Step Beyond or the follow up Absolutely. The ska-tinged stuff is what they thrived at and the later, 'not mad' sombre stuff lacked the personality and likeability of the earlier hits.

Absolutely is up there with The Clash, Boy In Da Corner, Up The Bracket and Black London Blues in terms of possessing the SPIRIT OF LONDON. Absolutely is that dishevelled old geezer at the end of the bar in the Ship, Anchor, Hope and Henry IV Albert Arms, his eyes darting every which way, marked by the occasional flash of violence. His skin of old leather creases around a cheeky, perverted grin as he relives his past of vespa's, petty crime, daddy - done - left - me angst, tits and current buns. Then pearly hints of loss fill each eye as the wistful 'Disappear' blasts through the pub jukebox;

Organ tinkling organ
Marriage planning, children
Spinning round and round
Rusty swings and roundabouts
Disco's full of layabouts
Nowhere to be found

A stab in the back, the smoke and the black
As it smoulders to its grave
Disappear with the fun and the fear
Another chance to misbehave.


The city was once alive and full of colour - its decaying beauty and graffiti ("Walls signed with autographs, ceilings full of echoed laughs") and the aimless energy of youth ("Let's go to the local ash tray, let's see if we can be happy"), all gone and replaced with a mortgage and a beer gut. 'Disappear' may be Madness's most underrated and beautiful moment.

We go from dodgy Camden boozers to smoky jazz bars ('Overdone'), bingo halls and betting shops ('E.R.N.I.E') the school playground ('Baggy Trousers') and tacky sea side towns ('Return Of Los Palmas 7') on a cheap bumpy ride around Blighty. But yeah, mainly it's a London thing. The albums best moment, 'On The Beat Pete', is a garbled rush of finger snapping cockney joy. 'Baggy Trousers' and the three minute sigh, 'Embarrassment' ("YOU'RE an embarrassment". . . . DUN DUNNNN.) bring the hits, the weird time signature of 'Take it Or Leave It' brings awkward dancing and there's even time for a bit of the ol' existential despair with 'Shadow Of Fear'.

Their fun loving, wacky videos were great but ensured that people often overlook what great musicians they were and are. Here they play an array of styles - ska, motown, rock n' roll, jazz, boogie, and whatever "Take It Or Leave It'' is - all with their boyish charm.

Singles band my pipe and drum.





Good to hear. That's what it's all about.

http://img.cdandlp.com/2012/11/imgL/115747426.jpg

93
Kool and The Gang - Best Of Kool and The Gang 1969-1976
1993
Funk
Best tracks: Give it Up, Chocolate Buttermilk, Hollywood Swinging, Funky Stuff, Summer Madness.

Vintage Gang, vintage funk. 'Funky Stuff', 'Jungle Boogie', 'Summer Madness' and 'Hollywood Swinging' have rightfully become standards, and for me in particular, 'Swinging' is an infectious blast of how it feels to be young, black and lost in the possibilities of the big city (even if 'London Swinging' sounds slightly less glam). 'Summer Madness' is every car journey I've spent watching the setting sun blend in to the neon lights of the metropolis as the city's animals roam in search of the nights perfect excess. 'Funky Stuff' is hard as nails. The two most funkalicious funktastic funking tracks though are the lesser known 'Give it Up', which I CHALLENGE YOU to sit still to, and the chirpy but tough 'Chocolate Buttermilk', whose sax saunters and swaggers at the same time, always sure. And then there's the drums. AHH, them drums . . I'll happily lay here with a ditzy smile while you pummel at my skull.

1976 is a perfect cut off point by the way, hinting at a sleazy Sly Stone/George Clinton direction but cutting off before their dodgy disco adventures began.

Challenge!

Great act indeed. I love the soul of them along with Earth Wind & Fire and P-funk. One of the better acts to ever grace the stage on Soul Train.