Madness vs The Specials

I fully expect to be stoned to death next time I go to the Dublin Castle.

serious answer: Desmond Dekker

I'd still choose the Specials.

Jut kidding.

I'd say Madness were more purely 'pop', and were probably easier people to get along with. But choosing between them? Can't. Sorry.

Check 'a day on the town' for how Madness responded to 'Ghost Town'...

Actually, to be fair I do like a few Madness tracks among the LPs that I've heard, "Baggy Trousers" and a couple others.

best album .. depends on the mood. fun/upbeat - Absolutely, want a darker edge with cracking songs has to be 7, but the complete deal Rise And Fall. never rated Keep Moving despite have some excellent tracks (Vitoria Gardens especially) and Mad Not Mad was just too machine driven and clinical, but did contain the best song ever - Yesterdays Men.

and damn the reunion lp Wonderful was just .. well .. Wonderful.

i cant wait for the covers album though .. supposed to be revisiting the Ska classics .. then again could be a total dud, but as there is supposed to be a mew album of new material i dont care ..

oh .. i should admit .. i was a fan club member. so please understand my bias in this ..

onwards m.e/ireallylovemusic

It's funny because Madness are often seen as an upbeat fun party band, perhaps a little throwaway but with some great singles. Fair enough, but on closer listens, they always affect me and get me rather melancholy. "Our House", "Grey Day", "Just Another Day", "Cardiac Arrest", "My Girl", "Waiting For The Train That Never Comes" - they're all jolly songs with rather sad subtexts. I like them enough though. There was a point, around my GCSEs that I'd put the first three tracks of "Absolutely" on just before school and it made everything a lot easier.

As for the Specials, well, they'll always be my favourite band of that era I think. The first album has no bad songs on it imho and there was a period where i just couldn't stop listening to it. Nowadays it doesn't strike me as much, mostly because I'm just too familiar with the songs, but I still put "It Doesn't Make It Alright" and "Do Nothing" on quite often.

Madness's videos>Specials' videos, though 'Ghost Town' is so evocative of its era and mindset.

Madness's albums are all worthy of perusal. They really don't get the respect they deserve.

their lyrics were so much better than madness

I'd disagree with that, actually, though The Specials' lyrics *were* amazing (Friday Night Saturday Morning is sheer poetry).

I think, if I'm a'pickin' sides, it would be The Specials though, although I'm struggling for a why. Maybe just cuz they were so RAW. And maybe also partially because they inspired them boys known as Fishbone to start up doing their thing.

'embarrassment' is a really powerful song piecing together Lee's family's reaction when they discovered his sister was having a 'half caste' baby. i still reel every time i hear it.

Specials wanted to make true pop music about being alive and bent out of shape by and in Coventry.

Madness were the ska Chas & Dave and only developed a political conscience when they realised that some of their equally dim as fuck bonehead cockernee mates were jeapordising their chances of appearing on 'Swap Shop'. I FUCKING HATE MADNESS.

NO CONTEST. GOD'S WATCHING AND HE PREFERS THE SPECIALS.

You mention Chas & Dave like they're a bad thing. There ain't no pleasin' you...

Anyhoo, I'm gonna give my INCESSANT TALKING a rest. Nick nick rabbit rabbit . . . . . .
nk

Madness are the McCartney to the Specials' Lennon, maybe.

Agreed -- though you could drop the "almost".

Barson: 35 songs
McPherson: 28
Thompson: 26
Foreman: 21
Smyth: 16
Bedford: 6
Woodgate: 5

Woody's five are
-- "The Return of the Las Palmas 7" -- mehish, tho see dog latin's instrumental comment above. Apparently they could do no wrong.
-- "Sunday Morning" (as sole writer) -- this one rounds off the first side of R&F very nicely, I think. More specifically, I see "Primrose Hill", "Mr Speaker" and this one, ie the last half of that album side, as some sort of grand "Englishness" trilogy in the quasinostalgic Kinksian vein.
-- "Michael Caine" -- yes, what the hell was that about?
-- "I'll Compete" -- not too hot really.
-- "No Money" -- never heard it.

One oof the band was dating Caine's daughter at the time...

"I'll Compete" -- not too hot really.

wicked clavichord riff, though...

"And don't be back later than half past bloody ten!"

"Ghost Town" was my favourite Specials song for a really long time, until I heard Prince Buster's (I think?) "Al Capone". The Specials version is note-for-note. Hearing such a blatant rip-off (with no writing credit given) lowered my opinion of them a bit.

It's still a good song, but I've been looking for "Al Capone" ever since.

Received a letter just the other day,
Don't seem they wanna know you no more,
They've laid it down given you their score,
Within the first two lines it bluntly read.

You're not to come and see us no more,
Keep away from our door,
Don't come 'round here no more
What on earth did you do that for?

Our aunt, she don't wanna know she says,
What will the neighbours think they'll think,
We don't that's what they'll think, we don't,
But I will, 'cause I know they think I don't.

Our uncle he don't wanna know he says,
We are a disgrace to the human race he says,
How can you show your face,
When you're a disgrace to the human race?

No committment, you're an embarrassment,
Yes, an embarrassment, a living endorsement,
The intention that you have booked,
Was an intention that was overlooked.

They say, stay away,
Don't want you home today,
Keep away from our door,
Don't come 'round here no more.

Our dad, he don't wanna know he says,
This is a serious matter,
Too late to reconsider,
No one's gonna wanna know ya !

Our mum, she don't wanna know,
I'm feelin' twice as old, she says,
Thought she had a head on her shoulder,
'Cause I'm feelin' twice as older,
I'm feelin' twice as older.

You're an embarrassment...

Suggs: I can't remember whose idea it was to get in touch with
Michael Caine, it was, just out of inspirement (?) (laughs)
Anyway, someone went to a gentlemen's club with a tape
recorder, he was there and apparently his daughter was a fan,
he said yes, go on,.. so he just said, 'My name is Michael
Caine' a few times into a microphone and that was it.

I need a hell of a lot of context here because this is just calling up the image of Gerry Adams singing "Alright."

I'd only ever heard a version that someone had faded out before the end before. I just downloaded the full thing. Fuck.

Clarity, thanks to you and Pash both. All this time I thought that damn band was just on about how they liked weed.

Our parents had Warner Brothers cartoons, we had Madness videos.

If there were any justice, Suggs would be in the House of Lords by now.

The Specials' best moments were better than anything Madness ever managed though. "Ghost Town", "Stereotype" and "Do Nothing" are possibly three of the best singles from this era. And I love the way they combine the "nutty sound" of ska with something more gloomy and melancholy (Madness only managed this on the "Seven" album, which was their best album, and also a better overall album than any Specials also)

The Specials were a great band however and I would probably choose Ghost town, International jet-set, Stereotypes and Enjoy yourself over just about all Madness stuff.

A compilation cd of the best of both would be a thing of great beauty. I'm always dead jealous of people hearing stuff like this for the first time!

"Do you know Summer Holiday by Cliff Richard?"
"You hum it... I'll smash yer face in!"