DIVINE MADNESS POLL!!!

And one goes to Baggy Trousers.

Really, any of:

"My Girl"
"Embarrassment"
"Grey Day"
"It Must Be Love"
"Cardiac Arrest"
"Our House"
"Tomorrow's (Just Another Day)"

"Grey Day". The exact turning point where they retained the best of their original "nutty" sound while adopting a more reflective, sophisticated and, well, "dark" side as well.

"Our House", "Michael Caine" and "Embarrassment" are also great though.

Ah nertz - I thought this was a Bette Midler poll. :(

ditto

felt like voting Night Boat To Cairo - i briefly danced to it the other week at friend's 30th

Wings of a Dove was on a mixtape that I listened to a lot as a kid, so (knowing that Our House will take a fair number), I'm gonna go for it.

"One better day" is the neglected masterpiece.

Is "The Sweetest Girl" the only single missing? (before they reformed)

YOU GOTTA BELIEVE THAT I AM BEAUTIFUL

oh :(

I think "The Sweetest Girl" was the only Madness single not to be included on "Divine Madness", yes. Besides various non-UK singles that is.

My Girl.

other single missing: 'I Pronounce You' released after '(Waiting For) The Ghost Train' but bad enough (their worst single def) to just miss the top 40.

"I Pronounce You" was credited to THE Madness, and consisted of part of the band only.

impossible for me.
but My Girl was my first proper record, and so started this whole lifetime obsession thing.
so i guess i should drop the vote on that.

the prince

Yeah, The Madness were a different band, with only Smash, Suggs, Thompson and Foreman on the board. They had another single however, "What's That".

Being American, I have to go with "Our House."

Did the orginal version of Shut Up with the "shut up" section ever get released anywhere?

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

hang on: where's "victoria gardens"? 'cos that's what i wanted to vote for.

in its absence ... ach, has to be "grey day". i adore "it must be love" but it's not getting the vote.

"Victoria Gardens" not UK single I'm pretty sure?

ohh, hang on ... aye, it was pulled at the last minute. i remember now. you're dead right.

shame, because it's absolutely fantastic and really would be my #1 madness choice (that or "white heat" from the sublime "mad not mad", an album so good the band all but disowned it. twats.) it's on one of the singles compilations i've got, which always confuses me.

Difficult. Every one a gem, save maybe "Los Palmas". I agree "One Better Day" is the lost classic.

xpost: Hm first time I've seen MNM called "sublime" I think. Long since I've listened, but yeah I remember loving "White Heat" actually.

ohh, hang on ... aye, it was pulled at the last minute. i remember now. you're dead right.

hence, i believe, why the re-recorded version of Victoria Gardens was dropped onto the 12" of One Better Day, and why the artwork for the single/picture disc was a lot more suitable for Victoria Gardens track with Lee holding a bunch of flowers in a garden/park type of place ..

yes: that's absolutely right. the sleeve was meant for victoria gardens. aye, it's all coming back now. i'll need to dig out the compilation i've got (can't remember the name: it's the second tranche of singles, basically) 'cos it's got some cracking sleevenotes by the band.

Hm first time I've seen MNM called "sublime"

apparently the NME -- or maybe melody maker; can't remember which -- put it straight into its list of "greatest british albums ever made". i think it's incredible -- such a strong collection of songs, and a testament to just how good a slick 1980s production job could be if done well. the band hated it, though, because it didn't really sound like them. too bad.

i must also get myself a copy of "the madness" because i remember eventually growing to love it, even though it's a very odd confection indeed. i can't remember the first thing about it, other than the sleeve and the little icon for each song.

Rian Hughes (he of "Dare" and those Virgin Air cartoons) designed that "The Madness" sleeve -- I got him to sign my copy at a comic store signing once.

It's not a teribly good record -- most of the songs are rewrites of "The Sun and the Rain" or "Michael Caine" -- but everything's very catchy, and I listened to it A LOT as a young'un. Before I started buying music, it was one of the only albums I owned. "Song in Red" and "Nightmare Nightmare" aren't too bad.

The Madness: yes, 'Song In Red' and 'Nightmare Nightmare' are my favourites too, but the album is not that strong as a whole.

Ha, I really want to listen this now. Got to find the old cassette...

xpost

most of the songs are rewrites of "The Sun and the Rain" or "Michael Caine"

no bad thing ;)

"nightmare nightmare" ... there's a vague flicker in some long-dormant part of my cortex. i'm gonna seek this out and do the same kind of nostalgia-fest i did when i first heard MNM again (although perhaps without such all-consuming joy).

thje cd version of The Madness had one digital dubbed up extra track on it (was a track on the I Pronounce You single i think) that I seem to recall being a belter
.. but its buried deep, and i haven't heard it for years so could be well out of order.

i borrowed it on vinyl from blackpool central library in ... it'd have been 1991 or so, i guess. which means i'll have a neatly pencilled cassette copy somewhere ...

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

okay, that's a bit unusual.

"Embarrassment" is a great song anyway, with a great lyric. The rest of the "Absolutely" album is overrated, but that song is great, so no prob.

unusual? I'd have pretty much guessed that result actually.

Nice to see two other people also voting for "Grey Day", the song which was really their best single, but was only a moderate hit.

"One Better Day" was, um, better...

"Michael Caine" is great

Put it this way: If you had to choose only 14 tracks, all the ones here with at least one vote are the best ones.

I love 'em all. Even Los Palmas 7. Waiter!

Irrelevantly -- at secondary school, we once got played this weird (and typically terrifying) Public Service Announcement video in physics class, about how it was dangerous for kids to play with electric pylons. At the end, one of the children’s curiosity gets the better of him, and he gets electrocuted, blown several feet into the air, and then dies. The end credits then rolled out to the theme of… “Yesterday’s Men.” Petrifying.

i missed this - an impossible choice but yes, 'one better day'.

also, 'victoria gardens' was remixed for single release, which is the version on Utter Madness, and is lovely. i love this band so very much, even their 'descent' into gloomier topics later on in their career. i can't argue with the result here; 'embarrassment' is probably my second-favourite song of theirs, and a fantastically complex lyric. they were great storytellers.

i almost literally bumped into suggs at the old blue last last night.

"embarrassment" is just one of those songs that i didn't think people loved ... sure, it's great, but pretty much all of these are. i was more surprised by "cairo" and "los palmas" being so high.

TS: nutty madness v serious madness. the latter every time ;)

gah, not "los palmas"; meant "one step beyond".

and only one vote for "it must be love" ... wow. that's my earliest madness memory, that. i'd have been, what, five? i fondly -- and probably wrongly -- remember a chart containing that, "don't you want me", "under your thumb", "labelled with love" and "maid of orleans". which is kinda grimly-tastic.

i'm sure it didn't really happen quite like that, mind.

It was between "it must be love" and "our house" for me.
I ended up going for "our house" because it was the madness original of the pair.

'it must be love' is exquisite, especially the plucked violin parts

and Cairo and On Step = dancefloor classics at scary parties and student discos (this is not a criticism)

I played Cairo at a DJ night a while back. But it was in Canada and didn't really translate. :(

I voted Embarrassment partly because I thought it would be underrated! It's pretty difficult to pick a favourite. I'm not as familiar with the later songs as I only had Complete Madness. Baggy Trousers was my first ever record, my uncle gave it me when I was about 6.

its a sin only 34 votes got dropped on this.

cant believe no love for the final swansong that even now induces a chill up the spine,Waiting .. , or the majestically gloomy Yesterdays Men. I could have voted for any of the tracks, (stepping aside for Wings of a Dove, and the dreadful Driving .. )

oh well .. at least we have a new album on the way ..

i loved Driving when i was a kid...

Grey Day has a Ghost Town spook

i worked for a local radio station in blackpool when i was 17. the fuckers dedicated "driving in my car" to me on the glorious occasion of me failing my driving test. it's never been the same since then ;)

weirdly, a propos my post above, i just went to pick up some dry-cleaning and the radio was playing "labelled with love" when i went in. didn't sound nearly as good as i remember. squeeze: the poor man's madness? discuss.

grimly fiendish: OTM about 'Embarrassment'. It's a great song, but I never really liked, I think there are dozens of better Madness songs - not just among the singles. If I could vote for two, then the second choice would be 'Tomorrow's Just Another Day', it's a classic.

And about Squeeze: no, I don't think they are the poor man's Madness. They were a genuinely great band too, but a bit uneven. First four albums are classics. 'Labelled With Love' is not their best song though.

Agreed with grimly and zeus about "Embarrassment". My vote #2 might possibly have been "My Girl", for the piano solo alone.

Have you considered an album poll as well, zeus?

Yeah, why not?