The purveyors of the nutty sound have returned with the first release of the new millennium (and only the second since the re-grouping of the original lineup after many moons for 1999’s critically-respected WONDERFUL), THE DANGERMAN SESSIONS.
DANGERMAN shares the dual distinction of being a covers album as well as a return to vintage Madness, before the days of (some say over) production by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley - although anyone who doesn’t think 1983’s “It Must Be Love” (also a cover, interesting enough) is one of the finest singles ever just plain doesn’t have any heart.
Like David Bowie’s PIN-UPS or innumerable LP’s by Brian Ferry, Madness has recorded a collection of pop standards that sounds more original than many artists releasing so-called “original” music.
Particularly wonderful are the versions of The Supremes “You Keep Me Hanging On”, with bitching sax solo, and, actually, “Dangerman aka High Wire” (the theme from SECRET AGENT, the ITV television series starring the pre PRISONER Patrick McGoohan) which makes me say screw all the acid-jazz and electronica compilations of cool tv show themes - what the world needs now is an all-ska collection.
The band even does completely credible versions of chestnuts like Desmond Dekker’s “Isrealites” and Bob Marleys ”So Much Trouble”, but it’s really when something like their “Lola” sounds like something that’s been in your record collection for 25 years already that you realize how really good THE DANGERMAN SESSIONS is.
Francois Truffaut once described the Alfred Hitchcock film FRENZY as the work of a young filmmaker (Big Alf was in his 70’s at the time), and DANGERMAN could be described in much the same way – as if Madness has somehow managed to recapture the spirit of the post-pub rock, post-punk late 70’s world from which they sprang without even a trace of self-consciousness or self-parody. You will wonder why they didn’t think of it sooner. |