What, exactly, is the deal with Madness? While the original Madstock comeback was trailed as a once off, they’ve popped up at regular intervals yet never really made it feel like a permanent arrangement.
Now, here comes their first new record in six years and they’re making a flimsy attempt to release it under a pseudonym.
Oddly too, given their standing as some of the finest songwriters to emerge from the UK in the past 20 years, it’s all covers. So, we can assume that The Dangermen Sessions is a bit on the crap side, right?
Well, thankfully for anyone with a soft spot for this particular magnificent seven, the answer is quite the opposite.
Sensibly, perhaps, the band have avoided trying to recapture past glories by delving even further back into the music that inspired them in the first place. Thus The Dangermen Sessions is largely a collection of old ska and reggae tunes, played seemingly for the hell of it.
And it’s wonderful. Instead of a bunch of hackneyed crowd pleasers this is a genuine musical history lesson, featuring some long forgotten gems from the archives.
If the names Lord Tanamo, Max Romeo, Barbara Lynn and Jose Feliciano mean anything to you then you’re probably a Jamaican music anorak. You’ll also love hearing these antiques handled so adeptly.
Of the more well known tunes, ‘Israelites’ is given a sombre, subtle reading, The Kinks' ‘Lola’ works surprisingly well as a reggae tune and the band’s sunny reworking of ‘You Keep Me Hanging On’ could easily provide them with their first hit in years.
The Dangermen Sessions is one of those rare records that works on all levels – a labour of love that succeeds in energising both band and audience and leaves you hoping that there might be more to come.
From the wilderness to one of the essential summer records of the year in one fell swoop? Madness, surely.