The Madness Central Blog

To celebrate the 6th September release date of the 2 CD reissue of Madness’ 1999 “comeback” album “Wonderful”, Madness Central and the good folks at Union Square Music are pleased to bring you a chance to win one of three copies of “Wonderful.”

http://www.madness-central.com/interactive/feature/feature.html

The rules for entry are simple: Send in your full name (no nicknames) and email address with the answer to the one simple question related to the reissue and that’s it. Your name is in the hat for one of three copies of “Wonderful.”

The contest runs until 5 pm UK time Monday, 6th September, 2010. Be sure to have your entry in by then for it to count!

Let’s help get the word out about the Union Square Music/Salvo reissues. And if you aren’t one of the lucky three with their name pulled from the virtual hat, be sure to pick up a copy of this excellent reissue of an already-classic Madness album.

In August, 2005, Madness donned the guise of The Dangermen, a seven-piece outfit that looked and sounded a lot like Madness, the only difference being The Dangermen preferred cover songs to original material.

Since the 80s the band had been mulling about the idea of a covers album. It wasn’t until 2005, though, that they finally committed to the project and came up with a selection ska-tinged cover versions of songs from Motown to classic reggae.

To commemorate this, the five year anniversary of “The Dangermen Volume One”,  Madness Central is holding a contest for three lovely and spectacular prizes, all of which being from the Dangermen era of our favourite band.

For full details of the contest and to enter the contest please visit:

http://www.madness-central.com/interactive/feature/feature.html

The contest runs until 5 pm GMT, 30 August, so get your entry in before time runs out!

Madness Central has been alerted to a youth production of the Madness musical “Our House” set for the stage in early November.

THE Yeovil Youth Theatre will be presenting the Madness musical Our House at the Octagon Theatre later this year.

The production will be performed at the Octagon from November 3-6 nightly at 7.30pm with a Saturday matinee at 2.30pm.

Tickets are available now from the Octagon box office priced at £14 and at £12 for concessions, with a group rate of ten or more people at just £10 each.

There is, however, an ‘early bird’ discount offer in which people can buy tickets for just £10 if bought before October 1.

Phone 01935-422884 or log onto www.octagon-theatre.co.uk

Madness Central received word of another amateur production of the award-winning Madness musical “Our House”

NAODS are performing the hit musical ‘Our House’ at the Abbey Theatre in Nuneaton – 13th – 16th October. This is a fantastic production, we we are staging as part of our 90th year celebration. Tickets are available on 02476 348738 priced £5.00 (weds night) £7 / £8 (Thurs / Sat)

This is a show not be missed, with an energetic cast and great musical numbers, it is an evening to enjoy, from the first note to the last bar the band play!

http://www.abbeytheatre.co.uk/

Madness Central has been alerted to a youth production of the Madness musical “Our House.” Here are the details:

COMING SOON-AWARD WINNING ST MARY’S YOUTH THEATRE PERFORM THE MADNESS MUSICAL OUR HOUSE IN LEEDS 2010.

St Mary’s Youth Theatre’s next show at the Carriageworks will be the the Madness musical OUR HOUSE which concerns a young boy who commits a small crime to impress his girlfriend. A two-way plot line follows the youth’s two possible fates depending on whether he escapes or confronts the judgment of the law.

Twenty Madness hits, from One Step Beyond and House of Fun to My Girl and Baggy Trousers, makes it a favourite for fans of the 1980s ska band.

The performances run from Wednesday 24 – Saturday 27th November 2010 at the Carriageworks, Millennium Square, Leeds LS2 3AD.

Box office 0113 224 3801.

Madness Central has received word of a new production of the musical “Our House” taking the stage this week.

The press release posted to the Madness Central Forum:

CALLING ALL MADNESS FANS!!!

Address: 11-13 James Little Street, Kilmarnock, United Kingdom KA1 4AT
Website: http://www.centrestagemusictheatre.co.uk
Facebook Profile: http://www.facebook.com/centrestage

Today is 28th June, which means two things here at Madness Central:

1.) The new “Rise and Fall” and “Keep Moving” 2 CD reissues are out today!

2.) The winners of the “Rise and Fall” and “Keep Moving” 2 CD reissues in our exclusive contest are ready to be announced!

And the winners are:

Pierre-Nicolas Schwab
Bill Williamson
Natalie Bowman

Congratulations to our winners! You’ll be notified by email of your win, but if you see your name here first, please PM or email me with your mailing address and I’ll get these out the door to you just as quick.

If you didn’t cash in on this contest, no worries, both reissues are available at all fine online and offline retailers. Don’t delay!

Many thanks to all who entered, and thanks again to the good folks at Union Square Music who made this contest possible.

Our House, Leeds Nov 2010

When BrassNeck Theatre formed from the tremendously successful Grove and Rawdon and Stampede Theatre companies, they couldn’t have thought that their first show would have been received with such acclaim.

The 1980’s cult classic Footloose was presented last month at Yeadon Town Hall to almost capacity audiences and they certainly left happy with the sound of the show still ringing in their ears. The atmosphere in the hall during that week was electric and Footloose was yet another triumph for a group of people who are quickly becoming known in the area for their superb productions following on from The Buddy Holly Story, We Will Rock You, The Full Monty and Sweeney Todd, to name just a few.

BrassNeck have an amazing season lined up for the next year with productions of the twelve time Tony winner The Producers and Broadway/West End hit Rent. The season is kicked off in November with a production of the Madness Musical Our House which is set to prove just as popular as it’s predecessors with hits such as It Must Be Love, Baggy Trousers, House of Fun and of course the title song Our House. The extremely talented production team headed by director Royston Bayfield and ably backed up by musical director Tom Kyle and Choreographer Donna Woodman are sure to produce another exciting and memorable show.

With a soundtrack by Madness, Our House is the story of Joe Casey who, on the night of his sixteenth birthday, takes Sarah, the girl of his dreams, out on their first date. In an effort to impress her with bravado, he breaks into a building site overlooking his home on Casey Street, which is owned by Mister Pressman, a high-end property developer. The police turn up, at which point Joe’s life splits into two: the Good Joe, who stays to help, and Bad Joe, who flees. We are then taken on a journey of five years where we see what happens to Joe if he takes the good side but also where he ends up if he takes the bad.

BrassNeck are to present Our House at Yeadon Town Hall, Leeds LS19 7PP from 16^th-20^th Nov and, even at this early stage, tickets are selling fast. This is a must see show and is sure to be a great night out for everyone. The Our House box office is open now on 0113 2505011; book now to avoid disappointment.

Thanks to the good folks over at Union Square Music, Madness Central has three copies each of the “Rise and Fall” and “Keep Moving” reissues due for release on Monday, 28th June.

We’ll run this contest for the week leading up to the release date, and on Monday we’ll randomly choose three lucky winners receive a copy of “Rise and Fall” and “Keep Moving”.

Head to the contest page on Madness Central, enter your full name and email address, and answer the super simple question and your name is in the hat for one of the three prizes.

http://www.madness-central.com/interactive/feature/feature.html

Good luck!

Following hot on the heels of the “One Step Beyond”, “Absolutely” and “Seven” reissues from earlier this year, Union Square Music is set to re-release the next pair of classic Madness albums, “The Rise and Fall” and “Keep Moving”, on June 28th. Both albums were considered at the time to be a more mature undertaking by a band that was characterised (unjustly) as simply the “Nutty Sound” made famous by pop anthems like ‘Baggy Trousers’ and ‘Night Boat To Cairo’. While Madness had always tackled tough subjects with a slash-and-burn wit (reference ‘Cardiac Arrest’ and ‘Embarrassment’ for starters), it wasn’t until “The Rise and Fall” and “Keep Moving” that the press and fans alike took notice of something more cheerfully sinister in Madness, both musically and lyrically.

Like with the prior USM reissues, “Rise and Fall” and “Keep Moving” offer more than the original album on their two CD packages. With “Rise and Fall” fans are treated once again to the accompanying b-sides of the album’s singles, as well as the first of the true Madness 12″ remixes done up by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley; the three additional mixes of ‘Our House’, which features the wisely-included US dub mix ‘Mad House’ for the first time on CD, are a testament to the artistic craft of composing the perfect cut-and-splice tape remix, something the Protools Brigade of today could learn a few tricks from. Also featured as a bonus are the non-album singles ‘House of Fun’ (their only number one single in the UK) and ‘Driving In My Car’, another wise choice on the part of USM as both songs have long floated in the ether never finding a true place of belonging save “best of” collections. Best of all, though, is the beautifully mastered Kid Jensen Session that has been doing the rounds with the Madness fan community as a poorly dubbed C60 recording for decades.

“Keep Moving” is a touch more reserved in the extras, but this is to be expected from the 1983/1984 hyperdrive writing sessions that produced ‘Wings of a Dove’ (a non-album single in the UK but included on the US and Canadian release of the album), ‘The Sun and the Rain’ (another non-album single which again was on the US and Canadian release), ‘Michael Caine’ and ‘One Better Day’. The overabundance of classic 12″ remixes and b-sides that surrounded the release of “Keep Moving” are more than enough to fill the reissue’s second disc as well as more than enough to satiate those fans who were heartbroken when the Virgin “Singles Box Volume Two” never came to fruition. USM’s reissue of “Keep Moving” aptly makes up for the aborted Virgin package.

Both “The Rise and Fall” and “Keep Moving” are set for release on the 28th of June, 2010. Available from all major online retailers and (hopefully) just as many classic brick-and-mortar stores, these reissues fall in line price-wise with the prior reissues, coming in at well under a tenner. It’d be easy to call this merely a bargain, but for a completely remastered album with tons of extras, a better description would be incredible value.

Courtesy of Union Square Music, Madness Central is holding a contest to help promote the release of “The Rise and Fall” and “Keep Moving.” Three lucky winners will be randomly chosen from all entries sent in by 28th of June. Simply answer the really really really easy question at http://www.madness-central.com/interactive/feature/feature.html with your full name and email address and you’ll be entered into the contest to win one copy of “The Rise and Fall” and one copy of “Keep Moving.” Winners will be contacted via email as well as being announced on the Madness Central Forum.  Good luck!