Absolutely (Madness album)

Absolutely is the 1980 second album from the British ska band Madness. The album reached number 2 in the UK album charts.[6]

Absolutely
Studio album by
Madness
Released26 September 1980 (1980-09-26)
Recorded1980
Genre
Length39:15
LabelStiff
Producer
Madness chronology
Work Rest and Play
(1980)		 Absolutely
(1980)		 7
(1981)
Singles from Absolutely
  1. "Baggy Trousers"
    Released: 5 September 1980
  2. "Embarrassment"
    Released: 14 November 1980
  3. "The Return Of The Los Palmas 7"
    Released: 16 January 1981
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Billboard(unrated)[2]
Christgau's Record GuideB−[3]
Rolling Stone[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[5]

Absolutely spawned some of the band's biggest hits, most notably "Baggy Trousers", which peaked at number 3 in the UK and spent more than four months in the singles chart.[6] "Embarrassment" reached number 4, and the instrumental "The Return of the Los Palmas 7" climbed to number 7.[6] Although the album reviews were generally less enthusiastic than those of One Step Beyond..., they were mostly positive. Robert Christgau gave the album a favourable B- grade,[3] but Rolling Stone awarded the album just one out of five stars.[4] Rolling Stone was particularly scathing of the ska revival in general, stating that "The Specials wasn't very good" and Madness were simply "the Blues Brothers with English accents".[4]

In 2009 and 2010, Madness re-released their back-catalogue of studio albums up to and including 1999's Wonderful with a bonus CD and extra tracks. The re-release of Absolutely has seven bonus tracks plus an additional CD featuring a 1980 concert recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon.

Album title

The album is named after one of the oft-said expressions of the band's then tour manager and sound man Tony Duffield.[7]

Cover

The front cover sees the band standing in front of Chalk Farm tube station in Camden. When the original vinyl was released the first, more sombre, cover photograph was changed to a more animated pose after around 10,000 albums were pressed. The two sleeves can be distinguished by Mike Barson's holding of the umbrella: in the earlier pressing he holds it up to his chin while in the later, and subsequently used, releases the umbrella is on the ground.[8]

The inner sleeve features a London Underground-style roundel for a railway station called "Cairo East" on one side (this roundel later reappeared in the video for "(Waiting For) The Ghost Train") and a history of the group on the other.

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Baggy Trousers"
2:45
2."Embarrassment"
3:13
3."E.R.N.I.E."
  • McPherson
  • Foreman
2:08
4."Close Escape"
  • Thompson
  • Foreman
3:29
5."Not Home Today"
2:30
6."On the Beat Pete"
3:05
7."Solid Gone"Cathal Smyth2:22
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
8."Take It or Leave It"
  • Thompson
  • Barson
3:26
9."Shadow of Fear"
  • McPherson
  • Barson
1:58
10."Disappear"
  • McPherson
  • Bedford
2:58
11."Overdone"
  • Thompson
  • Foreman
3:45
12."In the Rain"
  • McPherson
  • Madness
2:42
13."You Said"
  • McPherson
  • Barson
2:35
14."The Return of the Los Palmas 7"
2:01
Total length:39:15

Personnel
Madness
  • Graham McPherson (Suggs) – lead vocals, percussion
  • Mike Barson (Monsieur Barso) – piano, organ, vibraphone, marimba, harmonica
  • Chris Foreman (Chrissy Boy) – guitars, sitar, slide guitar
  • Lee Thompson (Kix) – tenor and baritone saxophones
  • Daniel Woodgate (Woody) – drums, fire extinguisher
  • Mark Bedford (Bedders) – bass guitars
  • Cathal Smyth (Chas Smash) – backing vocals, trumpet, lead vocals on "Solid Gone"
Production

Chart performance
Chart (1980) Peak
position		 Total
weeks
Dutch Albums Chart[9] 2 43
German Albums Chart[10] 21 9
New Zealand Albums Chart[11] 31 4
Norwegian Albums Chart[12] 26 4
Swedish Albums Chart[13] 15 3
UK Albums Chart[14] 2 47
US Billboard Hot 200[15] 146 4

References
  1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Absolutely – Madness". AllMusic. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  2. "Review: Madness – Absolutely" (PDF). Billboard. 85 (44). 1 November 1980. p. 88. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 30 May 2020 – via American Radio History.
  3. Christgau, Robert (1990). "Madness: Absolutely". Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s. Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-679-73015-X. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  4. Marcus, Greil (19 February 1981). "Madness: Absolutely". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  5. Considine, J. D. (2004). "Madness". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 508. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  6. "The Madness Timeline: 1980". Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved on 19 June 2007.
  7. Archived 18 January 2004 at the Wayback Machine
  8. "Smash Hits magazine March 31 – April 13, 1983 page 10".
  9. Absolutely at Dutch Charts Archived 11 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 18 June 2013
  10. "Media Control Charts". charts.de. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
  11. Steffen Hung. "New Zealand charts portal". charts.nz. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  12. Steffen Hung (15 June 2006). "Norwegian charts portal". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  13. Steffen Hung (7 October 2011). "Swedish Charts Portal". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  14. "UK Singles & Albums Official Charts Company". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  15. "AllMusic". AllMusic. 16 September 2011. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.