Madness

Madness came together in Camden Town in 1976 and broke through in 1979 with The Prince, their only single on the 2 Tone label, before signing to Stiff Records. The debut album One Step Beyond set the template: fast ska, a full horn section and lyrics about ordinary London life. Out of that grew the nutty sound, built on music-hall piano, the half-spoken delivery of Suggs and videos full of slapstick. Between 1979 and 1986 the band placed fifteen singles in the UK top ten, from Baggy Trousers and House of Fun to Our House and It Must Be Love, while the writing turned darker on albums such as The Rise & Fall. After the split in 1986 they returned in the nineties with Madstock and Wonderful, and in 2023 Theatre of the Absurd Presents C'est La Vie gave them the first number one studio album of their career.

This collection brings together Madness on vinyl, LP and CD: reissues of the studio albums, compilations and individual singles from across their career.