It must be love
Originally called The North London Invaders, and then Morris and the Minors, before finally choosing to name themselves after one of their favourite Prince Buster songs, Madness have become legendary, and iconic to Britain as much as Big Ben, talking about the weather and cups of tea!
Formed in 1976 (the year I was born!), they went on to be signed to 2 Tone Records, a label that helped promote the Ska scene that they were a part of, bringing together both Punk and Reggae fans, with mixed, and sometimes fiery, consequences. However there is no doubt that it is down to bands like Madness that the Ska movement began, and many bands have drawn their influences from them. Bands like Less Than Jake, Goldfinger, Jesse James and Farse, right down to the likes of the success of The Ordinary Boys, who are playing music that is about as close to an updated version of Madness as you can get!
So now back and reformed on the back of a successful tour, we have the single, 'Sorry' released on Lucky Seven Records. The song is a grower. It's a slow passed affair with the usual Reggae/Ska beat. There are two versions here, the first has more 'Oomph' in the beats and also has some Rap verses from Sway, and Baby Blue, the latter sounds just like Lady Sovereign (which is either good or bad depending on your tastes!) The second version is the Radio Edit and doesn't have the rap verses.
I guess the biggest criticism is that Suggs' (real name Graham McPherson) voice has never been strong when singing the slower songs, and also with age the voice box often goes down hill. However there are somethings that you have to overlook, just in the same way that you would if the Queen broke wind in front of you, and Madness will always be heroes of my youth with so many classic tunes like, 'One Step Beyond', 'Our House', 'Baggy Trousers', 'House Of Fun' and their cover of Labi Siffre's, 'It Must Be Love'.
This will get great airplay. It will most likely be in the Top Ten, so really what more could you want?