Any love for Madness here? They don’t seem to get written about that much on The Afterword. Their new album “Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C’est La Vie,” released in the last week, is an absolute joy. As a 13 year old ska fan in 1980 I was just a bit obsessed with The Specials, Madness, The Beat and The Selecter. As a result Madness are one of those kind of bands who you grow up with. The “nutty sound” of the first couple of albums, the surprisingly sophisticated Kinks influenced pop tunes that increasingly followed, and then into the more middle aged and reflective post reformation years. The latter period, for me anyway, seems to be a bit more mixed-some great singles and occasional album tracks but a little more inconsistent. Still plenty to like though. Despite the loss of Cathal Smyth, dance man/trumpeter/singer a few years back they seem to have morphed into a having a kind of London version of Buena Vista Social Club, not in their music but in that they know each other inside out and still get a lot of pleasure out of making music together in their more mature years. This new album » Continue Reading.