Madness
"Total Madness"

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Released: 21st September 2009.

Ska veterans Madness have now been in the charts for a massive 30 years, so it's only fitting that they should look back over the past 30 and revisit some of the highs and lows of that time.

Okay, so this album is never going to match "Divine Madness" in terms of sales, and maybe it's not quite as classic a set from the Nutty Boys as that album was. However, you do have to remember that the band have still been releasing records in the past decade, and a greatest hits package that ignores tracks like "Lovestruck" and recent single "NW5" wouldn't cover their whole career.

The tagline "All The Greatest Hits And More..." rather sums up this album, as it starts with a run of four of the most classic pop songs of all time, before delving through some of Madness's more well known midtable tracks, alongside classics like their cover of "It Must Be Love", the always-fun "Driving In My Car" and the aforementioned "Lovestruck".

For me, the only track missing from this set is their cover of the reggae hit "Shame and Scandal" from the mid 00's, but to say that of a CD of just 23 tracks for a band of the quality of Madness is testament to this being a very good compilation.

(matthew_dixon)

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