It’s Mad! Madness Returns!

New album en route in August from Yep Roc.

By Blurt Staff

2 Tone/Second Wave ska invasionists Madness have waited nearly a decade to offer the world new songs. On August 18^th Yep Roc Records offers the answer, The Liberty of Norton Folgate.

Formed in the fertile underground of 1976 London (along with contemporaries The Specials), Madness is a seven man musical army hell bent on capturing the colorful influences of the people and cultures of their beloved city. Their dedication to the exploration of musical London as well as countless UK top ten singles/albums have garnered the band household name status in Britain, making the album one of the most anticipated releases of the year in their home country.

Most known in the U.S. for their still ubiquitous #7 Billboard hit ‘Our House,' the band has sustained cult status here in the States. It has been a decade since their album Wonderful  (1999) [The all-covers album The Dangermen Sessions Vol. 1 was released in 2005].

Described by the band as an "audio guide to the greatest city on earth" and Madness' unique take on the concept album, The Liberty of Norton Folgate moves between elements of burlesque jazz, rock, ska and even polka combining for an effortless lesson in pop song craft.

An area outside the city walls of the old city of London, Norton Folgate was one of several original ‘liberties' independent of the bureaucracy of the main city government.  Founding member Graham McPherson (aka Suggs) describes the area as, "a refuge for actors, writers, thinkers, louts, lowlifes and libertines - outsiders and troublemakers all. Sounds like our kind of place does it not?!" Suggs continues, "We'd been kicking around the idea of a concept album about London for a while. We wanted to get the x-ray camera out and shoot down through the crust, past the bullets and bones, the clay pipes and stones, to try and get to the soul of the place. We're all dancing in the moonlight, were all on borrowed ground."

The spirit of the place that would later become Whitechapel, the hunting ground of Jack the Ripper, stalks this album... be very, very afraid!