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Before We Was We: Madness by Madness

Started by DrGreggles, May 01, 2021, 10:54:56 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Brundle-Fly


Brundle-Fly

Quote from: mrClaypole on May 07, 2021, 07:56:47 PM
Theres a great deal of dynamics within the band.  I guess that the core of the friendship is "The Madness" line minus Mike.  Woody and Bedders are almost outsiders.
It's funny how things change.  In my real life I have lost a friend I had known for nearly 40 years.  He just changed over a period of time and stopped replying to my text messages. Such a deep friendship to suddenly get junked. Just shows how people change over time.
I can't imagine what the pressures can be when you are living in each other's pockets for a period of time.  Even some of my dearest friends I sometimes think 4 hours in a pub is too much.
Btw Bedders is the first member of the band I met having bunked off school to see the band in 1992. He's a really funny man. Yet seems very shy. I can imagine him and Woody feeling alittle overwhelmed by some of the bigger characters in the band

Yeah, I'm seeing an old friendship of forty years gradually slipping into a coma. The pandemic hasn't helped. Or booze. We're still friendly but the spark has dimmed. Gettin' old.

If you saw that 2019 guided tour of Camden Town video the band did, you can see the stark difference between the two camps: Suggs, Thommo and Chris meandering down the High Street like a bunch of larey drunks, Bedders and Woody almost like a genteel gay couple. But they all made it work.

To nick the band metaphor dialogue between Brian Epstein and Lennon from The Birth Of The Beatles (1979). Mike and Chris are the brain of the band, Suggs and Chas are the heart, Mark and Woody are the flesh and blood and Thommo is the soul.

Lennon: We're a right travellin' medical show, Brian.

mrClaypole

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on May 07, 2021, 09:09:00 PM
Yeah, I'm seeing an old friendship of forty years gradually slipping into a coma. The pandemic hasn't helped. Or booze. We're still friendly but the spark has dimmed. Gettin' old.

If you saw that 2019 guided tour of Camden Town video the band did, you can see the stark difference between the two camps: Suggs, Thommo and Chris meandering down the High Street like a bunch of larey drunks, Bedders and Woody almost like a genteel gay couple. But they all made it work.

To nick the band metaphor dialogue between Brian Epstein and Lennon from The Birth Of The Beatles (1979). Mike and Chris are the brain of the band, Suggs and Chas are the heart, Mark and Woody are the flesh and blood and Thommo is the soul.

Lennon: We're a right travellin' medical show, Brian.
Yeah. I saw the guided tour film.
It was a nice watch really. I've met Suggs, Lee and Chris on the one hand and also Woody and Bedders on the other going back too 1992.
Ive never envisioned how they can all exist in the same room for a length of time as they are so different.
It's I suppose theres a balance you find at a party.



Jockice

#66
Quote from: mrClaypole on May 07, 2021, 07:56:47 PM

Btw Bedders is the first member of the band I met having bunked off school to see the band in 1992. He's a really funny man. Yet seems very shy.

Yet he is the one who said in the documentary that he dealt with being famous by...oh, what's the phrase again?...living it openly, not trying to hide it or disguise who he was.

I have an old mate who was mad about Madness as a teenager and actually got to know them. I know this is true because he once phoned me up offering me a ticket for a show in Manchester that evening. Unfortunately I already had arrangements that I couldn't get out of but I'd have loved to go. I've never interviewed or had any contact* with a member of Madness and I'd love to meet them. Anyway, the two members my mate seems to be friendliest with are Bedders and Suggs. I've seen photos of him with both of them.

(Since it's been mentioned on this thread, I know do vaguely remember Cathal working for Go! Discs but my contact there was always Porky The Poet AKA Phill Jupitas. I think future Weller collaborator Simon Dine was there too. And I did interview Just Jack and remember asking him about the connection but didn't speak to the man himself.)

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: Jockice on May 08, 2021, 07:15:09 AM
Yet he is the one who said in the documentary that he dealt with being famous by...oh, what's the phrase again?...living it openly, not trying to hide it or disguise who he was.


What's quite amusing is that most of the band members today can walk freely through the crowds before and after a Madness gig with barely anyone recognising them apart from the odd uber-fan. Most of the gig-goers' only frame of reference are the '80s videos so they just look like old geezers on a jolly. Barson is one of those rare famous animals who can remove a pair of glasses/shades to disguise himself. 'Pullng an Eric Morecambe' as it's known in the trade.

Jockice

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on May 08, 2021, 09:33:47 AM
What's quite amusing is that most of the band members today can walk freely through the crowds before and after a Madness gig with barely anyone recognising them apart from the odd uber-fan. Most of the gig-goers' only frame of reference are the '80s videos so they just look like old geezers on a jolly. Barson is one of those rare famous animals who can remove a pair of glasses/shades to disguise himself. 'Pullng an Eric Morecambe' as it's known in the trade.

Just had a quick look through this mate's Facebook photos. He has pictures of him with Woody and Thommo from 2019 on there. And you're quite right. If I hadn't watched the documentary and also knew what I was looking for I'd have struggled to know who they were, especially the latter. I suppose Suggs (who he's pictured together with in 2016) is still pretty recognisable though. All part of the joys of being a lead singer I suppose.

And in a stunning bit of connection, this guy is the same one who offered me a whisky when we met each other in real life for the first time in years in my acclaimed 'things that people believe about you that just aren't true' thread. A must-read if you haven't seen it yet.

https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,86714.0.html

Jockice

Quote from: Jockice on May 08, 2021, 07:15:09 AM
Yet he is the one who said in the documentary that he dealt with being famous by...oh, what's the phrase again?...living it openly, not trying to hide it or disguise who he was.

Hiding in plain sight! That's it.


Brundle-Fly

Nice that. I never did get hold of The Velvet Ghost Sessions CD.


Muel 2

If anyone happens to know a way of watching the 2nd and 3rd episodes of this without changing your broadband provider I'd be most grateful.  Apologies if I'm being dumb and there's an obvious way.

Cheers for the recommendation of Norton Folgate.  I'll have to check that out.  I stopped checking their new stuff after Wonderful which I thought was great.  My favourite stuff of theirs is the less nutty mid - late period of their original run.  I remember being a bit disappointed going to the first Madstock and them sticking almost exclusively to their early stuff.   Amazing show though.

In regards to them being a singles band, I disagree that their albums are stacked with filler.  The songs, Mad Not Mad, Primrose Hill and Disappear to name a few are amongst their very best and Prospects might be my favourite Madness song. 

darby o chill

Quote from: Muel 2 on May 09, 2021, 06:31:03 PM
In regards to them being a singles band, I disagree that their albums are stacked with filler.  The songs, Mad Not Mad, Primrose Hill and Disappear to name a few are amongst their very best and Prospects might be my favourite Madness song.

Disappear is great :) Also, Not home today on the same album.
Great doc so far, sorry no idea how to get Ep.2 & 3.

Muel 2

Quote from: darby o chill on May 09, 2021, 10:53:22 PM
Disappear is great :) Also, Not home today on the same album.

Absolutely.

holyzombiejesus

Quote from: darby o chill on May 09, 2021, 10:53:22 PM
Disappear is great :)

I can remember thinking Disappear was such a great song and that the piano at the start was one of the greatest pieces of musicianship I had ever heard (I was about 10). My aunty's boyfriend babysat for us one night and I played it to him and thought it'd blow his metaphorical socks off but he was quite unimpressed. I later learned that he was in the Magic Mushroom Band so I guess he was used to more mind expanding music than Madness.

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: holyzombiejesus on May 11, 2021, 09:25:25 PM
I can remember thinking Disappear was such a great song and that the piano at the start was one of the greatest pieces of musicianship I had ever heard (I was about 10). My aunty's boyfriend babysat for us one night and I played it to him and thought it'd blow his metaphorical socks off but he was quite unimpressed. I later learned that he was in the Magic Mushroom Band so I guess he was used to more mind expanding music than Madness.

Funnily enough, XTC's Andy Partridge once described Madness as Brit proggers because they were whimsical Englishmen dressed up in bizarre costumes, a theatrical stage presence and often adopted very unusual time signatures and chord sequences in their music. The band were big fans of Roxy Music, Stackridge and Genesis, so it makes complete madness sense.

darby o chill

Quote from: Muel 2 on May 11, 2021, 05:17:20 PM
Absolutely.

Ho hoo!! A little Madness joke there.
Spoiler alert
I'm sorry I have nothing else to add
[close]

gib

Where are people getting the other episodes from?

Muel 2



Brundle-Fly

DINK DANK DONK!! Nice one, indeed!

The Livestream gig is on tonight. Charlie Higson providing the comedy. Should be interesting.

mrClaypole

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on May 14, 2021, 05:50:50 PM
DINK DANK DONK!! Nice one, indeed!

The Livestream gig is on tonight. Charlie Higson providing the comedy. Should be interesting.


Let me know how it goes.  Stuck at work and unable to watch

DrGreggles


DrGreggles


Brundle-Fly

Nice to see Thommo with his little rainbow badge to indicate he's not taking the piss.


DrGreggles


Jockice

Quote from: DrGreggles on May 15, 2021, 12:28:33 PM
And I did.

Rescheduled tour with Squeeze announced:
https://madness.co.uk/ladykillers/

Sheffield for me.

See you there! Unless I go to the one in Nottingham instead.