The third album is often where a band makes a great leap forward, and so it is with Madness’ Seven.
Although they’re still clearly the same nutty band that tore it up with One Step Beyond, Seven finds the group expanding its horizons considerably, ratcheting up the melodious pop quotient in their songwriting, as well as the distinctly English character sketches.
Much of the album comes across as a blend of the Kinks and Ian Dury backed by a propulsive ska beat, and the production is a appropriately just as imaginative, colored by the odd sitar, finding new carnivalesque flourishes for the horns, and expanding the rhythmic palette considerably.
Sometimes, the group still gets ridiculously silly -- “Benny Bullfrog” is a novelty by any other name -- but the genius of Madness is that they would toss off these frivolous numbers as easily as they would throw out something as elegiac as “Grey Day,” while finding the sweet spot between those two extremes on singles like “Cardiac Arrest.” Not every band possesses such a light touch, and while they certainly got more refined just an album later with The Rise & Fall, Seven is where they revealed the full potential of their talents.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grey DayMike Barson | Madness | Play | 03:39 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 2 | Day on the Town (Remastered) | Madness | Play | 03:22 | 7 MB | 0 MB |
| 3 | In the City | Madness | Play | 03:01 | 6 MB | 0 MB |
| 4 | Cardiac Arrest (Remastered) | Madness | Play | 02:52 | 6 MB | 0 MB |
| 5 | Sign of the Times (Remastered) | Madness | Play | 02:42 | 6 MB | 0 MB |
| 6 | Missing You (Remastered) | Madness | Play | 02:33 | 5 MB | 0 MB |
| 7 | Mrs. Hutchinson (Remastered) | Madness | Play | 02:17 | 5 MB | 0 MB |
| 8 | Tomorrow's Dream (Remastered) | Madness | Play | 03:54 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 9 | Pac-a-Mac (Remastered) | Madness | Play | 02:37 | 6 MB | 0 MB |
| 10 | Promises Promises (Remastered) | Madness | Play | 02:52 | 6 MB | 0 MB |
| 11 | Benny Bullfrog (Remastered) | Madness | Play | 01:51 | 4 MB | 0 MB |
| 12 | It Must Be Love (from "Our House" Musical) [Remastered] (2002 Mix;From "Our House";Remastered) | Madness | Play | 03:26 | 7 MB | 0 MB |
| 13 | The Opium Eaters (Remastered) [2010 Remastered Version] (Remastered; 2010 Remastered Version) | Madness | Play | 03:02 | 6 MB | 0 MB |
| 14 | Missing You (Live BBC Richard Skinner Session Recording) [2010 Remaster] (Live BBC Richard Skinner Session Recording; 2010 Remaster) | Madness | Play | 02:41 | 6 MB | 0 MB |
| 15 | Sign of the Times (Live BBC Richard Skinner Session Recording) [2010 Remaster] (Live BBC Richard Skinner Session Recording; 2010 Remaster) | Madness | Play | 02:37 | 5 MB | 0 MB |
| 16 | Tiptoes (Live BBC Richard Skinner Session Recording) [2010 Remaster] (Live BBC Richard Skinner Session Recording; 2010 Remaster) | Madness | Play | 02:40 | 6 MB | 0 MB |
| 17 | Memories | Madness | Play | 02:24 | 5 MB | 0 MB |
| 18 | A Town with No Name | Madness | Play | 02:51 | 6 MB | 0 MB |
| 19 | Never Ask Twice | Madness | Play | 03:00 | 6 MB | 0 MB |
| 20 | It Must Be Love (From "The Tall Guy") | Madness | Play | 03:26 | 7 MB | 0 MB |
| 21 | Shadow on the House (2010 Remaster) | Madness | Play | 03:21 | 7 MB | 0 MB |
| 22 | Cardiac Arrest (12" Extended Version) | Madness | Play | 04:17 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 23 | Grey Day (Live from NME Racket Packet Cassette) | Madness | Play | 04:32 | 10 MB | 0 MB |
| 70 mins | 161 MB | |||||
| 0 mins | 0 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mike Barson | Composer, Harmonica, Keyboards, Marimba, Organ, Percussion, Piano, Tubular Bells |
| 2 | Mark Bedford | Bass |
| 3 | Chris Foreman | Composer |
| 4 | Clive Langer | Producer |
| 5 | Madness | Primary Artist |
| 6 | Graham "Suggs" McPherson | Composer |
| 7 | Chas Smash | Trumpet, Vox Organ |
| 8 | Carl "Chas Smash" Smyth | Composer |
| 9 | Lee Thompson | Composer, Saxophone, Sound Effects |
| 10 | Alan Winstanley | Producer |
| 11 | Dan Woodgate | Congas, Drums |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |