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''The Madness'' is the debut, self-titled studio album by the British ska/pop band The Madness. It was originally released in mid 1988, on the label Virgin. The album was produced by The Three Eyes, a pseudonym, whose identities remain a mystery (although they may very well be Madness themselves, or individual members of Madness). With the demise of Madness and the group's own label Zarjazz, The Madness were directly recruited under Virgin Records. When the album was released in early May 1988, it received dismissive reviews and peaked at #66 in the UK, lasting within the Top 100 for only one week.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Official Charts Company - The Madness by Madness Search )〕 Two singles, ("I Pronounce You" and "What's That"), were released from the album, although like the album these were less successful than the original band releases. "I Pronounce You" was the lead single, released in the UK and Portugal on 7" vinyl, as well as 12" vinyl and CD in the UK. Receiving lukewarm reception from the music press, it peaked at #44 in the UK, lasting on the charts for four weeks after originally debuting at #48.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Official Charts Company - I Pronounce You by Madness Search )〕 "What's That", the album's second and final single, was released in the UK only on 7" and 12" vinyl, and also as a 10" vinyl picture disc. It was the first release by Madness or any of its spin-off bands not to reach the Top 75 in the UK. It peaked at #92 and lasted two weeks on the chart, dropping to #98 the following week after its debut.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Official Charts Company - What's That by Madness Search )〕 Smash performed lead vocals for "Nail Down the Days," "What's That," "Song in Red," "Gabriel's Horn" and "Flashings". Suggs performed lead vocals on "In Wonder," "Nightmare Nightmare," "Thunder & Lightning," "Beat the Bride," "11th Hour," "Be Good Boy" and "4.B.F." Both Smash and Suggs performed lead vocals on "I Pronounce You" and "Oh". Some of the songs that appeared on the album were re-recorded from the demos of the 1986 Madness sessions. In "I Pronounce You" the lyrics concern a bride's feelings on the eve of her arranged marriage. To add a middle eastern feel to the song, Foreman played sitar on the song, an instrument he'd used on previous Madness albums. This was in addition to usual guitar, whilst the track also features tabla. The track "Song in Red" was reportedly written by Smash about a cousin who died young. "Gabriel's Horn" was recorded in 1986 when the group were working on the never-completed ''Lost in the Museum'' album, and this demo version appeared as a track on the 1992 re-issue of the Madness single "House of Fun".〔http://www.discogs.com/Madness-House-Of-Fun/release/3831749〕 ==Background== After Madness' 1985 album ''Mad Not Mad'', the band attempted to record a new album, and eleven demo tracks were recorded. However "musical differences" arose between band members, and in September 1986, the band announced that they were to split. Following the breakup of the original Madness, four of the original members (lead vocalist Suggs, saxophonist Lee Thompson, guitarist Chris Foreman and vocalist Cathal Smyth) recreated the band, adding "The" to its name. When originally trying to find a new name for the group, such titles as The Wasp Factory, The One, More and The Earthmen were considered, and at one point BBC Radio 1 listeners were even invited to write in with suggestions. Eventually the band settled on the title of The Madness.〔http://www.dangermen.net/MadnessStory/madness7.htm〕 Since the new band did not include a bassist or drummer, guest musicians (mostly Bruce Thomas) played bass, while a drum machine was used in place of a live drummer on most tracks. UB40's Earl Falconer contributed bass to three tracks, and then Bruce Thomas (bass) and Steve Nieve (keyboards) from Elvis Costello's The Attractions were recruited. On "What's That" Simon Philips added some brushes to help capture a jazzy feel. ex-Special Jerry Dammers re-appeared to add keyboards to a couple of numbers and the ska connection was further strengthened by The Potato 5 who supplied the horn section.〔 The band recorded their only album ''The Madness'' at Liquidator Studios, whilst it was mixed at the Townhouse studios in London. Liquidator Studios had been the band's own studio since circa 1985, located on Caledonian Road in North London, in what was once the premises of their fan club office. They built the 24 track professional studio in the basement, whilst the first floor has always been an office and chill out area, and a room upstairs for song mixing. Unlike any previous Madness album, the lead vocals on ''The Madness'' were almost evenly shared between Suggs and Chas Smash. The production was credited to "The Three Eyes". The band initially stressed that they were not "the Nutty Boys" the public knew and loved, as they attempted to become a more serious group. The band were pleased with the album upon completion as it took a long time to complete and for the first time in their career they worked without the Clive Langer/Alan Winstanley production team, choosing instead to produce it themselves. The band saw their debut album as only the start of a new beginning, with the members being very optimistic about the future. However due to the lack of commercial success from the album and singles, The Madness disbanded by the beginning of 1989. Virgin Record's lack of faith in the band was confirmed when they opted not to renew their contract. The demise of The Madness left the members of the band in a state of confusion, not knowing quite what they were going to do next.〔 Madness reformed with its original members for a reunion tour in 1992 and they have remained together since, playing live and recording new material. In an October 1988 interview for Guitarist & Scootering with Foreman and the band, Foreman described the new album as "brilliant". Foreman added ''"Some of it is very recognizably us and some of it isn't. Carl has doing a lot of singing. He's been doing a lot of writing as well, he's written well over half the album as well, which is good because he's always got loads of ideas for songs and it's good to get them out of him. When we were doing the album, Suggs and myself programmed all the drum machines. But it's sort of done me out of a job really, because I used to write the tunes and they'd write the lyrics, but now they're writing their own tunes and their own lyrics, so I'm redundant."'' Speaking of trying to become a more serious band, Foreman used the "I Pronounce You" video as an example, stating ''"We are what we are really. On the one video we've just done we tried to be serious, but Lee's got a Mohican haircut and in a bit of it we dyed his face red and things like that, so it hard to be... we don't want to be a serious, cheeks sucked-in arty farty band, but the subject matter of a lot of our songs has always been serious."''〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Madness (album)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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