Absolutely (Madness album)

Absolutely
Studio album by Madness
Released 26 September 1980 (1980-09-26)
Recorded 1980
Genre
Length 39:15
Label Stiff
Producer
Madness chronology
Work Rest and Play
(1980)		 Absolutely
(1980)		 7
(1981)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Rolling Stone[2]

Absolutely is the 1980 second album from the British ska band Madness. The album reached number 2 in the UK album charts.[3]

Absolutely spawned some of the band's biggest hits, most notably "Baggy Trousers", which peaked at number 3 in the UK singles chart.[3] "Embarrassment" reached number 4 in the charts, and the instrumental song "The Return of the Los Palmas 7" climbed to number 7.[3] Although the album reviews were generally less enthusiastic than those of One Step Beyond..., they were mostly positive. Robert Christgau gave the album a favourable B- grade,[4] but Rolling Stone awarded the album just one out of five stars.[5] Rolling Stone was particularly scathing of the ska revival in general, stating that "The Specials wasn't very good" and Madness were simply "the Blues Brothers with English accents".[5]

In 2009 and 2010, Madness re-released their entire back catalogue of studio albums up until 1999's Wonderful with a bonus CD and extra tracks. The re-release of Absolutely has seven bonus tracks plus an additional CD featuring a 1980 concert recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon.

Album title

The album is named after one of the oft-said expressions of the band's then tour manager and sound man Tony Duffield.[6]

Cover

The front cover sees the band standing in front of Chalk Farm tube station in Camden. When the original vinyl was released the first, more sombre, cover photograph was changed to a more animated pose after around 10,000 albums were pressed. The two sleeves can be distinguished by Mike Barson's holding of the umbrella: in the earlier pressing he holds it up to his chin while in the later, and subsequently used, releases the umbrella is on the ground.[7]

The inner sleeve features a London Underground-style roundel for a railway station called "Cairo East" on one side (this roundel later reappeared in the video for "(Waiting For) The Ghost Train" and a history of the group on the other.

Track listing

No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Baggy Trousers"  
 2:45
2. "Embarrassment"  
 3:13
3. "E.R.N.I.E."  
  • McPherson
  • Foreman
 2:45
4. "Close Escape"  
  • Thompson
  • Foreman
 3:29
5. "Not Home Today"  
 2:30
6. "On the Beat Pete"  
 3:05
7. "Solid Gone"  Cathal Smyth 2:22
Side two
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
8. "Take It or Leave It"  
  • Thompson
  • Barson
 3:26
9. "Shadow of Fear"  
  • McPherson
  • Barson
 1:58
10. "Disappear"  
  • McPherson
  • Bedford
 2:58
11. "Overdone"  
  • Thompson
  • Foreman
 3:45
12. "In the Rain"  
  • McPherson
  • Madness
 2:42
13. "You Said"  
  • McPherson
  • Barson
 2:35
14. "The Return of the Los Palmas 7"  
 2:01
Total length:
 39:15

Personnel

Madness
Production

Chart performance

Chart (1980) Peak
position		 Total
weeks
Dutch Albums Chart[8] 2 43
German Albums Chart[9] 21 ?
New Zealand Albums Chart[10] 31 4
Norwegian Albums Chart[11] 26 4
Swedish Albums Chart[12] 15 3
UK Albums Chart[13] 2 47
US Billboard Hot 200[14] 146 ?

References

  1. ↑ Erlewine, Stephan Thomas. "Absolutely". AllMusic. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  2. ↑ Marcus, Greil (February 19, 1981). "Madness:Absolutely". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on October 12, 2007. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 "The Madness Timeline: 1980". Retrieved on 19 June 2007.
  4. ↑ Christgau, Robert. "Robert Christgau Madness album reviews". Retrieved on 1 August 2007.
  5. 1 2 Marcus, Greil. "Rolling Stone "Absolutely" review". Archived from the original on 19 June 2008. Retrieved on 1 August 2007.
  6. ↑ Archived 18 January 2004 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ "Smash Hits magazine March 31 – April 13, 1983 page 10".
  8. ↑ Absolutely at Dutch Charts Retrieved 18 June 2013
  9. ↑ "Media Control Charts". charts.de. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
  10. ↑ Steffen Hung. "New Zealand charts portal". charts.org.nz. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  11. ↑ Steffen Hung (15 June 2006). "Norwegian charts portal". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  12. ↑ Steffen Hung (7 October 2011). "Swedish Charts Portal". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  13. ↑ "UK Singles & Albums Chart Archive". Chart Stats. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  14. ↑ "AllMusic". AllMusic. 16 September 2011. Retrieved 14 October 2011.

External links

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