| Divine Madness | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Greatest hits album by | ||||
| Released | 24 February 1992 | |||
| Recorded | 1979–1986 (re-release 1979–1999) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 71:30 | |||
| Label | Virgin | |||
| Madness chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   link |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [1] |
| NME | 9/10 [2] |
Divine Madness is the 1992 greatest hits album from the British ska/pop band Madness.
The album presents the group's UK single A-sides from 1979 through 1986 in chronological order, though their version of "The Sweetest Girl" is omitted. ("The Sweetest Girl" was the only Madness single of this era to miss the top 30.) Also, some tracks are presented in their LP rather than single versions. The 1992/1995 Japanese CD versions add "In The City", which was a single there.
The album peaked at number 1 in the UK charts, and it eventually led to a Madness reunion and their first concert in six years (which was recorded for their Madstock! album).
Divine Madness was also released as a video and eventually DVD with all Madness music videos, including the album track "Bed & Breakfast Man", the omitted single "Sweetest Girl", and the 1988 single "I Pronounce You" (issued as by The Madness). The group's Japanese TV adverts for Honda City cars were also included.
The album was re-packaged in 1998 as The Heavy Heavy Hits with the addition of the single version of "The Sweetest Girl" (placed in its correct chronological position after "Uncle Sam").
In 2000 it was re-issued, under its original title of Divine Madness, with the further 1999 singles "Lovestruck" and "Johnny the Horse" included, but once again omitting "The Sweetest Girl". The album versions of "The Prince", "One Step Beyond...", "The Return of the Los Palmas 7", "Cardiac Arrest", "Shut Up" and "Tomorrow's Just Another Day" were replaced with the single versions, although the heavily edited version of "Shut Up" was used, which, at 2:51, fades out more than 30 seconds short of the actual single version.
| Chart (1992) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums Chart | 37 |
| Dutch Albums Chart [3] | 56 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart | 7 |
| UK Albums Chart | 1 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| France (SNEP) [4] | 2× Gold | 200,000* |
| United Kingdom (BPI) [5] | 3× Platinum | 900,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||
Madness are an English ska and pop band from Camden Town, North London, who formed in 1976. One of the most prominent bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s two-tone ska revival, they continue to perform with six of the seven members of their original line-up. Madness's most successful period was from 1980 to 1986, when the band's songs spent a total of 214 weeks on the UK Singles Chart.
Mad Not Mad is the sixth studio album by English ska and pop band Madness. It was released on 30 September 1985, their first release on their own label Zarjazz, a sub-label of Virgin Records. The album was recorded over a period of two months in 1985 at Westside Studios and at AIR Studios, both in London. The album was their last recording of original material until they officially reformed in 1992.
The Madness is the only studio album by the British ska/pop band The Madness, a short-lived incarnation of 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. With the demise of Madness and the group's own label Zarjazz, the Madness were directly recruited under Virgin Records.
"House of Fun" is a song by English ska/pop group Madness, credited to Mike Barson and Lee Thompson. It was released as a one-off single on 14 May 1982 and reached number one in the UK Singles Chart, spending nine weeks in the charts. The song was re-released in 1992, reaching number 40. It is the band's only number one single in the UK and in 2015 the British public voted it as the nation's 8th favourite 1980s number one in a poll for ITV.
"One Step Beyond" is a tune written by Jamaican ska singer Prince Buster as a B-side for his 1964 single "Al Capone". It was covered by British band Madness for their debut studio album of the same name (1979). Although Buster's version was mostly instrumental except for the song title shouted for a few times, the Madness version features a spoken intro by Chas Smash and a barely audible but insistent background chant of "here we go!". The spoken line, "Don't watch that, watch this", in the intro is from another Prince Buster song, "Scorcher" — and is also used at the start of Dave and Ansell Collins' "Funky Funky Reggae" — whilst the next line "This is a heavy heavy monster sound" is taken from another Dave and Ansell Collins song, "Monkey Spanner". The first of those also became a trademark during the early promos of MTV, where the video was in heavy rotation.
"My Girl" is a song by British ska/pop group Madness from their debut album, One Step Beyond.... It was written by Mike Barson. The song was released as a single on 21 December 1979 and spent 10 weeks on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 3.
Utter Madness is a greatest hits album by the British pop band Madness, released on their own Zarjazz label through Virgin Records on 24 November 1986 shortly after the group's original split. It picks up from where the band's first greatest hits album Complete Madness left off, running from "Driving in My Car" to the last Madness single before their split, "(Waiting For) The Ghost Train".
It's... Madness Too is a compilation album by the British pop band Madness, released in 1991. It combines some of the band's hit singles and b-sides and is a sequel to It's... Madness, released the previous year.
The Business – the Definitive Singles Collection is a 3 disc box set by ska/pop band Madness released in 1993. It contained all the band's singles until that point with their respective b-sides and other bonus tracks, some rare. It also includes a 52-page booklet and snippets of interviews with people associated with Madness between some tracks. The interviews date from around the time of the Keep Moving album and were conducted by John Tobler. Among those interviewed were founder member John Hasler, former manager John "Kelloggs" Kalinowski and Dave Robinson of Stiff Records.
Madness is a compilation album by the British ska/pop band Madness. It was issued primarily for the North American market in order to capitalise on the top 10 success in the United States of their hit single "Our House" from the 1982 album Madness Presents the Rise & Fall, which had not been available there.
Total Madness – the Very Best of Madness is a greatest hits album by a British ska/pop band Madness, released in 1997. It was released exclusively in the United States and Canada.
"Embarrassment" is a song recorded by ska/pop band Madness, predominantly written by Lee Thompson, but partially credited to Mike Barson. The band first began performing the song at live shows in April 1980, and it was featured on their second studio album, Absolutely.
"Shut Up" is a pop song written by Suggs and Chris Foreman. It was recorded by British pop/ska band Madness, and was featured on the band's third album 7. It was released as a single on 11 September 1981, spending 10 weeks in the UK Singles Chart. It reached a high position of number 7.
"Cardiac Arrest" is a song by English ska band Madness from their third studio album 7 (1981) and other compilation album called Complete Madness (1982). It spent 10 weeks in UK charts peaking at number 14.
"The Return of the Los Palmas 7" is a song by British ska/pop band Madness, written by Mike Barson, Mark Bedford and Daniel Woodgate. The song was Woodgate's first credit as a songwriter, and was released as the band's seventh single on 16 January 1981. The single reached number 7 in the UK and remained in the charts for 11 weeks. The single release is slightly different from the track on the album Absolutely, upon which it is listed as "Return of the Los Palmas 7" and is approximately 30 seconds shorter.
"The 'Sweetest Girl' " is a song written by Welsh singer Green Gartside. It was originally performed by Gartside's band Scritti Politti, and released in October 1981 as a single. The single peaked at No. 64 in the UK Singles Chart. The keyboards are played by Robert Wyatt.
Total Madness is a 2009 compilation CD/DVD album by Madness, released by Union Square Music. It is principally a singles collection, though it also includes two album tracks from their debut album, One Step Beyond.... On release in the UK it reached #11 in the Official Album Charts, making it Madness' second hit album of 2009, the second being The Liberty of Norton Folgate (#5).
Ultimate Madness is a compilation album from the band Madness, consisting of 21 of their singles. It reached 27 in the UK charts and was an exclusive Tesco release.
One Step Beyond. .. is the debut studio album by the British ska-pop group Madness, released by Stiff Records. Recorded and mixed in about three weeks, the album peaked at number two and remained on the U.K. Albums Chart for more than a year. The album has received much critical praise. It was ranked 90th in a 2005 survey held by British television's Channel 4 to determine the 100 greatest albums of all time.
A Guided Tour of Madness is a 3-CD/1-DVD anthology box set by English band Madness, released in 2011 on Union Square Music's collector's label Salvo. It features 70 singles and album tracks and an exclusive DVD of the band's comeback concert at the Madstock festival in August 1992. It also includes a booklet with interviews with the band, photos, the cartoon Nutty Comic (1981) and the Madness Map of Camden, the band's historic stomping ground. With the exception of "Sweetest Girl," "Sorry," and "The Harder They Come," every one of the band's 34 singles to date is represented.
