| Take It or Leave It | |
|---|---|
 original poster | |
| Directed by | Dave Robinson |
| Written by | Philip McDonald David Robinson Madness |
| Produced by | Dave Robinson |
| Starring | Suggs Mike Barson Lee Thompson Chris Foreman Mark Bedford Daniel Woodgate Chas Smash |
| Music by | Madness The Four Tops |
| Distributed by | Nutty Stiff Productions |
Release date | October 1981 |
Running time | 82 mins. |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £400,000 [1] |
Take It or Leave It is a 1981 film about the British ska/pop band Madness.
The genre of the film is between documentary, drama and comedy. The film begins in Camden Town, London, on a grey day in January 1976. Three friends, Lee Thompson, Chris Foreman and Mike Barson, start to play music together. Along the way their band suffers numerous arguments and changes in their line-up before finding success in the final scene, with a full piece Madness going out to a packed, screaming arena.
Take It or Leave It was directed by the owner of Madness label Stiff Records, Dave Robinson, who also directed the band's music videos. The film's budget was paid by the members of Madness, with £20,000 each (£140,000) and £250,000 by Stiff.
Film from the first four days of the shoot was overexposed in the development lab which necessitated reshoots. [2]
The soundtrack contains live and studio recorded Madness songs from the band's first two albums, One Step Beyond... and Absolutely , various b-sides, covers, an early song never issued on record (Sunshine Voice), and several songs from their then new album entitled 7 .
The film is available on DVD, with commentary by Dave Robinson and Madness guitarist Chrissy Boy.
The soundtrack album was not released until 2013. [3]
Madness are an English ska 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.
Stiff Records is a British independent record label formed in London, England, by Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera. Originally active from 1976 to 1986, the label was reactivated in 2007.
Ska punk is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music together. Ska-core is a subgenre of ska punk that mixes ska with hardcore punk. Early ska punk mixed both 2 tone and ska with hardcore punk. Ska punk tends to feature brass instruments, especially horns such as trumpets, trombones and woodwind instruments like saxophones, making the genre distinct from other forms of punk rock. It is closely tied to third wave ska which reached its zenith in the mid-1990s.
The Belle Stars were an all female British pop/rock band. Formed in 1980, they are best known for their 1983 hit single "Sign of the Times".
The Beat are a British band formed in Birmingham, England, in 1978. Their music fuses Latin, ska, pop, soul, reggae and punk rock.
The Lords of the New Church were an English/American supergroup with a line-up originally consisting of four musicians from 1970s punk bands. This line-up comprised vocalist Stiv Bators, guitarist Brian James, bassist Dave Tregunna and drummer Nick Turner. Launched in 1981, the band released three studio albums prior to their dissolution in 1989. During this time, they underwent several line-up changes.
Bad Manners are an English two-tone and ska band led by frontman Buster Bloodvessel. Early appearances included Top of the Pops and the live film documentary, Dance Craze.
Desmond Dekker was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae singer-songwriter and musician. Together with his backing group The Aces, he had one of the earliest international reggae hits with "Israelites" (1968). Other hits include "007 " (1967), "It Mek" (1969) and "You Can Get It If You Really Want" (1970).
Keep Moving is the fifth studio album by the English ska/pop band Madness. It was originally released in February 1984, and was their final album on the Stiff label. It's notably the band's last studio album to feature their keyboardist and founding member Mike Barson, before the band split in 1986.
Mephiskapheles is a ska band based in New York City. Their name is a portmanteau of "ska" and "Mephistopheles", of the Faust legend. As their name suggests, their lyrics are often playfully satanic in nature.
"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.
"Wings of a Dove" is a song by Madness. It was released in 1983 as a stand-alone single and later in 1984 it was included on the American version of their album Keep Moving. The single spent 10 weeks in British charts peaking at number 2. It peaked at number 1 in Ireland.
"Grey Day" is a 2-Tone song written by Mike Barson and recorded by British pop/ska band Madness. The song was the first single released from the band's third studio album 7. It was a big departure from their early ska sound with a much darker, miserable feel. The song title does not appear in the lyrics as a single phrase, though a couplet rhyming "grey" with "day" features in the chorus.
"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.
"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.
Work Rest and Play is an EP by British ska/pop band Madness. The EP was headlined by the song "Night Boat to Cairo", from the band's debut album One Step Beyond.... It entered the UK Singles Chart on 5 April 1980, reaching a high of number 6.
One Step Beyond. .. is the 1979 debut 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.
The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra are a British band formed in 2011 by Madness saxophonist Lee Thompson. The band consists of an ever-shifting line-up of ska and reggae-orientated musicians playing classic ska covers. Their debut album was released in 2013.
Lene Lovich is an English-American singer, songwriter and musician. She first gained attention in 1979 with the release of her hit single "Lucky Number", which peaked at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart and made her a leading figure of the new wave music scene.
David Robinson, nicknamed Robbo, is an Irish music executive, music video director, record producer, music manager, and photographer. He is best known as the co-founder with Jake Riviera of Stiff Records where he signed up The Damned, Tracey Ullman, Kirsty MacColl, The Pogues, and Madness. He had also managed Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds and Ian Dury before signing them up to Stiff.
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