| Work Rest and Play | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| EP by | ||||
| Released | March 1980 | |||
| Recorded | 1979–1980 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 12:02 | |||
| Label | Stiff Records | |||
| Producer | ||||
| Madness chronology | ||||
| ||||
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 studio album One Step Beyond... (1979). It entered the UK Singles Chart on 5 April 1980, reaching a high of number 6. [1]
After the release of "My Girl", the band felt that they had exhausted the material from One Step Beyond... , and did not want to release any more singles from the album. [1] However, Dave Robinson, head of Stiff Records, disagreed. [1] Eventually, a compromise was made, and the band decided to release an EP featuring one album track and three new tracks. [1] The Work Rest and Play EP was the result.
The EP's success was largely down to "Night Boat to Cairo", which headlined the set and had an accompanying music video. The fourth song, "Don't Quote Me On That", was a commentary on press coverage which had tried to paint the band as racists who supported the National Front (NF). Some of the band's shows had been disrupted by skinhead violence and, in a 1979 NME interview, Madness member Chas Smash was quoted as saying "We don't care if people are in the NF as long as they're having a good time." This was quoted to add to the speculation that Madness was a racist band supporting the National Front, although the band members denied those allegations. [2]
A promotional 12" single was issued in the UK featuring "Don't Quote Me on That" backed with "Swan Lake" from the One Step Beyond... studio album. The version of "Don't Quote Me on That" is a different, shorter mix from the one eventually used on the UK EP, and seems to have been used in all European countries outside the UK. It can be heard during the opening titles of the Madness film Take It or Leave It.
The 2010 re-release of the band's first studio album One Step Beyond... includes the three original songs from the Work Rest and Play EP as bonus tracks on a second CD.
Releases varied. Some countries opted to issue "Night Boat to Cairo" as a two-track 45rpm single, containing a variety of B-sides: in France "Swan Lake"; in Belgium "The Young and the Old" and in Germany "Don't Quote Me on That". In the Netherlands "Night Boat to Cairo" was the B-side and "Tarzan's Nuts" from One Step Beyond... was the A-side of the 45rpm single, this is in addition to the 33rpm EP which was also issued there. In Portugal, the EP featured a different mix of "Night Boat To Cairo".
In the UK 45rpm DJ and jukebox editions were printed up with "Deceives the Eye" as the B-side. In Italy a 33rpm 12" single was released with "Un Passo Avanti" ("One Step Beyond" sung in Italian) and "Night Boat to Cairo" on one side and "The Young and the Old" and "Don't Quote Me on That" on the other.
When Japan released the "Grey Day"-led 6-track 12" EP in 1981, it contained the three 1980-recorded Work Rest and Play EP tracks, two of which were alternate mixes; the aforementioned "Don't Quote Me on That" plus "Deceives the Eye" which ends cleanly without Suggs's echoing, fading vocal.
After the decision to issue the EP, a promotional music video was needed. However, there was a lack of time before the release, and not enough to make an effective one. [1] As "Night Boat to Cairo" was the leading track from the EP, a music video of the song was created to represent the EP as a whole.
Madness filmed a karaoke type video in front of a blatantly chroma keyed backdrop of an Egyptian pyramid, with the lyrics appearing on screen in "bouncing ball" style as Suggs sang them. [1] During the long instrumental sections of the song, the band often run around the set, marching and performing their signature "Nutty Train".
Despite the video's poor effects and unprofessional feel, it became very popular amongst fans. [1] This is possibly due to the carefree nature and fooling around of the band, probably down to the large amount of alcohol drunk while filming. [1]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Night Boat to Cairo" | Graham McPherson, Mike Barson | 3:30 |
| 2. | "Deceives the Eye" | Mark Bedford, Chris Foreman | 1:58 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Young and the Old" | McPherson, Barson | 2:03 |
| 2. | "Don't Quote Me on That" | Peter Tosh, Chas Smash | 4:31 |
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.
Graham McPherson, known primarily by his stage name Suggs, is an English singer-songwriter, musician, radio personality and actor from Hastings, England.
Absolutely is the second studio album from the British ska band Madness. The album reached number 2 in the UK album charts.
Divine Madness is the 1992 greatest hits album from the British ska/pop band Madness.
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.
Wonderful is the seventh studio album by the British band Madness, released on 1 November 1999. It was the band's first studio album in fourteen years since Mad Not Mad in 1985, and also the first to feature their classic seven-piece line-up since 1984's Keep Moving. The album saw Madness reunite with their original production team, Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, who had produced all of the band's previous work.
The Dangermen Sessions, Vol. 1 is a cover album and the eighth studio album by the British ska band Madness, released in 2005. The album reached No. 11 in the UK which at the time was their highest chart position in the UK since 1984's Keep Moving.
Cathal Joseph "Carl" Smyth, also known as Chas Smash, is an English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His career spans more than 40 years. Smash came to prominence in the late 1970s as secondary vocalist, trumpet player and dancer for the English band Madness, with whom he was associated from their inception until 2014.
Dance Craze is a 1981 American documentary film about the British 2 Tone music genre.
"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.
"Night Boat to Cairo" is a song by British ska/pop band Madness from their debut 1979 album One Step Beyond.... It was written by Mike Barson and Suggs and was also included on the 1980 EP Work Rest and Play, which peaked at number six on the UK Singles Chart and reached the top 30 in Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands. The song was later re-issued in the UK in 1993 following the success of the re-issued version of "It Must Be Love" but failed to reach the top 40, peaking at number 56. It was remixed slightly for inclusion on the band's eponymous 1983 album compiled for the United States. The song is featured in the 2011 Wii video game Just Dance 3.
"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.
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.
"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.
"NW5" is a song by the band Madness, which was debuted live at the Brixton Academy in December 2006. The single was released in January 2008 on the band's own label, Lucky 7 Records, and entered the chart at no.24 on Sunday 20th Jan 2008, going to no.1 on the UK Independent Label Chart on Sunday 20th Jan 2008. It was very well received by fans and critics alike.
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.
Forever Young: The Ska Collection is a compilation album by English band Madness, released in 2012 by Salvo/Union Square Music as part of their re-issues of the Madness back catalogue. The album consists of a selection of the band's ska sounding songs, including singles, b-sides and album tracks. In addition to the classic Madness tracks, the album contains two previously unreleased covers: Jimmy Cliff's "Vietnam" and Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King". Both of these bonus tracks were originally recorded for the 2005 Madness album The Dangermen Sessions Vol. 1. The album includes a fold-out poster booklet with liner notes by Record Collector's Ian McCann, including new interviews with guitarist Chris Foreman and saxophonist Lee Thompson. Foreman said of the album: "It was our take on ska, and the songs on this album have ska as their basis. Not all are full-on; I wanted it to be called The Ska and Reggae Collection, but The Ska Collection it is."
