Madness "The Dangermen Sessions Volume One" (V2)
By Eric Chon
Monday. Dec 12, 12:00 AM
Ska masters in top form.

Wait a minute... Madness? Didn’t these guys break up years and years ago? Oh yeah, there was that one-off in ’99, but still, it’s been almost seven years. Talk about a strange mixture of nostalgia and trepidation as I popped in this disc of covers into the player: I haven’t thought about ska for a long time (nevermind that Mustardplug review I did not so long ago)… and for good reason. A lot of it is a complete waste of time with hundreds of bands employing the same old bag of tricks and replaying the same goddamn song.

At its worst – and trust me there was a lot of it – ska was a repetitive bore of a musical genre that amounted to a bunch of cracka-ass crackas trying to be hip and Jamaican while complaining about their suburban upbringing and singing about equality while never having actually seen a Black man. However, at its best it was an infectious dance-oriented music that espoused tolerance and introduced a lot of people to the soothing and upbeat rhythms of the Caribbean. Like Red Stripe, it’s been teaching White people to dance for years (albeit badly). And after the great culling of 1999 when I tossed out a good 95% of my crap CDs, one of the ska bands to remain were Madness who have always remained one step beyond the competition (har har, see what I did there?).

So, yes, The Dangermen Sessions Volume One is a covers album and it really, really rocks. Much like their own music, the songs chosen are filled with witty humor, insight, and a groove that flows like the ocean on a calm beach. The boys remain in top form as they lazily trot through classics such as Bob Marley’s “So Much Trouble” and the single, Lord Tanamo’s “Shame and Scandal.” Throughout the entirety of the album, I couldn’t help but nod my head in time to the off-beat and lull my angry metal ways.

As always, Madness stay within the confines of the genre while keeping it fresh, honest, and full of appeal. The Dangermen Sessions Volume One is, for me at least, a welcome departure from double kick-drums and million-note solos: for someone who basically lives on metal, this is a huge endorsement. My nostalgia bone has been tickled checkered and my trepidation was unfounded. Damn you Madness! Now I’ve gotta go digging for those Skatalite albums!
www.madness.co.uk
www.v2music.com

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Eric Chon

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