| The Liberty of Norton Folgate | ||||
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| Studio album by Madness | ||||
| Released | 18 May 2009 | |||
| Recorded | 2006–2008 | |||
| Genre | Ska/Pop, Reggae | |||
| Length | 59:00 | |||
| Label | Lucky Seven Records Yep Roc Records (US) |
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| Producer | Clive Langer Alan Winstanley |
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| Professional reviews | ||||
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| Madness chronology | ||||
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The Liberty of Norton Folgate is the ninth studio album by the British band Madness, released on 18 May 2009. The band worked on the album for close to three years and it is their first album of new material since 1999's Wonderful. The band showcased a number of songs from the new album during three concerts at London's Hackney Empire in June 2008.
This 10-minute title track recounts the social history of a corner of east London that until 1900 was controlled by St Paul's Cathedral and as such was legally independent from its surroundings.[1] A shortened version of the track "The Liberty of Norton Folgate" was made available on YouTube in mid May 2008. In December a boxset of the album was offered for pre-order on the Madness website; those who ordered were entitled to a digital download of the album on 20 December. Twenty-three tracks were recorded for the album, although fifteen made it on to the album to be released in May. The twelve tracks issued in the digital download leaked onto the internet on December 25, 2008. During concerts in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide at the end of March 2009, Suggs stated that "Dust Devil" would be the second single off the new album; second when accounting for the 2008 release of NW5. It was released on the 11th of May, one week before the album. A third single, "Sugar and Spice" (with slightly different lyrics and intro to the album version) was released to radio in July, and on 21 July it was confirmed that it would be made available as a download single from 2 August on iTunes and 3 August from other retailers.
In November 2009 the band announced the release of a fourth single scheduled for 11 January 2010: "Forever Young", a favourite of both fans and band (Madness' Chrissy Boy on the band's message board: 'a hit I think'). Apart from several remixes, one of the single formats contains Love Really Hurts (Without You), a Dangermen era cover of the Billy Ocean classic. The release was put back one week and the single was released on 18th January, becoming the second single from the album to fail to chart.
It was produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, who have worked with Madness on all but one of their albums. Recording sessions also took place in Toe Rag studios in late 2006 with Liam Watson, who engineered and mixed Elephant by The White Stripes.
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Critical reception to The Liberty of Norton Folgate was highly positive, with most critics hailing it as Madness's best album in their thirty year career. Financial Times, in a five-star review, lauded that "[at] a stage of life when they might be endlessly revisiting "Our House" and "Baggy Trousers" on the 1980s nostalgia circuit, the much-loved ska-pop band, 30 years after their debut, have ripped up the form book and delivered a knockout album." The BBC described it as a "magnificent magnum opus" and "the most sophisticated and satisfying album of their career."[2] Uncut and Mojo both gave the album four out of five stars, with Uncut stating it as "refreshingly, unexpectedly excellent" and "everything seems to gel – the arrangements are the best ever." Online sources such as MusicOMH say "it may just be the best thing they have ever recorded" and "is everything you would expect of Madness and more." The Word Magazine describes it as "Peter Ackroyd writing for The Kinks, it's Sherlock Holmes in Albert Square, it's a Mike Leigh movie of Parklife, it's Passport To Pimlico meets Brick Lane, and it is Madness's masterpiece."
The album also made 3rd and 9th place, respectively, in the BBC's and Mojo's "Best albums of 2009" lists (category rock & pop)[3][4]
The Liberty of Norton Folgate reached #5 in the UK album charts on 24 May 2009, their highest charting studio album since 7 in 1981. The album also charted at #1 on the UK independent album chart. The album went Gold in the UK in October 2009.
| Chart (2009) | Peak position |
Total weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Belgian Albums Chart (Vl)[5] | 70 | 2 |
| Belgian Albums Chart (Wa)[6] | 78 | 2 |
| Dutch Albums Chart[7] | 52 | 4 |
| European Hot 100 Albums Chart[8] | ? | 3 |
| French Albums Chart[9] | 110 | 3 |
| German Albums Chart[10] | 80 | 1 |
| Irish Album Chart | 31 | 3 |
| Swedish Albums Chart[11] | 47 | 2 |
| UK Albums Chart[12] | 5 | 13 |
| UK Independent Albums Chart | 1 | ? |
This edition was released on 18 May, 2009.
This edition was made available for pre-order in late 2008 and was released on March 23, 2009. It contains a 2 CD version of the album and an additional CD of rehearsal recordings, demos and live recordings. Also included is a Madness "M" pin, a poster, and access to an online area that will contain additional material.
A 64 minute long concert film, also titled The Liberty of Norton Folgate was directed by Julien Temple. It screened at the London Independent Film Festival on April the 17th 2009.[13][14]