Complete Madness

Complete Madness
Greatest hits album by Madness
Released	23 April 1982
Recorded	1979 - 1982
Genre	Ska Pop
Length	45:24 (Original) / 47:24 (Re-issue)
Label	Stiff Records
Producer	Clive Langer Alan Winstanley
Madness chronology
7 (1981) Complete Madness (1982) The Rise & Fall (1982)
Alternative cover
Cover of the Virgin Records 1985 CD re-release

Professional ratings
Review scores
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Allmusic	link

Complete Madness is the first greatest hits album by ska/pop group Madness. It was released in 1982 (see 1982 in music) and included Madness' biggest hits from their first three studio albums and the stand-alone singles. Complete Madness spent 99 weeks on the UK charts peaking at number 1.

An accompanying video cassette was also released, containing all thirteen of the group's music videos up to that point (the twelve UK singles plus "Bed and Breakfast Man", which was a single in Canada), with specially filmed introductions to each video; together with the car commercials they'd done for Honda in Japan.

When issued originally many of the tracks faded early into each other with no banding, sometimes very abruptly. This continued on the 1985 CD issue (although differing slightly, as an early fade of the original 7" single version of "House Of Fun" was used). The first time the songs appeared in full for this compilation was for the 2003 Virgin reissue, although a similar, shortened version of "Shut Up" (originally used on the 2000 reissue of the Divine Madness compilation) continued to be used, and continues to be used on subsequent reissues.

The original Australian edition replaces "In The City" with 13th UK single "Driving In My Car".

Track listing

1. "Embarrassment" (Thompson/Barson)
2. "Shut Up" (McPherson/Foreman)
3. "My Girl" (Barson)
4. "Baggy Trousers" (McPherson/Foreman)
5. "It Must Be Love" (Labi Siffre)
6. "The Prince" (Thompson)
7. "Bed & Breakfast Man" (Barson)
8. "Night Boat to Cairo" (McPherson/Barson)
9. "House of Fun" (Thompson/Barson)
10. "One Step Beyond" (Cecil Campbell) [Originally album version, single version on re-issues]
11. "Cardiac Arrest" (Smash/Foreman)
12. "Grey Day" (Barson)
13. "Take It or Leave It" (Thompson/Barson)
14. "In the City" (Barson/Crutchfield/Foreman/Inoue/McPherson/Smash)
15. "Madness" (Campbell)
16. "The Return of the Los Palmas 7" (Barson/Bedford/Woodgate)

Personnel

• Mike Barson – Keyboards, Harmonica, Vibes, Marimba, Tubular Bells
• Mark Bedford – Bass
• Chris Foreman – Guitars
• Neill King – Engineer
• Clive Langer – Producer
• Graham "Suggs" McPherson – Vocals
• Chas Smash – Vocals, trumpet
• Lee Thompson – Saxophones, Vocals
• Alan Winstanley – Producer
• Dan Woodgate – Drums, percussion

Chart performance

References