1980-1981 (Absolutely)

The song "Close Escape" picks up where its predecessor "In The Middle Of The Night" left off. The story depicts a perverse individual who derives pleasure from making unsolicited calls to women and asking them about their underwear.

Written by Suggs and Bedders the song 'Not Home Today' has a reggae influence and is about how people make excuses to hide the fact that a family member has been sent to borstal or prison. This theme of a life of crime is also present in ...

'On The Beat Pete' is a lively and energetic ska song crafted by Lee Thompson. The song follows the life of a local police officer, Pete, as he goes about his day. With a playful nod to the style of Ian Dury, the song's lyrics list various ...

Smyth’s Fifties rock’n’roll pastiche, ‘Solid Gone’, possibly motivated by a rock’n’roll rockabilly revival which saw the likes of Matchbox following acts such as Rocky Sharpe & The Replays into the UK charts. Within a month of the release of ...

'Take It Or Leave It' was inspired by the name of a Roxy Music track and set to quirky music presumably inspired by Sixties spy films. Mike Barson mentioned that writing it was mainly a poetic expression of my continuing mental state, though I ...

"Shadow Of Fear" is a song that reflects the fear and paranoia of living in London, whether it is real or just imagined. "Not Home Today" is another track with a reggae influence and talks about how people make excuses to cover up the fact that ...

"Disappear" is a track composed by Suggs and Bedders for the Madness album "Absolutely". It is considered to be their most melodic creation and has a Motown-inspired sound. The song begins with a beautiful piano melody from Barson and ...

Lee reflects on his relationship with his mother, acknowledging the difficulties that came with it. He caused her a lot of stress in his younger years, but eventually found a passion for playing the saxophone and became quite skilled.

'In The Rain' was initially relegated to the 12-inch single of 'My Girl' as an 'otherwise unavailble track' but was an overlooked gem, 'In The Rain', which shared much of the same air of pathos as the A-side with its tale of being jilted on a ...

Suggs says that my memory could be more precise with many songs he wrote with Mike. From what I recall, this tune was written by Mike in the days when we rehearsed in the disused dentist surgery in Finchley. Mike had the title and some of the ...

Clive Langer has revealed that with every album, Madness was asked by Dave Robinson to record an instrumental. Following the success of their hit song 'One Step Beyond', he encouraged the band to create more instrumentals. 'Night Boat To Cairo' ...