Customer Reviews

Business

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Box sets can always lead to frustration when oddities, rare or live cuts stop the goodness dead. That doesn't happen here because an oddity for Madness is fairly incredible. This box set includes every single wonderful moment that you could possibly want in one fell swoop.

However, I'm docking it a notch because of the interview segments placed before/after songs. You cannot program out the interviews because they are attached to the same track. Interesting the first time you listen, but after that it's incredibly frustrating. And to make matters worse the majority of the interview clips are spread out over the first two discs... which happens to include the best songs. It would have been MUCH better if the folks who compiled this box would have put the interview segments on the end of the 3rd disc. If you don't think this will bother you then go ahead and buy this baby... it's filled cover to cover with amazing music.

A very important release for Maddies everywhere. This set chronicles the band's career better than any of the greatest hits releases (there have been several). The hits are all here, but finally! Gems like Lee Thompson and Woody Woodgate's demented One's Second Thoughtlessness, originally released as a bonus track on the B-Side of Wings of a Dove 12" single, is available on CD, along with early EP releases, demos, and tracks of the band goofing off (in two instances, to the tune of Our House). You can't find this stuff anywhere else outside of vinyl, and if you're like me---my vinyl is warped and my turntable quit years ago---all three CDs in this collection will be permanently liberated from the CD case. Here and there, various associates of the band, from Elvis Costello to Madness valet Hector Walker, bridge tracks with stories about the band. The talking is intrusive in a few places---for instance, when it's played over the beginning of the ancient Mistakes, unavailable elsewhere on CD---but Lee's Uncle Jack disapproving of Lee's big green boots is worth the price of the whole set. If you're a Maddie and don't have this box set, don't wait another minute. It's very possible that it will out of print some day soon.

I don't usually write reviews, but felt I needed to bring the rating down on this one to save people some money, great music, but as said in other reviews, the interviews kill it. Stay away.

Great collection of songs, but about 75% of them have little 5-15 second interview clips on the end of them. These clips are part of the tracks themselves so you can't just skip over them or program your player to ignore them. They aren't bad bits, but I don't want to hear the same comments on the end of the same song every time.
I went in with an audio editor and edited a lot of the clips out, but some actually overlap the music itself, so people start talking even before the song has completely faded out. No good way to edit those. It took me about an hour and a half to clean this CD up enough to really enjoy the music. If I had listened to it first and heard these bits, I would not have purchased this collection.

If you are a true Madness fan you ought to own this box set. You have every single record in it including many odd jewels very difficult to find elsewhere. I just put aside all the other records and keep listening to this collection again and again. There are interviews mixed with the songs along the 3 CDs. It worths every dollar (pesos for me!) that it costs. Superb!

After their breakup in 1987 it seemed there was a glut of Madness compilations released, none of which seemed to offer up the truly greatest hits from one of England's best bands. "The Business" seeks to rectify that by serving up three discs that fully encompass not only all their hits (they had a staggering 22 Top 40 Hits in the UK alone), but a large number of non-single tracks that were fan favorites as well. Throw in a number of non-album tracks and hard to find ephemera and it only serves to make "The Business" the best starting point for a Madness fan. Sure, you could buy all of the individual CDs at a much larger expense, but you'd miss a whole lot of tracks added here.

Madness typically is lumped in with the whole Two Tone/Ska sound from the late 1970s and early 1980s, but they pull in influences from dancehall, pub-rock, pop, reggae, and other genres of music. One listen will tell you how their sound would influence future generations of musicians, and while Madness is undeniably English, their music is totally relatable to non-Anglophiles. There's so much great music here I scarcely know where to start...anything from Madness you could possibly want is probably here and I dare you to listen to this and NOT bust out with a smile.

For all those 'Nutty' fans it makes your collection complete.All the b-sides & not one of them a filler.'Please Don't Go' should have been a single and for that matter,many other ones too.There's even a X-Mas tune which has got to be the most hilarious song for the holidays,it'a a classic!How 'bout 'One Step Beyond' in italian?You got it.This 3-cd set is filled with songs not available on any other compilation or studio releases.Chances are You can get it used & in good condition.You won't regret it.This release is one of my favorites.It also contains the extended version of 'Our House',one of the best remixes of the 80's.Plus:many interviews inbetween a number of songs.But if you don't like 'em,just skip to the next song.

The music here is incredible. There aren't that many bands that put as much care into their B-sides as they do their main album tracks, but Madness clearly wasn't slacking off. As a result, you have three discs loaded down not just with the A-side of every single (which means all their big hits), but tons of amazing music you'll otherwise have a lot of trouble finding.

The first disc covers everything from the original version of "The Prince", the "One Step Beyond" and "Absolutely" era, and up until "Shut Up" off of "7". Virtually everything here is interchangeable and at times superior to things that may have shown up on albums. To put it in perspective; nearly every B-Side from the One Step Beyond era was played live.

The second disc picks up with "It Must Be Love", then finishing out the "7" singles, and moving through the "Rise And Fall" period, finally stopping at the "Michael Caine" single, at which point the transformation from ska to pop has been completed. We also start to see alternate single mixes show up; "The Sun And The Rain" and "Michael Caine" have rather different introductions, and "Our House" is presented in a remix form. Highlights include "One Second's Thoughtlessness", "Fireball XL5", and the swath of non-album hit singles we know and love.

The third disc is probably most likely to be ignored, seeing as it seems to be in the least-admired era of Madness' career, from the "One Better Day" single onwards (and by "onwards" I mean "1986", since when this came out "Wonderful" had not yet happened). There are still gems here, some that outshine album material on Mad Not Mad. Also, I love "Keep Moving", so there. We have a very interesting alternate single version of "Victoria Gardens", with the verse/chorus structure changed (for the better, I think). Then things do get a bit boring, although "Yesterday's Men" has a new layer of melancholy added with the harmonica solo. After sitting through some (admittedly funny) Christmas stuff, a live "It Must Be Love", and some kind of boring stuff, we run into "Jennie (A Portrait Of)", which might be one of their coolest songs from the era, and finally we reach "(Waiting For The) Ghost Train", which I adore.
The album ends on what could be a sad note; after Ghost Train we have the melancholy "Maybe In Another Life", the nostalgic Italian "One Step Beyond" (Un Passo Avanti, I should say) and "Seven Year Scratch", and the humorous joking-around of the last (very short) three tracks. It would have been a kind of sad way to end the album, not knowing that one day we would see "Wonderful" and have "The Liberty Of Norton Folgate" coming out imminently.

Now, that flaw. The interviews. They are placed after certain songs, in the same track. Some of them are actually interesting (well, actually, probably just the tour manager's stories after "Baggy Trousers" and "The Business"), but a lot of them are short, reveal no information, and at one point whoever is speaking is totally incoherent and must not say more than five syllables. You could try resorting to clipping those bits off in an audio editor of your choice, but for some reason "Mistakes" has a good deal of speech over the intro.

Now, it doesn't RUIN the album. The music is still there and largely untouched (minus "Mistakes"), it's good stuff, and at times the interviews are atmospheric if you listen to it all straight through. It could've been handled better, but it's still a killer album. I love it; highly recommended for the Madness fan or newcomer.

This triple CD covers "the first era" of Madness' 30 year history, so far. This covers all their singles from 1979 thro' to 1985. But what makes this CD set so special, is that it also contains all the B-sides to the singles, which makes this an absolute must for all the nutty fans. Not only that, but in between each song, there are insightful "snippets" by the band members, crew, management and friends, which are not only informative, but a delight to listen to. I highly recommend this CD set to, not only all Madness fans, but to the curious people out there, also. You will not be disappointed!

What can I say? An x bouht this for me years ago and I still listen to it alot. This has got to be one of the BEST Madness collections of all time. All thos complete sets and all are poop. Just one CD in this box set puts them all to shame. If you buy this box set you wont be Dissapointed I promise (well thats if your a Madness nut).. The small intervie clips are great. The comic tracks are great to. The Nutty Boys get a bit NUTTY here. So dont be an idiot and bypass this box set. YOU WILL BE SORRY IF YOU DO!!!!