release date: Sep. 26, 1980
format: vinyl / cd (2000 remaster)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: Clive Langer, Alan Winstanley
label: Stiff Records / Virgin (remaster) - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "Baggy Trousers" - 2. "Embarrassment" - 3. "E.R.N.I.E." - 4. "Close Escape" - 6. "On the Beat Pete" - 7. "Solid Gone" - 10. "Disappear" - 13. "You Said"
2nd studio album by Madness who has by now become a septet as regular associate / lyricist / contributor Cathal Smyth (more commonly known as Chas Smash) has joined the band on backing and co-lead vocals and trumpet. The album picks up the style established on the debut album with a slightly more polished production pointing towards a more mainstream audience without losing grip with the 2 Tone ska revival sound.
This album was my first acquisition with the band after having heard One Step Beyond..., and I always considered it a very fine album without being truly great. I do think my feelings about it only has increased making me think of it as yet another corner stone of British pop / rock music of the 1980s. Back in 1980, I think I thought of the band as being too silly, and certainly, even by comparing Madness to contemporaries like The Jam, The Clash, Siouxsie and The Banshees and Joy Division do seem like a bit silly; however, they unquestionably were among a handful of artist [which include Ian Dury, Toy Dolls, Undertones] who brought a [laugh and a] positivity into contemporary popular music, which was basically unheard of at the time.
The album fared quite well peaking at number #2 in the UK, and "Baggy Trousers" and "Embarrassment" reached number #3 and #4 respectively on the British singles chart making Madness one of the hottest names of popular music. Music critics were divided about the whole ska revival thing. Not surprisingly, the English press loved the band, although, some saw Absolutely as weaker and less raw than the debut, and the band sold well in the Netherlands, but the style wasn't embraced with the same enthusiasm on the other side of the Atlantic. Actually, far from it. Rolling Stone still rates it 1 / 5 stars and refers to another famous band of British ska revival from 2 Tone Records: The Specials, simply as 'not very good'. I guess something similar would've happened as British critics should review a new pure country album.
Anyway, the album is essential when speaking of the 1980s music.
I don't really think of it as a lesser work compared to the debut album. The only striking difference is an improvement in sound.
Highly recommendable.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 1 / 5 stars ]
