release date: Nov. 1982
format: vinyl (SEEZ 46) / cd (2010 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,92]
producer: Clive Langer, Alan Winstanley
label: Stiff Records - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "Rise and Fall" - 2. "Tomorrow's (Just Another Day)" - 3. "Blue Skinned Beast" (5 / 5) - 4. "Primrose Hill" - 6. "" - 7. "Our House" (5 / 5) - 10. "That Face" - 11. "Calling Cards" - 12. "Are You Coming (With Me)" - 13. "Madness (It's All in the Mind)"
4th studio album by Madness is like all of their former studio albums produced by Clive Langer & Alan Winstanley. While recording the songs for the album, Stiff released the band's first best of album Complete Madness (Apr. '82), which nicely covers the band's first three albums, and truly is a nice bargain for someone looking for their best songs.
The Rise & Fall reflects the progression throughout the bands move towards a consistently stronger mainstream sound in a consistent manner. First and foremost it's a pop / rock release with clear bonds to ska revival, British pub rock, and to 1960s mod (as typified especially by The Kinks).
The album is by many considered the band's peak moment, although, it only reached #10 on the national album charts list, but as something contrary it fared very well in other countries, especially around Europe. Same thing happened to the two singles "Our House", which along the way has found almost monumental status 'only' made it to number #5 in the UK, but making better on the continent and in Ireland - also seen with "Tomorrow's (Just Another Day)" reaching number #8 at home but peaking as number #2 in Ireland.
The album is the only Madness album to be enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
In 2010 the album was released in a 2 disc remastered Deluxe Edition on Salvo. This is a mighty fine issue with a Bonus disc consisting of an additional 17 tracks and 4 promotional videos. Four tracks are taken from the David Kid Jensen show on BBC Radio 1 (recorded 24/6-82 and first transmitted 26/7-82), and the remaining 13 tracks is a fine blend of extended mixes and alternate takes including one fine "Ship Building"-version of track #2 with Elvis Costello, which all in all makes it a very nice bargain.
Highly recommendable.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5 stars ]
