release date: Oct. 1981
format: cd (1989 reissue) / digital (2010 Deluxe Edition)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,88]
producer: Clive Langer, Alan Winstanley
label: Virgin Records / Union Square - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "Cardiac Arrest" - 2. "Shut Up" - 3. "Sign of the Times" - 5. "Mrs. Hutchinson" - 7. "Grey Day" - 9. "Promises Promises" - 10. "Benny Bullfrog"
*Disc 2: 2. "Sign of the Times" (BBC Richard Skinner session recording) - 7. "It Must Be Love" - 9. "In the City" - 10. "Cardiac Arrest (12" Extended Version)"
*2010 2 Disc Deluxe Edition
3rd studio album by Madness originally released by Stiff Records has like the first two albums the producer-team Langer-Winstanley - here with a title that simply refers to the size of the band.
The album sounds much like the predecessor with tracks pointing back in time with uptempo aggressive beats, songs that are more mainstream-founded and compositions with British pub rock attitude and humour. "Grey Day" was the first single from the album, and it does sound as if from another album in mind as it's a more political and rock-based track that would've been fitting for The Clash or the like.. The official video does, however quite nicely, try to make it a typical Madness production. It peaked as number #4 on the singles chart list. "Shut Up" reached number #7, but frankly I think, "Cardiac Arrest" would have been the easy choice for a single release - which it was though; however, not until Feb. '82 when it was issued in a remixed version [!?!] peaking at number #14...
Anyway, the album - reaching a position as number #7 on the albums chart list in the UK - didn't reach the same high sales numbers as its two predecessors, perhaps because the band still was hard to place: were they for the vast masses of mainstream pop / rock, or a cult-audience, and then why release an album that truly signals incoherence in terms of style, seriousness and production sound?
Well, I like it, and think of it as an album they needed to make before going mainstream. In retrospect it links nicely with Absolutely and the successor The Rise & Fall (1982).
The 2010 Deluxe Edition is a fine edition with relevant A- and B-side singles as bonus material. "It Must Be Love" (cover of Labi Siffre 1971 song) from Nov. '81 is an almost essential Madness song but it was only released as a single after the release of 7, hence otherwise only issued on compilation albums.
Highly recommendable.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]
