release date: Oct. 26, 1979
format: cd (2000 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,78]
producer: Clive Langer, Alan Winstanley
label: Virgin Records - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "One Step Beyond..." - 2. "My Girl" (4 / 5) - 4. "Believe Me" - 6. "The Prince" - 9. "Bed and Breakfast Man" - 13. "Mummy's Boy" - 14. "Madness"
Studio album debut (originally released on 2 Tone Records) by English band Madness - up until the recording and release of the album a sextet consisting of Graham McPherson [aka Suggs] on lead vocals, Mike Barson [aka Monsieur Barso] on keyboards, Chris Foreman [aka Chrissy Boy] on guitars, Mark Bedford [aka Bedders] on bass, Lee "Kix" Thompson on saxophones and backing vocals, and with Dan Woodgate [aka Woody] on drums and percussion. Seventh member Cathal Smyth [aka Chas Smash] takes part on the album and would formally join the band a few weeks after the album release. The band took its name from Jamaican ska artist Prince Buster's track "Madness", from his studio debut album I Feel the Spirit from 1963, Also the title track [original song] stems from a B-side single to the track "Al Capone" from '65 is by Prince Buster.
One Step Beyond... is the first in a long row of albums to be produced by the Clive Langer / Alan Winstanley team, who would later go on and work with artists such as Elvis Costello, Dexys Midnight Runners, They Might Be Giants, Morrissey, and David Bowie.
Stylistically, this is at the core of what would be known as 2 Tone, British ska or more precisely: ska revival as the style builds on the original 60s rocksteady and Jamaican ska, and also it's heavily inspired by British pub rock bands like Brinsley Schwarz, Kilburn & the High Roads, Eddie and the Hot Rods, and Ian Dury & The Blockheads. And British pub rock with its humour plays a central part in the music by Madness.
The track "The Prince" (by Lee Thompson) pays tribute to one of the original Jamaican ska artists Prince Buster (aka Cecil Bustamente Campbell) was a minor hit and the band's first single, which paved the way for a place on the [pre-MTV] TV show Top of the Pops.
The album is almost great as it contains some really classic songs of that particular period, and it's also made up of some minor fillers serving more as entertaining bits, but all in all it's a classic album, and a 'must-have' in any collection of modern pop music.
Highly recommendable.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Mojo, Q Magazine 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5 stars ]
