The Rise & Fall

Unlistenable. Just awful. Music for uncool dads trying to prove they didn’t bit brexit, even though they did. 1/5

Madness are massively underrated (on this side of the pond). Our House is a perfect song and the whole album is wonderful. Was tempted to give it a 5, but the guy in brown-face on the album cover kept it a 4.

Just love Suggs and the Nutty Boys, their cheeky cockney music hall inspired Ska is just typically English,(Small Faces/Kinks/Blurlike) not taking themselves too seriously whilst producing some great music. Not sure this would be my choice of a Madness album for this list (I prefer their debut for it's rawness) but some great tunes on here. "Tomorrows (Just Another Day)" "Our House" "Blue Skinned Beast" and "Primrose Hill" my favourites on this one.

I've always liked Madness but only really as a passing thing for their hits and what not but as a full album this was ruddy good.

is that mf in the album cover in black face????? wtf dont know if ishould listen to it osea es ska nambre ya me enteré nunca se disculparon de esto ni nada y los han acusado de racismo por cosas diferentes eran muy populares entre los skinheads en uk so...

The Rise and Fall is not on spotify, so I listened to the greatest htis. I heard... SKA, pianos, horns a different sound from everything else in the 80's. At times I feel like I hear wallflowers. Did i just find an 80's band to dive deeper into, or am I becoming brain washed.

Tout le monde parlera bien sûr d'Our House, mais le tube de cet album est bien sûr Mr. Speaker, qui sera utilisé comme générique de l'animé Inspecteur Gadget. Gadget au chapeau, Gadget au point, Elastico-gadget... tout y passe. Madness réussit avec ce titre son enregistrement le plus iconique.

Just ok. Our House, obviously a terrific song. The rest of it? What am I even listening to. Just okay.

Another record where I have to go to YouTube to listen, because it’s not widely available for streaming in the US, which brings up a question: Does anyone know why sometimes you can play YouTube videos in the background on iPhone and other times you can’t? I’m not paying $18.99/month for YouTube premium to have that feature. As for the record, I found “the Rise and Fall” to be cloyingly upbeat, with gauzy 80’s production and a hefty debt to British Music Hall. 481 records down, a little over 600 to go.

Noch schlimmer als blur

wtf this was so fun

What a delight. I’ve never heard of this band, other than knowing Our House (didn’t know who sang that). But the music is fun and lively. I like the blend of new wave, pop, and wacky. Our House is so great, and this is such a refreshing collection of songs in general. Love so many of them. This album made me feel good, and that’s a good way to feel. Had to find the album on YouTube, it was mostly missing from Spotify.

I vaguely remember ska kids liking madness back in HS. Not sure I ever heard a song. This reminds me of The Jam, another brit band that I didn't really hear until way too late.

So that's where the coffee commercial got it. Anyway, this was a pretty cool album. I enjoyed every single song and would re-visit.

Was surprised when Our House played. Was not aware it was on this album. The rest of the album stayed interesting throughout

This album wasn't available in full on Spotify, so I listened to 'Madness', which shares most of the tracks. It was an interesting listen! Very creative and smoothly crafted, with insightful lyrics and complex arrangements.

3.5/5. Dope British concept album, feels like a soundtrack to a musical. Standout Track: Tomorrow's Just Another Day, Mr Speaker Gets The Word, Our House, New Delhi

Really like the experimentation with sounds in this album, didn't know this is what ska music was like

The confidence of “Our House” is immediate and convincing: next to the rest of this amiable album, this declares itself the hit. The rest is fine, thoughtful and not without hummables, but don’t demand my attention. “New Delhi” brings the cringe.

I think I’ll stick to the Greatest Hits. That would be a 5

Rise and Fall 3 Tomorrow's (Just Another Day) 3.1 Blue Skinned Beast 2.8 Primrose Hill 3 Mr. Speaker (Gets the Word) 3.2 Sunday Morning 3.2 Our House 3.4 Tiptoes 3 New Delhi 2.9 That Face 3 Calling Cards 2.9 Are You Coming (With Me) 3.1 Madness (Is All in the Mind) 3.3 Score: 3.069230769

Conflicted. Grew up with Madness, one of the earliest bands I paid attention to. But can't fight the feeling the best Madness album is "the best of Madness" or whatever. You don't often think of Madness album tracks do you. Plus I kind of feel oddly racist listening to this lol. It does feel Brexitty. It also feels oddly thin, listening in 2024. I do enjoy the oddly melancholy sound to many of the tracks. Album gets seriously flabby towards the end.

I don't like Ska. Madness are a gimmick band. Every song is like a theme tune for a slapstick villain.

If brexit was an album

Hey Madness, you are a ska band. People like your ska music. Why are you making whatever this is? "Our House" is a great song, but it feels like they just put it on the album to trick people into listening to all this other garbage. This is not a good album.

Album for true Brexit Geezahs. Quite possibly the most British album ever recorded. And yes, that includes the borderline rockabilly song at the end and the guy in brownface on the album cover. Our House fucking BANGS tho

Madness, and Suggs, were always firmly in that 80s irritating camp, but this record is surprisingly amazing. Their sound is dense and layered and you never know what's coming next, and Suggs' lyrics paint a colourful picture of London in the early 80s.

90% Best: Rise And Fall; Tomorrow's (Just Another Day); Blue Skinned Beast; Primrose Hill; Mr Speaker (Gets The World); Sunday Morning; Our House; Tiptoes; That Face; Are You Coming (With Me); Madness (Is All In The Mind) Must-Hear? Yes

I did very much enjoy this Madness sound.

Lovely - takes me back. Some songs I'd not heard too. Madness really are one of a kind

One of my favorites

Where has this record been? I knew several of the songs, but the record as a whole is simply wonderful. the entire thing is not on my streaming service so I had to track down each individual song, but it was worth it.

Such an underrated band. I've been listening to Madness more this year than any other year. I love their playfulness mixed with serious punk-ska beats. This is one of the bands I wish I were old enough to see live. Thankfully, YouTube exists & I can watch their videos & live performances there. Excellent album.

Loveeee. Works so well for me. I like how it sounds and the themes it explores. 5 and will revisit

Great Madness album, still like it a lot.

This album was really, really fun. Reminds me of The Beatles or ELO with all the unique sounds and intruments that show up, but certainly with an 80s twist. Rise and Fall is a good example of instrumentation, chord progression, and tenpo work thay just stands out against a sea of pop. Ironically, Our House is the poppiest and most time tested song here, but I think there are much more interesting songs here.

No los conocía, pero me encantó.

Some bands are lucky enough to have their own "sound" and no other band could ever sound like them. Madness is one of those bands. No matter what song comes on and even if you've never heard it before, you know it's Madness and you also know that at the very least it'll make you happier. Wonderful stuff.

No need for all the 12" versions, instrumentals, live cuts and remixes - a point off for that! The album itself is great though - right on the boundary between pop and serious music and any album with Our House - which contains one of my favourite lines in any song (the kids are playing up downstairs) - is fine by me!

Madness is such a great band. This album has some love time favourites, and I've definitely picked up several new favourites.

This album is amazing. They have a really cool sound. The opening title track sets the tone - it's quite dark overall, focused on minor chords/scales, but with a very punchy upbeat rhythm and timbre (I think they're featuring a glockenspiel). That's just a winning combo for me. The CD overall maintains that theme pretty consistently, but with enough diversity in sound to keep it interesting. They've got a lot of voices on here - horns, lots of backing vocals, lots of keys, on top of the standard rock palette. They're also not at all afraid to try stuff - witness the jarring breaks between the major and minor segments on "Blue Skinned Beast". And you see a lot of experimentation with rhythm and meter, e.g. on "Sunday Morning", it's borderline prog. The most complete song might be "Our House", which I had actually heard before (but had not recalled the name of the band). It really puts all the pieces together - wonderful and prominent backing vocals, a fun upbeat singalong chorus (complete with a set of jarring key changes towards the end), and super-abrupt changes between the very minor verses and the major chorus. This album really blew me away, having never heard of the band before. Their main limitation is the singer isn't very good, but the best way to cover for that is with a wide range of instrumental voices and/or backing vocals picking up the slack, and they do that in spades. Note that this album is not on Spotify in its entirety, only one or two songs are on there. Total shame.

Beautiful

I had many of these songs on my Madness compilation tape from 1983, which was one of my favorites at the time. I really enjoyed hearing them again (It's been a long time!) as well as the rest of the content that I'd never heard before. Of course the song and video for "Our House" were favorites. This was very much fun!

I like their fun vibe and my enjoyment increased as the album progressed.

Its madness

Ahhhhhh.....Madness. I preferred their first album when they were a proper English Ska band. This isn't Ska, or even New Wave but P.O.P........(yes you read that right) Still, it's inventive Pop and a fun listen. Plus it's the only Madness on here and at least one album should make it.........I would give it 3 but on those lines it's a 5

I like Madness. So upbeat. One Step Beyond is my favorite.

Totally my cup of tea. I like to think I've always been a fan of Madness but the only album in my collection is their 1992 greatest hits collection Divine Madness. It was a joy to discover this album in its entirety whatever it's past transgressions may have been. Faves: Tomorrow's (Just Another Day), Our House.

The 80s were a strange time for music, and I'm loving every second of it. Nothing but praise from me for the pioneers of modern ska.

Brilliant album!

Я не знаю почему. Почему так происходит, что в который раз мне достаётся альбом "про британцев". Вы из меня британского патриота делаете? Я в целом и не против, так-то я уже поданный Его Величества... Не мне судить, но кажется, будто эта музыка слегка старовато для 1982 года. Когда у нас уже были всякие постпанки там и прочее. С другой стороны... это же вроде как попса? А она может жить долго. Мне дико понравился альбом! Это редко бывает в последнее время. Ну это же супер стильно звучит! Может быть, я перевдохновлялся британской эстетикой, но мне очень сильно запали в душу богатые на разные звуки аранжировки. И духовая секция, и клавишные-клавесинчики... всё вместе как оркестр. И так ненавязчиво... С другой стороны, концовку (прям как Lynyed Skynyrd) смазали... но попытались реабилитировать последней песней (прям как Lynyed Skynyrd). Может, я действительно бумер?

Wow! Legit great album. So fun.

Joooooder...otra puta maravilla(PSP)

80s ska Lahhhndahhhntown

Big bold sax, vaudeville, Pythonesque, campy in its own way. The musical embodiment of walking through a carnival hall of mirrors

so saxy

I was waiting and hoping for my crazy Rocksteady crew. Not disappointed.

This isn't available in the United States, so I had to skip this one. I'm going to make up for it by diving into the rest of their discography! Just not right now!

Go Go Power Rangers Go Go Power Rangers Go Go Power Rangers You Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers This record made me feel like one of the Power Rangers. I did some high kicks and jumping around. It was awesome. My favourite Power Ranger is the White Power Ranger.

Great album. The music is rich, and the songs are fun.

REALLY COOL

I think the only Madness album I'd listened to before was a greatest hits, and I couldn't get quite get into the Ska-iness of it. This was quite refreshing however, seemed to go a bit deeper than their main hits. Definitely one to give another listen to

Didn’t know they sung Our Houseb

this album shows the versatility of Madness, and it's criminal people don't know more of their songs except "Our House" and "One Step Beyond". my favorite songs were definitely "Mr. Speaker", "Blue Skinned Beast", and "Madness". would definitely listen to again.

Surprised how varied it was

First 10 seconds and you know who is playing... it's definitely Madness.

Why this album by Madness, there are far better

I listened to this a bunch in highschool. Two catchy.

The guys sound like Beatles sometimes, but it's 1986. Tomorrow's (Just another day) is the coolest.

MADNESS

Vermakelijk album, vette sound.

Not really my style, but good.

Always fun when the one famous song you know from an album is not even close to the most interesting one. Best track: Primrose Hill

I've always loved Madness for their singles but have never listened to an album. They never really struck me as an albums band but this is a beautiful work musically and lyrically. A real gem.

Love it… (well, love most of Madness albums actually). Fresh and lyrics with a twist

Really fun album! Clever instrumentation, and a lot of great songs. Will be coming back to this one, too bad I could only find it on YouTube.

Really cool album. Never heard of these guys and had no idea who the artist of Our House even was. Can't get enough of these artsy British pop bands.

Очень понравилось. Очередной закрытый пробел. Не знал Madness вообще, пускай и слышал Our House.

It's like if Avenged Sevenfold was an 80s british rock band and wrote The Wall. 4 stars.

Buen sonido

I am reviewing this album with a very big asterisk -- as it was never released in North America, I only have access to 6/13 songs. Those six songs, though, are pretty great. It's a shame that Madness was essentially a one-hit wonder on this side of the pond, thanks to this album's "Our House". A catchy number, to be sure, but they're so much more than that. The six songs sampled here are near pop perfection. I'm surprised to hear that they're considered a two-tone/ska band, as that vibe is minimal here, and seems to be just one of many sounds explored on this record. It's very instrumentally dense, but I guess that's a result of having seven guys in the band. I'd definitely be down to check out more Madness in the future.

Great Album from GB's best-known SKA-Band. Not pure SKA anymore, but...well: have a listen!

Lots of fun songs.

Kolejny pik wyspiarski, ale tym razem bardziej tradycyjny i pasujacy do listy, bo plyta z 82, grupy ktora po statach spotifajowych mozna okreslic jako bande jednego przeboju, chociaz mnie samemu zarowno nazwa zespolu, jak i albumu nic nie mowila przed odsluchem, dopiero trak numer 7 uswiadomil mi, ze gdzies juz to slyszalem, bo kto nie zna tak brytyjskiego kawalka jak our house, ale jestem zdziwiony, ze plyta sluchala sie tak dobrze, a tylko jeden czy dwa traki sa z niej sluchane na lastfmie czy spotifaju i grupa wydaje sie dosc zapomiana muzycznie w porownaniu do takich specialsow, ktory tworzyli w podobym czasie i calkiem podobny gatunkowo material, chociaz ciezko tutaj o jakakolwiek klasyfikacje, bo discog mowi o popowym krazku w stylu ska, to juz bardziej 2 tone pasuje jak w na drugim albumie specialsow, ale jednak calosciowo ta plyta o wiele bardziej przypadla mi do gustu, bo ma ona na siebie jakis pomysl, tym pomyslem bedzie motyw poczatkow i koncow jak wskazuje tytul, za czym ida motywy dziecinstwa, przemijania, dekadencji, wiec nie obylo sie takze od disu na thatcherowa, pojawia sie takze motyw pajeeta znikac na traku new delhi, wiec takie niezbyt popowe motywy, za to od strony instrumentalnej jest o wiele bardziej zachowawczno, bo siedmioosobowa banda jak przystalo na okolo skawowe klimaty uzywa mocno instrumentow detych, wiec trabki i saksy sa mocno slyszalne, do tego wykorzystanie zarowno kontrabasu jak i standardowej giaty basowej jest odczuwalne, wielkim plusem jak dla mnie jest brak synthowego brzmienia, a zamiast tego piano, prawie cala plyta jest spiewana przez jednego wokaliste, to jest pana Suggsa, ktory pomimo tego, ze brzmi jak prawdziwy wyspiarz, to jednak artykuluje sie wystarczajaco czysto aby wokale byly zrozumiale o co ciezko na niektorych brytyjksich pikach, jedynie ostatni trak madness (is all in the mind) jest wykonywany przez wokal wspierajacy albumu trebacza bandy mistera Smytha, nie spodziewalem sie, ze tak mi podejdzie ten 43 minutowy krazek z gatunku 2 tonowych, na plejke wrzucam robotniczy kawalek tomorrow (just another day), wspomiany juz wczesniej madness i najpopularniejszy song zespolu, czyli our house

Love this band. Not my fav album of theirs but has some of their best songs for sure.

Awesome album

What, Spotify doesn’t have this album?!? Very annoying. But the good thing is I’m already quite familiar with Madness. They bring consistently fun and dynamic 80s ska to the table and you have a good time listening. Lots of danceable grooves, so they made brunch fun this morning. Our House is an all-time classic fave. Love these guys!

Definitely my vibe. Very good. Didn't know I knew so many songs by these guys. Great album, on my vinyl collection wishlist.

great ska album, also nice its a concept album thats kind of unique in being positive and human

This is super British 80's pop and I kinda liked it, especially their big hit, "Our House". 6/10.

Good album, but i don’t like the remixes

Nostalgia trip. Reminded me of being 40

good album,enjoyed it. Very eclectic.

I'm very familiar with Madness's singles, but I've never given their albums a listen. I really should have, because this was fun! Beyond the hit singles "Our House" and "Tomorrow's Just Another Day", highlights include "Primrose Hill" and "New Delhi".

Shame that the full album isn’t on Spotify.

I really liked this album. I’m a big ska fan so was familiar with Madness prior to listening, but I had never listened to a whole album. Very fun and Our House is such a good pop song!

J'ai passé un très bon moment en compagnie d'Inspecteur Gadget, même si j'ai trouvé la structure des pistes un peu redondante: Gogo rise and fall, gogo tomorrow's, gogo blueskinned beast. Vous l'aurez compris cet album présentait des sonorités très intéressantes.

Punk overtones and vocals interlaced with brass band, Old time piano, harmonica vibrato. Very madhouse/Tim burton/haunted mansion feel. Fun and interesting listen. Rise and fall, mr speaker, tomorrow’s just another day.

"The Rise & Fall" is the fourth studio album by the English Ska band Madness. It is known as their most experimental album by also incorporating a range f other styles - jazz, English musical hall and Eastern influences. Within those, I mostly heard the musical hall category. I would say that this is also kind of in the pop category...great choruses and happier-sounding, upbeat music. It was originally conceived to be a concept album about child nstalgia. According to lead singer, Suggs, each band member was to write songs about their childhood, but not everyone did that. The album has been compared to The Kinks' "Village Green Preservation Society" and Blurs' "Parklife." I see the "Parklife" comparison. For some reason, this album was not released in the US. I'm not sure why; "Our House" was a huge song. I enjoyed pretty much every song. There is a lot going on in almost every song with these band members. "Rise and Fall" starts things off in grand fashion with sax, piano, keyboards and quickly changes to a quicker more ska-pace tempo. It then slows back down and speeds up. Nice sax solo. "Tomorrow's (Just Another Day)" was the second single and has a more melancholy-pop feel. Defintely music hall influenced. Cool harmonica. Great vocals and chorus repeating the song title. The third song "Blue Skinned Beast" takes a swing at Margaret Thatcher and her Falkland's War handling. Quick and changing tempo, more in the Ska style. Great sax. Not much to say about "Our House." Love the start, the way each instrument is incorporated and especially the vocals and lyrics. "Brother got a date tonight, we cant hang around" The last song. "Madness (Is All in the Mind)" is also worth a listen, more in the jazz style. Madness was a big band in the UK and Europe overall. Not so much in the US, besides "Our House." This was my first dive into them and two thumbs up. Not a bad song and a good listen just to appeciate the activity of the band overall.

Puro ska