The Rise & Fall

Ska is not my thing.

Our House is a classic and I really enjoyed It Must Be Love, but there were also songs on her that sounded like circus tunes. On one I heard “I’m a big boy now” so not sure how high a rating I can give on this one.

I know Madness, of course, for "Our House." A fantastic song that thankfully is on this album. The album is not on Apple Music however, apparently it was never released in the US at all. Still, I pieced together as many tracks as I could on Apple Music and decided if I liked enough to investigate the rest of the album, I would. Turns out, "Our House" is the only song that struck a chord with me. Nothing else stood out or stuck around, so I didn't get into the 5-6 songs that I couldn't access. Maybe it's residual fatigue from all the other British new wave type bands we've listened to, but these poor lads didn't move the needle. If they've got devoted fans, surely those fans would call me blasphemous for declaring Madness a one hit wonder. But that's how I'm feeling. Favorite tracks: Our House. Album art: Assortment of odd blokes, including a guy doing snake charmer brownface, a la Dana Carvey in Master of Disguise. I hope this cover haunts him like the painting of Dorian Gray. 2.5/5

Realy realy mediocre!! Should never ever be in this list! It isn't even the best Madness album! Mayby their 3rd best album and even their best one, One Step Beyong should never ever be on this list!!

It's not all bad, but "The Rise & Fall" loses a star just for never being released in the US, rendering it impossible to even listen to the whole thing. I found some bits and pieces of it out of order on the "Madness" compilation, but it's just ok. Even "Our House," while fondly remembered, isn't my jam.

Full on JBZ with this b!

Similar to the Sparks album we had a few weeks ago, I think it's safe to say the members of Madness are brilliant. These are complex songs with a lot of layers and surprising turns. But complexity is rarely the friend of pop music. I can appreciate the band’s craft from a distance but the songs were too busy and complicated for me to get into, at least on a first listen. I'm sure repeated listens would open up the album more. I usually like this kind of Kinks-y British pop but I didn’t connect to this album. "Our House" is a jam though! I know it from the Maxwell House coffee ads 😂: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKuOQSQj9OI Last track was good too - a nice, straightforward jazzy number.

I expected to like this a lot more than I did. Our House is fun and the whole album bounces along with some neat nostalgic lyrics. But somehow it never really turned into anything much more.

Look, ‘our house’ is a good song, but I kinda find the rest of the album pretty boring

I didn't realize that I knew Our House. It is pretty decent, not something I would personally return to. Also, blackface is never cool.

Limp 80's cheesiness.

Only got to listen to a compilation because the album isn’t available to me. I love their two hits but the rest sounds like carnival music.

Saber via wikipedia que era uma banda de ska criou uma expectativa que não se confirmou. Reconheci apenas o hit Our House como presentante do ska que eu esperava.

I mean I quite like "Our House" but it's like a novelty record. Don't get on with their regular stuff at all.

Not much to like

One good track, the rest is not really for me, and even the one good track isn't great.

Madness have been surpassed by so many bands since

Pretty lame album by this band. Maybe that’s why it wasn’t available on Apple or Spotify. Either way this album wasn’t that good and our house was the only song worth revisiting. Some older British music was pretty bad in the 70s. 3.5/10

I never really liked them. But this album is listenable.

Concept albums: sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. This is a don’t. At least there is one gem in there, 80’s classic, Our House. The rest very forgettable.

very British very background our house is on this album 2.5

'Our House' is one of the greatest pop songs of all time. Love it. Nothing else on the album rose to nearly the same level for me. The production was a little stilted which meant most of the record doesn't quite have the rambunctious energy of the earlier Madness albums, which I missed. Really, Madness were always a stellar singles band. Any one of their many singles compilations is a fantastic listen, and their albums are a little patchy, in my opinion.

Catchy, but a little too silly for me.

Didn't do much for me. Our house is a classic, but other than that nothing really caught my ear. Not a big ska fan

Our House and 12 Other Boring Songs

My friend say it all : "Our House and 12 Other Boring Songs"

There's nothing absolutely atrocious about this record, it all fits together, but it never becomes engaging or good. It's even rather boring.

I'd like to go higher than a 2 but it's novelty ska really isn't it? A whole album was a bit much

I really wish the full thing was on Spotify.

A few bops

I've never been a big fan of White-Men-Do-Ska Madness, and this did little to challenge that, but wasn't as cringeworthy and grating as I normally find them. Our House is of course a standout classic. There are some definite moments when you wince, particularly at the "accents" used at the end of New Delhi, mirrored by the brownface on the cover... A product of its time, I suppose.

2,5; Our House is a classic but the rest of the album is just very mid

2.1 - fun sound, but nothing in the entire album really stood out to me.

Not a fan of the sound, to my ear it’s the same generic uninspiring synth pop vocals that plague the 80s. Music is somewhat simple and slow, with very anti-melodic, darker vibes. Tbh I didn’t understand why this even made the list until I heard….”OUR HOUSE”. Ah, now I get it. Two stars because they immortalized at least one song in coffee commercials, and because they use some interesting instrumentation, are obviously *somewhat* compositionally unique….but all in all, I hate it.

El ska es slgo inconcluso, esta bien pero....

The UK band Madness created a more experimental sounding album for this one - their fourth album. The album can be categorized as pop or new wave, but the music includes some jazz and Eastern influences. This concept album has gained more popularity over time, especially in America where it was never originally released. The music is upbeat and the songs flow well from one to the next. A perfect album to capture the British pop era of the 1980s.

Couple good songs but not loving this one. Sounds a bit too much like a circus.

This is ska then, huh? Yeah, tsaight

Just a happy crew of English kooks playing second wave ska. I don't think I found the correct album, but tried the compilation "Madness" because it seemed to have most of the right tracks. Our House is great fun. Feels like the rest try to catch a groove but can't. The ska is pretty stiff, but still a good time. 1 star each for helping pave the way for the American third wave of Reel Big Fish and MM Bosstones C+

Looking past the brownface on the album cover, and the fact the album isn't fully available on Spotify, I still give it a 2. It's a little too precious, a little too out there. Maybe if I put in the effort to seek out the full album it could earn more stars, but here we are.

Like the sound and has some undeniable classics but it became quite repetitive

Fun and funky

1.5 hot wonder

Typisch Madness, dat dan weer wel

I knew Madness from the songs Baggy Trousers and One Step Beyond. This album is quite different, and I genuinely didn't know they had made Our House too. The rest of the album is ok music wise, but wtf is up with the brown face on the cover? That's a nope from me, dawg.

More depth than the singles but ,while sort of interesting , just doesn't stack up against the house of fun.

I would say I am not in a unique position to be aware of Madness through their lead single "Our House", but unaware of the existence of any other song on this record (House of Fun is the other exception). Halfway through this album, I am struggling to continue. I find most tracks sung boringly with unengaging lyrics, soft instrumentals and weird effects. A 1 is too harsh, but more than a 2 is not being fair.

Its not a 1 only because Our House.

Solid album with few good songs. Personally sounds similar to other albums on this list, nothing spectacular.

It's hard to categorise Madness - there's not much ska / reggae on here. Always catchy though, with quite a lot of melancholy through it. Is it as good as the Best of Madness? No.

Couldn't get into this one yesterday, maybe on a different day.. They have quite a unique sound, not a fan of 'our house' though

.

I guess I prefer 3rd wave ska.

One good song, the rest not for me.

Had it's moments but ultimately annoying

Blue Skinned Beast is a pretty cool song, though this is not the best Madness album. That will always be One Step Beyond. Though Our House may well be the best Madness song. New Delhi is okay. yea the second half of the album drops way off after Our House.

Nada nuevo o relevante. No le había metido a fondo a Madness y tenía ese pendiente desde que los vi en vivo en un festival y vi que saben su negocio tocando en vivo. Me decepcionó. Muchas canciones parecen historias de juglar. Le quitas los metales y no trae nada. Ganaron bien su lugar como one hit wonder (bueno, 2)

Our house is a great song. I really like 80s two tone ska but Madness was never my favourite, maybe its a bit too slow, a bit twee, not as energetic as Specials. Didn't love this. Didn't hate it either. High 2 / Low 3

Un disco entretenido pero no me enganchó.

Very british

One great song, worthy of commercial success. 12 explorations in cacophony.

I read somewhere that this was their most experimental album, and that tracks. It feels like they threw everything at the wall to see what stuck. They got their only hit out of it, but the album lacks any cohesion.

I'm giving it two stars because mercifully Spotify US only had 4 tracks available from this album.

Not for me man

Longest 43 minutes of my life

One star for "Our House" and absolutely nothing for the rest of it.

NEM TERMINEI AINDA MAS CHATO PRA CARALHO PQP

racist drek. between the cover and "new delhi", it is an insult to even consider debating this album on the merits as if any merit is equivalent to something so gross. you'd think a ska revival act would maybe be a little more racially conscious given whose musical cultural they are taking. thankfully there aren't any merits here anyway so arguably it's both taking and butchering because this was just miserable. the only song that at least halfway has anything going for it is "our house", but even then, it's not worth suffering the rest of the album. the way the vocalist sings this on top of everything else is genuinely nails on chalkboard tier.

If I can draw your attention to the cover art here, you'll notice an elephant in the room. One that's gonna make rating this positively quite hard. I wonderf if they themselves are aware of this because its also the only album quite hard to find on streaming services in any official form, it's on the Madness Youtube but seemingly only in the past year and due to being uploaded by an independent music company. I feel like Madness has one reaaaally good albums worth of songs spread across numerous albums and singles releases. The rest is somewhere between okay and pretty good. Our House is the star here with Madness (Is All in The Mind) a not-so-close runner up. Madness' own youtube playlist has House of Fun in it despite not actually being on the album, which is unfortunate because I really love that song. It's probably between a 3 and 4 for me based on ALL the song... but it gets 2 points off for brownface and the very racist 'New Delhi' song fuck it.

Technically this was a DNF but I had like one and a half songs left. I was admittedly in a bit of a sour mood this morning when I listened to The Rise and Fall on my morning commute. On the one hand, I can take that fact and cut Madness some slack, but on the other hand I can consider that listening to this album did nothing to alleviate / transport me from my grumpiness and instead made me more irritable. I'm always more inclined to say "this just wasn't for me" when I don't like something, and this really wasn't for me. I felt like someone tried to make an entire album of worse versions of "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite". My apologies to the band Madness and to their fans.

😴

NA

i dont need ska

Quite unfathomable to imagine that music like this helped these men get laid in the 80s

This was a tough listen. Like bad British circus music

Our House House of Fun

Legitimately awful, saved by one song

Hmmm..thought I liked ska music.. but it must have been another band.

I don't like this at all.

Not on Amazon music

Jokanen biisi on ku jostain brittisarjan alkuteksteistä.. Eih kyllä tällästä shittiä

Our House is the only good song imo. Everything else was pointless to me.

As a British person born in a working class family and community in the 80s I’m probably meant to say that I love Madness and some tracks do have a certain nostalgic value to them but they just don’t resonate with me at all.

Didn't feel particularly inspired by this at all. It felt completely unoriginal, and somehow also managing to be boring and messy at the same time.

1/5

Nostalgia allowed me to enjoy Our House, but the rest of this sounds like regional co-op art space musical theater (not a compliment.)

I got mildly excited when I read this was an English ska album. I guess I was expected something along the lines of the Clash. As I've learned from this list, I should manage my expectations. Four songs in and I'm like, what the hell am I listening to. Take the cheesiest parts of ska, get rid of the more punkish attitude and just take on some New Wave silliness, maybe some glam rock posturing. Add in some zany whistles and sound effects to bring a circus-like effect to this. "Calling Card" is atrocious. Not great. What's the neeed? Our House, the main single, was the only song that was half decent. But taken in context of the rest of this album, I probably enjoyed that song less given now that I see what it's part of. At least listening to this reinforces that these guys are a one-hit wonder. 1/5.

Ruim

Son ok mais bof

Some of these tracks are familiar. I wasn't keen on Madness in period regarding them as one of those 'novelty bands' that were a peculiar feature of the British singles chart. There are some terrible songs, 'Blue Skinned Beast' is particularly awful, sounding like three tracks crudely Sellotaped together... I've reached track 7 and I am almost frantic for the whole thing to end. Track 9... I can't stand it any more. I am out, before the trauma becomes permanent. No... this is a deeply annoying album that I find almost unlistenable. 1/5.

Totally not for me.

Not for me. 1/5

Para beatear las allegations voy a volver a escuchar estos álbumes y después dirá como me sentí día a día

nah

Our House is a decent enough song (only one of theirs I knew prior to today) but not enough to salvage this mess. Goofy ass circus music. Would’ve been a 2 but the brown/black face and fake Indian accent on one of the tracks was atrocious.

"Our House" is a cool song, but the rest is really not good imho, the longer i listened to it, the more annoyed i got from it.

This album reminded me of a carnival. But like, one where the ride operator blows a smoke ring right into your face as you hop on the Gravitron. And as soon as that Gravitron starts up, and you’re pinned to the wall, it starts to rise. Every few seconds, you get a glimpse of that ride operator. Wait a second, is he putting a needle into his arm?? Oh my god, did he just pass out? Is he dead? And all this, while you continue to spin, stuck to the wall of this Gravitron. A ride you can’t get off of, and just continues to spin as the cacophony of sounds and screams all blend together… Anyways this album kinda sucked.

Sing a long a cheeky cockney musical. Aren’t they so clever and funny.

Couldn't get this one on my streaming service.

No lo pude terminar, las canciones que escuché eran como sonidos aleatorios juntos y mucho más fuertes que las voces

The beats, tempos, arrangements, cords, vocals, and lyrics all felt like they were fighting against each other and had no idea that they were being recorded. This was bad. Madness is a very apropos name for this band. 1.1/10 110/1001

Not available on Qubuz. Kinda weird. Not totally into it.

This album doesn’t exist, false advertising

Album doesn't exist in full anywhere i could find. Thus I can't listen to it

Not that much to go off of here

Sorry Suggs, couldn't make it to the end

It just isn't very good.

A huge disappointment after the first 3 albums. Only the hit song Our House rises above the rubbish.

I could not find this album on Tidal, Apple Music, or Qobuz

1 stern

Geezer Pop. Not for me.

Only 3 songs is… interesting… Primrose is not very memorable, some cool riffs but for the most part just sounds like any British band. Our house has always been meh to me. It’s catchy but not in a good way. House of Fun is aptly named as the horns at the beginning made me think of a circus. And then it turns into a song that is very deliberately doing just that, again just not great. Kind of annoying. Glad this only took 9 minutes to get through.

boring.

No Bueno. Our house is the only saving grace but even that's not enough to make it a 2

I know 'Our House' but every other song is a lil too goofy for me

Boooooooring. Also, its has a shady background (and cover)

a não cara...que coisa ruim. É um men at work sem a parte boa. Uma tentativa de ser tudo ao mesmo tempo, sem estilo definido. bem ruim. Sem graça, música de filme. De "madness" essa banda aí não tem nada.... é bem "normal"...

The album cover is a red flag that this is not good. Half a song in and that snap judgement is proving absolutely spot on. New Wave or ska or whatever this is, it is awful. The early 80s were truly the nadir of modern popular music. This is like if the Clash were the worst band ever or like a cross between early Beatles and UB40. These guys make the Mighty Mighty Bosstones sound like Megadeth. Come on with the horns. This album is an early contender for the worst album in this project. Every song is like a new exercise in how annoying a throwback sound can be, in Mr. Speaker (Gets the Word)'s case, it's the barroom piano. This is the first album that's been so bad I'm questioning whether or not I'll be able to finish it. Our House...I didn't know they did this song and I'm sure it's their biggest hit, New Wave Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da. It gets worse (Are You Coming (With Me) is one of the worst songs I've ever heard. Thank God it's over.

This was a rough one for me 😅 The music itself is interesting, very 80s with the loud drums and synth sounds. Makes me wanna roll up the sleeves on my sports coat 😎 But just about every song makes me think of kids cartoons, like Ghostbusters or Goosebumps 😂 I feel like the Cryptkeeper is gonna start laughing at any second. Some songs are just odd, like New Dehli and Tiptoes. Most songs seem to be about memory, what used to be and how. Their most well known hit, Our House, speaks of a childhood that seems so foreign to me but not unknown. It's very much not something I'd listen to on my own.

This album, besides "Our House," was basically impossible to finish.

Not on Amazon music so a no go for me. Although Our House is a great 80s song.

All sound the same

Can’t find on streaming services

These guys got lucky and made Our House and ended up on this list SMH

Goofy ass album. Our house in the middle of our street.

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

1/5. I mean, sure. Our House is the hit from the album, already a super annoying song, not much else is standout. House of Fun is interesting just because of the vibe but that's all it got going for it. It's not necessarily a bad album, it's just not as enjoyable as it's trying to be.

Not my style

Wasn’t on Apple Music auto 0

Not available on spotify

How do people enjoy this trash? Absolutely awful.

pretty bad

I’ve never liked them…silly lyrics and stolen reggae sounds

Dreadful

This was SO DAMN CLOSE to being the first enjoyable Ska album I've come across. But by some cruel ironic twist of fate, that one album has black face on the cover. And oh man, the cartoonish appropriation of Indian culture on the song New Dehli... God damn early eighties casual British racism. It also gets more and more obnoxious to listen to as it goes on, so I don't really have any qualms giving it one star at this point. Get your shit together, Ska.

Una poronga para racistas

Oof with the exception if the one good song this album is just awful. Very definition of one hit wonder.

I somewhat remember these guys from the early MTV days and seem to think I liked then at the time. I'm not sure why. What seemed to fun early, the horns and piano, got old real quick. I felt like I was listening to the background music at at circus. You know, the circus should be banned worldwide. The abuse and living conditions of the animals are terrible. We should make the circus about humans that don't deserve to walk the earth. Make then do all kinds of phucked up shit then choose members of the audience who can take the shot, whenever they're ready. Saves some money for the taxpayers and provides some cheap entertainment for those who would enjoy taking out the world's trash. Because the wasn't on Spotify, I had to listen on Youtube. At one point, I thought holy shit, they're about to cover Jimi! And I got all excited only to find it was an ad. And that was the most fun part of the album for me. Too much cheesy horns and piano made me think of the old Vaudeville theater shows with the dudes in the red/white striped hats and matching striped outfits and the quick piano banging, like in the Family Guy cut aways. Was hard to take this album serious. Did not enjoy and found to be annoying. Only listened once, but they made their point. 1

It's crazy how many full albums by one hit wonders are on this list. Our House is fine. It was the Maxwell House theme. idk

1.5 These f***ers really never got around releasing this bad boy in America, forcing me to listen to a YouTube rip… and then didn’t even make it good. There’s just way too much going on on this album. While it’s admittedly diverse in sound and style, they manage to overdo it on almost every track, resulting in the whole thing feeling overcrowded musically. In particular, things started off on a really jarring note with the title track. I had to rewind and check I loaded in on the right spot - there was just no introductory element to the track, making it feel more like something mid-listen than the opener. Part of me wonders if maybe it was an afterthought to put it first once the name of the album was decided upon. Things don’t get much better from there - The only song I found to be enjoyable or even really listenable was the album’s hit, Our House. Songs like Mr. Speaker, Sunday Morning, and New Delhi stood out to me as particularly grating, but to be honest I found most of this album annoying. Probably wouldn’t listen again. Supposedly this is considered ska music, and if that’s the case, I gotta say America’s approach to the genre in the 90s was much better than this.

Nope

Not my type

Couldn’t listen

I was very surprised when Our House started playing. This was too far out for me and just seemed jumbled

Ik haat Madness echt zo erg! Die vrolijke kutmuziek met die pseudo-gezellige deuntjes... De gehakt molen in met die toeters ook. Wat een kutband.

Shitty noise

Sorry. Nee.

heard it and it isn't worthy of making a 1001 album list

can't even play the album on spotify...

It's well done for what it is, but I don't quite get the attraction or importance.

feo con efe de no mames, no me gusta our house y es lo único rescatable. Le voy a poner 1 estrella solo por que no deja poner vacío. Fuchi, caca seguro lo puso la mafia del poder

Won't listen to this. Beyond the famous ones, I don't like ska.

Music unavailable through spotify

its a good album! although its not my music style/taste, its a fun and cool album!

it's not good