Mad Not Mad

Over the course of the album, the band both express their feelings and private problems, and address political issues. They touch on politics on "Burning the Boats", but also on a maturing disenchantment with the youth culture on "Yesterday's Men". It also features the satirical track "I'll Compete" which acknowledges their declining popularity and sales with the lyrics "Let us hurry now, time is catching up", and also exaggerates on them maturing with the line "I'm five years closer to my pension scheme".

Mad Not Mad features prolific guest backing vocalists, including the female trio Afrodiziak, and Jimmy Helms. The album is notably the band's only studio album not to feature their keyboardist and founding member Mike Barson, who had left the group the previous year to spend more time in Amsterdam with his then wife Sandra. Barson's keyboard parts were filled by synthesizers, and the album features session players Steve Nieve (keyboards) and Roy Davies (piano).[6] After the album Madness disbanded in 1986, but Barson did join them for the recording of their one-off single "(Waiting For) The Ghost Train".

The album featured the songs "Yesterday's Men", "Uncle Sam", and "Sweetest Girl" which were all released as singles, with corresponding music videos. The three singles that were released all reached the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart, however the latter two failed to make the Top 20, which was a first for any Madness single. The aforementioned "Sweetest Girl" was a cover version of a song by the British post-punk and new wave band Scritti Politti. In 1993, guitarist Chris Foreman revealed that the band had preferred to release "I'll Compete" as a single instead of "Sweetest Girl".[7]

Back inlay of Mad Not Mad album. From left to right: Smyth, Thompson, Woodgate, Bedford, Foreman and Suggs

Mad Not Mad was met with a lukewarm reception, especially on adult contemporary radio, being criticised for its over reliance on slow, dark and downbeat songs. The album was preceded by the song "Yesterday's Men" as the first single, reaching No. 18 in the UK. The album itself was released weeks later surprisingly only going to No. 16 in the UK, though it still went silver there. The track "Uncle Sam", released in October 1985 peaked at No. 21 in the UK (in a disappointing chart performance considering the lead singles from their previous albums were Top 20 hits in the UK). The third and final single, "Sweetest Girl", peaked at only No. 35 in the UK.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]
Record Collector	[9]
Record Mirror	[10]
(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide	[11]
Smash Hits	7/10[12]

In a retrospective review for AllMusic, critic Darryl Cater wrote of the album "Clive Langer and Alan Wistanley occasionally strike an inspired balance between soulful pop and subtle reggae rhythms, but more often they replace the warmth of Barson's pianos with a cold emphasis on drum machines and synthesizers. Some of the songwriting, however, is on par with the band's most mature work, and the lively melodies lend a perfect irony to the band's wry social commentary and personal brooding."[8] And reviewing for Record Collector critic, Terry Staunton wrote of the album "The Nutty Boys were veering towards an altogether gloomier form of nuttiness when this album first appeared in 1985. The wacky humour of old, already on the wane in their previous outing, Keep Moving, was almost totally eclipsed by sombre tones of resignation, best exemplified on the single Yesterday's Men."[9] And (The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide wrote that the album "finds the lads sinking into [an] unseemly self-reflection".[11]

The album was re-released in the United Kingdom, in October 2010[13] on Virgin featuring rare bonus content. The reissue was a 3-disc set which comprises a 14-track CD with the original album digitally remastered from the original 1/2" mix tapes; alongside three bonus single remixes and '(Waiting For) The Ghost Train'; a bonus 10-track CD including demos of all the album's singles and their respective B-sides; plus a bonus DVD containing all the music videos for the singles as well as live performances from five BBC TV shows. It also features liner notes written by comedian and Madness fan, Phill Jupitus.[14]

• List of albums released in 1985
• Madness' discography

• Mad Not Mad at Discogs (list of releases)