When Madness appeared on Saturday afternoon at the Glastonbury Festival this year, there may initially have been a sense of “another Glastonbury, another Madness set” but that was kicked into touch by their preposterous version of ACDC’s “Highway to Hell”. It wasn’t good, exactly, but it certainly woke everyone up, grabbed the crowd by the short’n’curlies. By the end of their performance “It Must Be Love” had become a passionate anti-Brexit anthem, salving the wounds of the assembled. They’d proved themselves yet again.
A sack of golden early 1980s hits remains the foundation of their reputation, but unlike many of their peers, notably The Specials, they remain a creatively restless unit. If it wasn’t for their unpretentious, light entertainment-friendly, and geezer-ish image, they’d surely be more universally acknowledged as one of the greatest of all British pop groups. Their new album certainly holds its own. In fact, it’s their most immediate album since 1999’s Wonderful (although 2009’s The Liberty of Norton Folgate was a grower).
Lead single “Mr Apples” is a classic song-sketch of a local busybody who has a seamy side, to put alongside the band’s own “In the Middle of the Night” (and, indeed, Pink Floyd’s “Arnold Layne”), while the gentle sax-soaked “Pam the Hawk” is in a similar but more affectionate vein. At an hour long and consisting of 16 numbers, not every song’s a corker but by far the majority boast Madness’s ability to combine music hall fairground stomp with ska, all woven through with poignancy, nostalgia and observation. The album’s title track is effervescent and emotive, “You Are My Everything” is a strident - rather than soppy - love song, “Blackbird” hits the spot, offering a snapshot of Suggs briefly meeting Amy Winehouse in rainy Soho, while the twangy guitar of “Grandslam” is a worthy cousin to their 1981 hit “Shut Up”.
And there’s plenty more juice too. Can’t Touch Us Now showcases a band comfortable with who they are and still in touch with their mojo, never drifting too far from what their fans loved about them in the first place.
