Madness - One Step Beyond...

While North London's Madness became known for their playful 'nutty sound', their 1979 debut possesses an undercurrent of razor-sharp social observation. Beneath Prince Buster homages and theatrical humour, songs like Bed and Breakfast Man, Razor Blade Alley and Night Boat to Cairo capture the gritty reality, loneliness and nervous claustrophobia of working-class London life.