Posted on: November 27, 2012 Posted by: John B. Moore Comments: 0

Though the UK ska band Madness may always be trapped in 1982 for many of their U.S. fans, thanks to the wildly popular “Our House,” the two-tone group has continued to build up their resume since reuniting in the early 90’s. Though the success has mainly been limited to Europe (they were tapped to play the closing ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics along with a number of festivals), the group’s latest is reason enough for us to start paying attention to the band again over here.

 

The dreadfully titled Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da, the band’s 10th album to date, includes some impressively addictive tracks like the album opener “My Girl 2,” a timelessly solid track that could just have come out in the early 80’s; the surprisingly sentimental “How Can I tell You”; or “Misery,” a song that is impossible to listen to with bobbing your head along, keeping time.

 

A bit ambitious, with 14 racks, the band manages to dilute the album a bit with a couple of mediocre songs like the maudlin “Never Knew Your Name” and hokey “La Luna,” but taken as a whole the record averages out to a pretty impressive comeback for a band that had apparently been here all along.

 

Madness – Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da (CD) neufutur.com/14 tracks/eOne/2012

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