One Step Beyond

33⅓ Main Series #66

by Terry Edwards

One Step Beyond isn't the best album in the world - it's not even the best album by Madness. It is, however, a great record and an exceptional debut album -fully formed despite half the band still being in their teens - and it remains as exhilarating, inspiring and as much fun as when people first heard it nearly 30 years ago. Through extensive interviews with the band, as well as producers Clive Langer & Alan Winstanley, Terry Edwards tells the inside story of how Madness rose to be the most successful singles band of the 1980s in the UK charts.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

180 pages, Paperback

First published August 13, 2009

Reviews

[Alex Sarll]

There are plenty of 33 1/3s where I'd rather the author had picked another album by the act, but this is probably the only one where he was talking to them while they recorded the one I would have chosen, so has the excuse that it didn't exist yet. Besides, Edwards admits that while Madness' debut might not be their best album, it's a great place to take stock of a band who haven't been written about nearly as much as they deserve, covering everything from their split songwriting (and how they balance that with keeping everyone happy) to the degree to which, even at this early stage, they were only partly a ska band. Edwards is a veteran musician himself, one who's supported Madness, played in other acts with some of them, even been a fill-in member of the group, so he brings hands-on (or maybe more lips-on?) knowledge of the little peculiarities that make such an apparently rambunctious outfit more musically complicated than they might seem – though he suggests that's also part of what makes them so catchy. In particular, while he says it's not the sort of book that will list all the chords, and refuses to get drawn into reed specifics, he does like to count bars. But that's more interesting than it sounds, honest! It also means that he gets more unguarded material from the band and their other associates than you suspect most people would have. The flipside is that this is his first book, and you can tell he's not a professional writer; he's somewhat prone to homophones, superfluous words, matey clichés, and in particular an overuse of ellipses, maybe to compensate for the way the one in the album title is missing throughout the text, and even on the cover and spine. Still, that and describing side-project single Mutants In Mega-City One as inspired by DC comics were the only times it really bothered me, and gods know there's been much worse perpetrated in this imprint by people who somehow make a living as writers and have never played on even one Tindersticks song. Similarly, plenty of them prove incapable of following the brief and keeping their focus on the advertised album, whereas Edwards takes a simple structure of one chapter per track which nonetheless allows sufficient room for digression about inspirations, live shows, B-sides and whatever else comes to mind. The overall effect is a bit like having your ear bent by an excitable geezer you've just met in a pub, but in a good way, which is very much on-brand for the band.

[Sonic · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fun, inside-look took me back to my teen years when I frequently listened to this album. Terry Edwards was not in Madness at the time of the making of this album, but having been a member at one time added to his chummy 'wink and elbow to the ribs' that he ends each section with.
And this charm of Madness, of being a bunch of friends, who somehow made you and me, us, feel included somehow, was reinforced by this book. I love all the details and comments from band members about theses songs, and the making of this great album.

[Nathan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to love this, as it's hard to find a legitimate reason not to love anything about Madness. However, this book really let me down. It's just a bunch of incessant ramblings-on by a person who was involved in part of that classic scene. There was no direction, and it really felt like there was no point . Alas, the one saviour was the new font used by the series, which made my day.

[Jo Coleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent read about a band I know very well and yet not at all. I didn't even know that Suggs doesn't sing all the songs, let alone noticed that so many of their hits don't bother with a chorus - or that 'Night Boat To Cairo' claims that Egypt is prone to monsoons... Terry Edwards is great fun as a writer and I enjoyed all the times he broke off from the narrative to appreciate saxophones.

[Michael Legge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shame he dies in the end.

[Lee Osborne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Madness - they were the first band I ever liked when I was a kid - so I was keen to give this a read. It's part of a series, written by various authors, going over the making of a number of classic albums.

The introduction notes that a good five or six of the songs from this album still make the setlist of every Madness gig, and forty years after its release, that's no mean feat. I didn't see them live until 2014, but seeing "One Step Beyond", "Night Boat to Cairo", "My Girl" and "Bed and Breakfast Man" performed at their gigs is still a stunning experience. So yes...there's some strong songs here. There's a few absolute turkeys as well, and the book is willing to highlight those weak spots.

The author has played on stage with the band, and clearly knows them all well, so there's a lot of interviews and anecdotes from those involved in writing and performing the songs. There's a lot in here I didn't know, and so I found it a very interesting read. It shed a lot of light on things, and it was a useful reminder that several members of the band were only 18 when this album was released. It makes it a bit easier to forgive the rough edges when you bear that in mind, especially some of the more naïve lyrics ("Mummy's Boy" stands out as a song that hasn't aged well).

It prompted me to give the album a listen again, and appreciate it a little more, although I'm firmly of the opinion that the next three albums were much stronger. By then, the band had matured a lot and were capable of some truly amazing songwriting and musicianship.

I see a few people didn't think much of this book, but as a big fan of the band, I really enjoyed it, as it's packed with fascinating little details. Some of the contents are a bit technical - I'm no music expert, so those were lost on me - but the rest of it was very readable and informative.

I think a lot of people viewed Madness as bit of a novelty band, but this book proves the point I've often made - there's far more to them than that, and they're a hugely talented bunch responsible for some wonderful tracks. Strongly recommended - and see them live if you haven't already!

[Matt Lohr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some chipper writing on this one, but it's WAY too much of an insider's book. Edwards played with and knew the members of the band, and he writes his book as if we did, too. The chummy, laddish tone is easy to read, but it kept making me feel like a guest at a party where everyone knew everyone else and I didn't know everyone. It goes deeper on the actual music than some of these books do, and that's good. Probably better for hardcore Madness fans than for more casual listeners like myself.

[Scott Butki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of the 7 or 8 33 1/3 books I have read which range from good (DJ Shadow, which was mostly from direct interviews) to terrible (meat is murder,
the book is a long story which references the Smiths' classic) to one difficult to categorize (the Replacements Let It Be is not about the
album so much as it is about the writer learning to love the Replacements and other great bands and the evolution of the writer into the singer-songwriter of the Decemberists.... This is one of my favorites of the bunch. Good analysis, interviews with the band and, bonus, the author is not only a musician but one who has actually played with Madness.

In sum, it's a good book about a great album.

[keatssycamore · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of those entries in the series where one likely enjoys it much more if one is musically trained. This type always makes me wonder why my tone deaf self w/no training beyond a seventh grade year of hell failing at sax makes me question why the hell I keep picking these books up. But then I figure they're all so short, why not gamble, and I do it again (and again).

[Vanyo666 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Marginally interesting, even for a Madness fan like me.
Quite revelatory about the power dynamics in the early times of the band, but written in a too chummy insider tone that is detrimental.

[Brad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though charmingly British in every way, this volume doesn't offer much to readers who aren't already fans with some working knowledge of the band.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little too inside jokey but Madness is criminally under-appreciated in the stated nonetheless.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun narrative of one of the funnest albums ever.