Album Review: Madness - Oui Oui, Si, Si, Ja, Ja, Da Da

As English as whinging over cold fish 'n' chips and warm beer, the Nutty Boys are back for what is surprisingly only their tenth long player. But what a way for the elder statesmen to return! The album title translates to “Yes yes, yes yes, yes yes, yes yes” and one must concede the whole thing is most agreeable.

My Girl 2 is not related to the 1979 classic single, though the riff is gratuitously ripped off from Everybody Needs Somebody, which sets a precedent for immediately addictive, catchy sing-alongs. Pull up that ol' Joanna and have a knees up to it, then carry on tearing through How Can I Tell You, So Alive and Misery. Over half these 11 songs would have made great seven-inch singles back in the day.

What's missing is that ska edge, the smell of stinky Camden Town, and dare I say sometimes it gets a bit too... white? But why trade on former glories when the six-piece sound so slick, refined and bloody well enjoying the hoopla of performing atop Buckingham Palace, or at the Olympics. 2012 was good to Suggs and Co., bringing them close to the British public's bosom once again, so this delayed international release capitalises on the masses re-taking to their maturing daftness. Death Of A Rudeboy ends the party, finally delivering the ska, the stench and yes, the colour in an emotional celebration. It's a grandly satisfying finale to a polished collection that took five producers to get right, and that in itself is just madness.