Madness - The Lot

1999 collection on Virgin featuring the first six albums by the original nutty boys, England's hit late '70s ska revivalists Madness. Each album has been digitally remastered & contains all of the original audio tracks, plus four CD-ROM videos per disc added as a bonus! Comes packaged as three gatefold slipcases (with two CD albums per slipcase) inside of a black card slipcase with familiar gold Doc Martens boots on the cover. Also contains a 36 page booklet with interviews & quotes from 1999. A grand total of 76 audio tracks & 24 CD-ROM videos, including 'One Step Beyond', 'Our House', 'My Girl', 'House Of Fun', 'Bed And Breakfast Man', 'Baggy Trousers', 'Embarrassment', 'Return Of The Los Palmos 7', 'Grey Day', 'Cardiac Arrest', 'It Must Be Love', 'Wings Of A Dove' and 'Waiting For The Ghost Train'. The outer package is a full color CD-sized slipcase box. 1999 release. Album Description

less than what you expect

the good news: this is a really nice box set from a great band.

the bad news: although all the tracks represented in the track line up are technically on the physical CDs - they are not all in CD audio, therefore not playable on a CD player... and some of these are the BEST singles.

these CDs combine CD audio with CD-ROM data, enabling the ability to view the videos on a computer.

however, many of the videos included in the CD-ROM section are omitted from the CD audio. The result: an incomplete reissue of these great albums. when you listen to this on your CD player, you will NOT hear: house of fun, driving in my car, it must be love, the sun and the rain, wings of dove, waiting for the ghost train.

if you are a fan who wants to purchase a CD version of all these great albums convienantly: this ain't it. the highly compressed computer videos are cute, but the sound utterly sucks and you can only experience them on your computer.

it's too bad amazon didn't catch this and take these songs out of the track line up.

the record company (virgin) took a GREAT idea ("the lot") and made it kind of suck. too bad. June 7, 2006

TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT? TAKE IT!!!!

I was born in London and grew up listening to Madness from the late seventies until mid-eighties. I left England for the USA in 1985 and whenever I get that urge to return to London spritually and mentally I turn on my madness songs! I love this nutty group! I love their videos each one has its own flavor and mood. The Lot is a superb collection! May 7, 2006

UTTER MADNESS!!!!!

If your a MADNESS fan then you need to buy this. Its totaly right on. Granted its the original 7 albums but its even got the videos for the singles off of the specific album. Its totaly kick @$$ December 24, 2003

Squashing Snails

One of the most underrated bands of all time, Madness incorporated elements of reggae,ska,music hall and big band in their marvellous catalogue. All of you who remember Dan Akroyd's "Blues Brothers" dance routine, take a look at the early Madness videos and see what you have been missing. What seperated this group from their peers, was the ability to write and perform in a multitude of styles, with a touch of humor and soul. My daughter and her friends love to dance to the early hits. I hope that Virgin will get around to releasing all their great videos on one DVD shortly as it is a pain having to constantly change discs - my only complaint. July 31, 2003

Quality Album Material Often Overlooked

In this collection of the first six 'original' Madness albums, you get a lot of material heretofore missing from American releases. The tracks from "Rise and Fall" and "Seven" are worth the full price of the box set alone. A lot of these tracks have often been hard to track down in the US (especially the RaF material) and are greatly improved on with remastering. While Madness is often viewed as a simple cog in the Ska-revival wheel, the tracks on discs 3-6 prove that they were quality songwriters in their own right and even the overproduced, far too depressing "Mad Not Mad" tracks turn out to be good material on a 5th or 6th listen. Combine this with "The Business" CD set and you have all the Madness your heart could desire. May 7, 2002

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