I’ve been watching wall-to-wall DNC coverage so I decided to post something simple and classic in this space. One Step Beyond was the 1979 debut album by the British ska-rockers Madness. It was a huge hit in the UK; hitting number two on the charts but sank without a trace in America.
Speaking of simple, here are the front and back covers in one jpeg. The cover image is bendily striking if there’s such a word. If not, there should be.
Here’s the title track:
One of my all time favorites although I didn’t discover it until my 2nd year in college in 1982.
Madness, The Specials, The Selector. All have black and white covers in the same Ska vein.
A British friend of mine described their popularity in the UK as crossing multiple demographics. Managed to appeal to punks and old ladies at the same time. A bit like Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass did in the 60’s-70’s. In both cases it was probably because it was fun.
Madness is all in the mind.