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Wonderful is the seventh studio album by the British band Madness, released on 1 November 1999. It was the band's first studio album in fourteen years since Mad Not Mad in 1985, and also the first to feature their classic seven-piece line-up since 1984's Keep Moving. The album saw Madness reunite with their original production team, Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, who had produced all of the band's previous work.[1][2]

Wonderful
Studio album by Madness
Released	1 November 1999 (UK)
Recorded	1999
Studio	Westside Studios, London
Genre	Ska pop
Length	41:54
Label	Virgin
Producer	Clive Langer Alan Winstanley
Madness chronology
Universal Madness (1999) Wonderful (1999) Our House: The Original Songs (2002)
Singles from Wonderful
"Lovestruck" Released: 19 July 1999 "Johnny the Horse" Released: October 1999 "Drip Fed Fred" Released: January 2000

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[3]
BBC News	favourable[4]
NME	[5]
Record Collector	[6]

The BBC's Chris Charles said "... Wonderful finds the boys in their best form since 1981's Madness 7."[4] Allmusic's Evan Cater gave the album 4 out of 5 stars and said "On the whole, it's a pretty successful return."[3] In a review of the 2010 re-release, Terry Staunton of Record Collector stated that although "All the essential components are in place...something doesn’t quite gel…". Staunton thought the opening single "Lovestruck" was well done but "elsewhere there’s a niggling feeling that the band are trying too hard to replicate the sound of yore, studiously ignoring the fact that times – and the players themselves – have changed."[6]

Track listing

2010 reissue

Disc 1 - the original album

• Contains the full album plus three promo videos

The promo videos

1. "Lovestruck"
2. "Johnny the Horse"
3. "Drip Fed Fred"

Disc 2 - the bonus tracks

Chart performance

Chart (1999)	Peak position
UK Albums Chart[7]	17

Personnel

Madness

• Graham "Suggs" McPherson – lead vocals
• Mike Barson – keyboards
• Chris Foreman – guitar
• Mark Bedford – bass
• Lee Thompson – saxophones, guest vocals on track 6
• Daniel Woodgate – drums
• Cathal Smyth – backing vocals, lead vocals on track 3

Additional personnel

• Jason Bruer – saxophone
• Terry Edwards – saxophone, brass arrangements
• Michael Kearsey – trombone
• Jason McDermid – trumpet
• Pablo Cook – percussion
• The London Session Orchestra – strings
• Gavyn Wright – orchestral and strings leader
• Simon Hale – string arrangements, conductor
• Ian Dury – guest vocals on track 6
• Steve Donnelley – dobro guitar on track 5
• Mitch – backing vocals on track 4
• Sarah Cracknell – backing vocals on track 8

Technical

• Clive Langer – production
• Alan Winstanley – production
• Mark Bishop – assistant engineer
• Martin Parr – front cover photography
• Mark Bedford – design
• Robert Stimpson – design
• Dani Golfieri – design assistant
• Neil Evans – design assistant

2010 reissue

• Tim Turan – remastering
• Martin "Cally" Callomon – art direction, design
• Nik Rose – artwork ("re-jigging and fettling")
• Robert Elms – liner notes

Notes

• "4 am" is a re-recorded version of the song that appeared on Suggs' solo album The Lone Ranger in 1995.
• "If I Didn't Care" is a cover of a song originally recorded by the Ink Spots.
• Providing the vocals to "Drip Fed Fred" would be Ian Dury's last chart single release and final TV appearance on The National Lottery Show before his death in March 2000.
• Despite being the title of the album, "You're Wonderful" only made it as a b-side on one of the editions of the "Johnny the Horse" single. However, it is included on the Japanese version of the album, along with another song which was a b-side in the UK: "Round and Round".

References

External links

• Wonderful at Discogs (list of releases)

На других языках

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- [en] Wonderful (Madness album)

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[it] Wonderful (Madness)

Wonderful è un album discografico in studio del gruppo musicale ska/pop britannico Madness, pubblicato nel 1999. Si tratta del primo album con la line-up originale dal 1984.

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