Absolutely by Madness

Absolutely, the second album from Madness, came out on Stiff on 26 September 1980 with Clive Langer producing, and it finds the Camden Town gang, leading lights of the two-tone ska revival, turning the knees-up of their debut into something wittier and a touch more wistful. Suggs sings, Mike Barson's piano and keyboards bounce along, Lee Thompson's sax honks, Cathal Smyth adds trumpet and backing vocals, and Mark Bedford and Daniel Woodgate keep the bass and drums skanking.

"Baggy Trousers" went to No. 3 in the UK and hung around the singles chart for more than four months, "Embarrassment" reached No. 4, and even the instrumental "The Return of the Los Palmas 7" made No. 7, while the album itself got to No. 2. Reviewers weren't quite as smitten as they'd been with One Step Beyond..., but the notices were mostly good, and Lee Thompson has since named it his favourite Madness album.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.