Almost everyone who owns a radio knows the song “Our House.” And while the guys comprising Madness are unquestionably glad they collectively wrote that song and subsequently made a (night) boatload of money from the effort, it shouldn’t be considered the pinnacle of the group’s creative achievement.

That song cropped up during the mid eighties, but even Madness’ first long player of the decade saw profound shifts from what was portrayed on the ensembles first disc, One Step Beyond.

By 1980, the punk thing had pretty much become a joke. And along with it a great deal of Two Tone stuff had changed to the point that it was difficult to recognize. That being said, a number of critics saw the changing approach to song craft as bands maturing.

Regardless of that being a proper distillation of the situation, the bouncy ska reveled in over the course of One Step had pretty much disappeared by Absolutely. Still present was a pervasive sense of fun – even if the songs didn’t necessarily all touch upon the lighter side of life.

A pronounced, white R&B influence crops up pretty frequently, “Ernie” being a prime suspect. But what’s important to reckon is that Madness, like other ska acts, appreciated a generous skinhead following. And skinheads (of the non-racist variety) enjoyed dance music. So while “Ernie” might not be to the liking of baldies today, or then, the song served a purpose.

Even beyond that, though, Absolutely reached near the top of the charts. And with that wealth of new fans, there had to be some work represented on the album that was grabbing folks.

For the relative purist, though, tracks like “Close Escape” were kept aboard for this effort. As with most Madness tracks that actually (kinda) properly ape a JA music thing, some listeners might hear the cheese ball eighties’ influence as much as anything else. And while that’s a point of view not easily dismissed, Madness was a UK band comprised of a buncha white guys. Players straight from JA might not have worked up this material, but as an extension of the earlier cohorts, Madness does a fine job representing the time and place that it hailed.

Following “Close Escape” is “Not Home Today.” And for a moment it sounds as if August Pablo composed the track. Reaching the hook, though, becomes problematic. Again, purists are going to make the gas-face at this one, but Madness serves a purpose as a marker of the genre’s development.