One step beyond...
This CD is awesome. It sounds wonderful, and the music still stands up 20+ years later. I love it as much today as I did when I bought it on vinyl.

Great debut
One of the most fun records to come out of the two-tone scene. A lot of the recordings from second-wave bands lack the energy that was present in their live shows, but that's not true here. Check out some of these classics. My favorite is "Night Boat to Cairo."

Old music that does not age
I am 53 years old and just the past few months started listening to SKA. Maybe out of my love for Sublime and because my 19 year old son loved SKA so much before he was taken from me. Anyway, this CD is great. I plan to purchase another one or two. The beat is always uplifting, but not annoying like some. You can turn it up or down, it is just good.

The nutty shot heard round the world
What a record this is. What fun it generates. To be a young kid when this came out was to know pure, unadulterated, danceable bliss...

I danced to it in '80 when my little brother first brought it home.

I danced to it non-stop with Lynne in the summer of '87.

My four-year old daughter and I danced our hearts out to it last night.

This record is joyous. It's nutty. It's Madness.

It's perfect
This is the cream of the 70's Brittish ska bands.

This finds the perfect balance between the bouncy fun of this style of music with quality songwriting and musicianship. This has got to be almost 30 years old yet it still holds up. You cannot really say that about Madness's cohorts, The Specials and The Selector.

The songs are terrific. "One Step Beyond" is the perfect introduction. It totally establishes the mood. Love that squonkin sax! "My Girl" has such a catchy hook and what a gorgeous chorus. The piano really gives that song it's color. "Bed & Breakfast" is a terrific dance tune with a killer sax solo. "Night Boat to Cairo" is an instrumental for a couple of minutes and then the strum on the upstroke kicks in and the song's tempo speeds up. "The Prince" slows it down where the stye is more reggae than ska.

A greatest hits compilation is good but this album is when the band hit their peak, when they really hit their stride. "My house" is more famous but these songs have a common thread for the era.

I always loved the album cover of this. It depicts these guys having fun and I always imagined that Madness was having fun and strutting like on the cover when playing these songs.

This is a masterpiece! I am not a huge fan of all their works but it all came together/never got any better then "One step beyond"