MADNESS THE LIBERTY OF NORTON FOLGATE

Completing their career circle, their final major album together is Madness’s first album for a decade. London-centric psychogeography and social history put to music, it ranks among the band’s finest work WINSTANLEY: We said yes, as long as we could record it live, as we’d always recorded, and not use the bloody demos that you keep doing in your bedroom. They’d always moan: “Oh, you wouldn’t let us do this song or that song” – from years ago – so we said, “OK, let’s do every song, so you stop hassling us.” People could either buy the long version or the short version. LANGER: It was their first album for a long time, so it had a space to be seen as quite a refreshing release. The concept was Suggs’, with help from Peter Ackroyd! Initially, it wasn’t conceived as a concept album. It became one – or a London one – as we went along, but they tended to write colloquially anyway. “NW5” is a favourite, and then “Norton Folgate” appeared quite late in the process. You realised when you heard that song – it’s not a song, it’s a masterpiece – that it would define the album. WINSTANLEY: They hadn’t grown up! LANGER: Mike [Barson] always comes in at the last minute and wants to add something, just when you think it’s all finished. It sounds great, then he wants to add another keyboard to make it slightly less clear. That’s frustrating. They don’t want to finish. I was worn out by the end, but it was worth it. It usually has been. Clive and Alan will be presented with the MPG Award For Outstanding Contribution by the PPL on March 1 at Grosvenor House, London