Wonderful (Madness album)
# Wonderful (Madness album)

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.

## Reception

Professional ratings :

| Review scores ||
| - | - |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | |
| BBC News | favourable |
| NME | |
| Record Collector | |

The BBC's Chris Charles said "... Wonderful finds the boys in their best form since 1981's Madness 7." Allmusic's Evan Cater gave the album 4 out of 5 stars and said "On the whole, it's a pretty successful return." 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."

## Track listing

### 2010 reissue

**Disc 1 - the original album**


   * Contains the full album plus three promo videos

**The promo videos**

* "Lovestruck"
* "Johnny the Horse"
* "Drip Fed Fred"

## Chart performance

| Chart (1999) | Peak position |
| - | - |
| UK Albums Chart | 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
