Yes, we know. Yet another Madness greatest hits album. Who needs it? Why, as a matter of fact, America does! Uncle Sam welcomes BMG’s new Our House: The Very Best of Madness with open arms and a single proud Yankee Doodle tear.

Whereas the UK has seen approximately 2,847 Madness best-of LPs and CDs littering every corner Tesco and Sainsbury’s, we on the other side of the pond have merited but a piddly four. First came the biggie, the 1983 Geffen album. In 1997 Geffen put out their Total Madness (not to be confused with later namesake UK releases). Hip-O Records scraped the barrel with a couple of early 2000s budget releases, which took nary a choice picking from 1999 reunion album Wonderful. 

That’s all we’ve had till now. Which means, shockingly, BMG’s Our House is the very first U.S. hits collection to acknowledge Madness’s prolific post-1986 career. For that reason alone, it’s well worth having and well overdue – and pushed back another whole year, thanks to coronavirus cocking up the original plans. Plus, this is the first physical release of the marvelous 2019 “Bullingdon Boys.” Take that, you limeys!

There’s surely no need to “review” this album in the conventional sense, but let’s just run down the tracklist and confirm what versions and mixes BMG has gathered together here, for the interested trainspotters.

1. Our House – Standard regulation version
2. It Must Be Love – The original UK mix, not the U.S. Geffen version (which has an extra little Thommo sax blurt before each “love, love” in the chorus and omits his squeaky solo during the bridge) 
3. House of Fun – The original UK mix with the fadeout, not the fairground music ending that Geffen used
4. Baggy Trousers – Standard regulation version
5. Embarrassment – Standard regulation version
6. NW5 – The Norton Folgate re-recording
7. One Step Beyond – One Step Beyond album version with the unabridged Chas Smash intro
8. The Prince – One Step Beyond album version
9. Wings of a Dove – Standard regulation version
10. Mr Apples – Can’t Touch Us Now album version
11. Bullingdon Boys – Same version as the 2019 digital single
12. Night Boat to Cairo (US Version) – Yes! This is my favorite little nod to the American fanbase, with BMG reaching way back to the excellent remix from the 1983 Geffen Madness. More reverb everywhere! More twangy Chrissy Boy guitar! More Barson organ frills! More raw Egyptian pyramid POWER! Dance, Cleopatra, DANCE!

The track sequence flows nicely, too. I especially like “Embarrassment” segueing into “NW5” – two of Lee Thompson’s finest compositions, separated by nearly 30 years, fitting together like clockwork gears. And the whole of “Side 2” goes down a treat, with “Mr Apples” and “Bullingdon Boys” right at home amidst the red hot velvet box of showtime chestnuts.

Some may quibble, why only 12 tracks? Why put out a disc at all, when casual American fans are just going to download the $1.29 “Our House” single and blow past all those unknown filler tracks and yucky new songs, anyway? Well, my friends, because it matters. An act of Madness’s stature and creative longevity deserves to have its full career recognized with a nice little hits package like this. This band is not an ’80s relic. They are still at the top of their game today, and this album is proof you can hold in your hot little hands.

Besides, I think limiting the scope to just 12 tracks makes for an interesting thought experiment. Sure, it’s easy enough to go hog wild and sequence a 70-track avalanche like A Guided Tour of Madness, but choosing the most representative 12 songs is like writing a haiku. And I believe my own tracklist would be pretty close to the same.

1. Our House
2. The Prince (One Step Beyond album version)
3. Baggy Trousers
4. The Sun and the Rain
5. Embarrassment
6. NW5
7. Wings of a Dove
8. Lovestruck
9. Mr Apples
10. The Liberty of Norton Folgate
11. It Must Be Love (US Version)
12. Night Boat to Cairo (US Version)

Our House: The Very Best of Madness is out March 12 on LP and CD exclusively in the United States of America.