One Step Beyond...

by

Madness

Edit

One Step Beyond... is the 1979 debut album by the British ska group Madness. It was ranked 90th in a 2005 survey held by British television's Channel 4 to determine the 100 greatest albums of all time. The album peaked at number 2 and remained in the British record charts for over a year. One Step Beyond... has a much heavier ska influence than later Madness albums. It was also the first album produced by the team of Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, who would go on to work with groups such as Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Dexys Midnight Runners and They Might Be Giants, as well as producing all but one of Madness' subsequent albums.

The title track, released as a single, was originally written and recorded by the Jamaican ska musician Prince Buster. The spoken line, "Don't watch that, watch this" in the intro is from another Prince Buster song, "The Scorcher." It was their second single after "The Prince" which was a tribute song to this musician. The song heard between the two last titles on the album's original track list is "Madness", a cover of the Prince Buster song. While it is not listed on the UK LP sleeve or label, it was appended to the U.S. Sire LP release and later releases on CD. This recording is different from the version found as the B-side of the "The Prince" single.