I was hesitant to listen to the news Dave album, as now they’re missing two original members, one who passed away and another who was dismissed. They must be the only band around that has had 7 consecutive 1 number one debut albums.
But bands change, their style and their lineup. We like bands that adapt and explore new territory. Dave is getting older, and this album really shows a man approaching old age. This is their post-pandemic album, some of the material written or recorded during the war on a virus, which drove us all a little crazy.
Their albums have begun with a happy drum knock, a goofy countdown, “hey!”, an electric surprise, a soft breathy chorus, and a peeking sax, but this time, we kick off with an intake of breath, as if Dave is once again rising from a wild slumber to record a strange dream.
This album is mature, this album takes it easy despite the chaos it covers. The songs are mostly mellow and relaxed, though still haunted with trouble as the others before. In this album we are invited to, like the singer, take a trip in a dreamy place far beyond, maybe to get away from this world.
Madness is a the main theme here, from inner madness to outer. Trouble in a mind and trouble in the world. Walking on the moon—do we do it because we’re mad? Or because earth is mad? This album invites us to dance around such themes and come to terms with them, because the earth and moon will turn with or without us.
So let’s go song by song and analyze.
Walk Around the Moon
Found a new door inside of my head
How could I go to bed
think I’ll walk round the moon instead
An intake of breath. Like a sigh. This man is tired. This man is relieved. The song creeps along like a man sleepwalking into a flirtatious dream. The chorus sings along like voices inside a man’s head. The reverb effects reverse and scoot us along. Before we know it we’re rocking too.
Madness: Dreams
Madman’s Eyes
In the dark, be the lightDon’t let go, baby, hold on tight
Dave is no stranger to middle-eastern influence, from “Minarets” to “The Last Stop.” This time we’re spying on a crazy person with a gun, if there ever was one. It’s catchy and pensive, but maybe it’s thematically confusing. It’s a bit too bouncy and romantic for a call for greater gun control. You can also barely hear the lyrics anyway. And the middle eastern theme might confuse some listeners, or offend them. Aren’t most mass shooters in America not Arab? Will an audience that needs to hear this like Arab music? Who was this written for? Still, it’s so catchy and daring.
Madness: Active shootings
Looking for a Vein
This air is choking meBut hammering is all I know to do
The simplest song on the album with the most relatable lyrics. Not quite as eloquent as Nine Inch Nails, but it gets the point across. The synth drums visualize the hammering at the walls. The narrator could be literal, but it applies universally, and the lyrics confess yearning and obsession.
Madness: Obsession (or drug use)
Ocean and the Butterfly
This cute song just tucks us right into a sweet little rocking lullaby. Musically, the wind instruments make us feel like a butterfly, but the bass line and rhythm are the ocean underneath. What’s confusing is the lyrics, as the darling words about nature are subversively challenged by the poetry of…litter. Nonetheless, the horns carry us over a rocking ocean to bed.
Madness: Oneness with nature
It Could Happen
Oh, people, they were open wideMarbled in shadows and lightWhen you’re so loose, you’re so tightSuddenly, you’re on fire
This song is about surprises. Miracles. Being born. It’s too active to be a lullaby to a baby, so maybe it’s an ode to parenting? The guitar plucks out all these beautiful feathers to make a magnificent plumage. I don’t know what the synthesizer is doing. The thing is, if you live life without taking anything for granted, anything and everything could happen. The song carries us in this constantly building rhythm, then lets us go to discover for our self.
Little baby!
Madness: Life Itself
Something To Tell My Baby
It’s special because it’s fleetingAll of the things that we didWhat do we leave behind us?
Ok so this is the lullaby. And it’s a fine one. Just enough on the nose and not busy so it’s not too heady. You’ve got a man’s soft voice, a guitar barely there, strings barely there. So much to say to this little baby, but you keep it simple. Thanks, Dave. Oh, and he wrote it for refugees.
Madness: The future (but also war)
After Everything
After everything, everythingEverything we’ve been through
In one of the few loud jams on the album, we get hammered with beats until a pair of singers take over the stage, totally in love with one another. And they’re messy, and the song was short, and while it’s reminiscent of “Everyday” it didn’t feel Dave enough. But you can’t help but love them.
Madness: Love
All You Wanted Was Tomorrow
The world is going in all directionsLike bottles shattered on the floor
We start listening to this golden little guitar tune like that of “Jimi Thing.” We get some of the most lyrical work not he album, a realistic but creative meditation on what it’s like to move on. Then in a flash we’re transported from head-sharking grief into a jazzy march. The horns proudly take lead and strut us out of a bluesy fest you can’t not bounce to. For some reason I picture a man who has lost a woman and decides to go watch a drag queen parade as a way to cope?
Madness: Gender issues
The Only Thing
Oh, don’t you feel like you’re trying to catch up
Fear makes you jump a little too quick
These electric guitar riffs bring us back to wild territory. The instrumentation pelts us with sensation while the vocals of the chorus rapture us up to that universal feeling that we’re losing our grip. Then the electric guitar and synth just take us on a spacey journey because…why not? It’s a song about trying to catch up with everything, balancing social media with sense of self, and asserting that we’re all insane according to one another. We’re so certain we’re so right. Too much.
Madness: Conspiracy theory
Break Free
She says I’ll make you wanna climb right out yourself
Well it ain’t the first song Dave wrote about a woman who drive him crazy in a good way. The guitar just doesn’t feel like Dave. Maybe latent Dave. But it’s a good riff and a good song. Makes me drift. And the one pause in the song where we get this ethereal noise,
Madness: Women
Monsters
Traffic jam is an angry mazeThe Devil wants your soul, but Jesus saves
We’re dropped right into the tunnel of a song full of haunts. It’s a song to a child, but really a song to a man. But the song takes an optimistic turn. The monsters are everywhere. But they’re only monsters. Jesus saves.
Madness: Belief
Singing From the Windows
Will it be the same againWhen you been turned inside out and outside in?
We end on the most quiet song of the album. Just Dave and his guitar. The war is over. The pandemic is over. Now what? Pick up the pieces. And we get it. We get this song. So much. After everything.
Madness: Pandemics (of which all madness is)
We made it through somehow. Some devil wants your soul. But Jesus saves.
CALEB COY 