Absolutely (Expanded Edition)

Absolutely is the second studio album from Madness. originally released in September 1980, the album reached number 2 on the UK album chart and produced some of the band’s biggest hits, including ‘Baggy Trousers’, which reached number 3 in the UK Singles Chart, ‘Embarrassment’ and ‘The Return of the Los Palmas 7’.

Housed in a 6-panel double Digifile with a 24-page booklet inside. This special 2 CD reissue includes seven bonus tracks plus the live recording of the 1980 Hammersmith Odeon concert, alongside liner notes by Stevie Chick, which include interviews with band members Chris Foreman and Lee Thompson.

The front cover sees the band standing in front of Chalk Farm tube station in Camden. When the original vinyl was released, the first, more sombre cover photograph was changed to a more animated pose after around 10,000 albums were pressed. The two sleeves can be distinguished by keyboardist Mike Barson‘s holding of the umbrella: in the earlier pressing, he holds it up to his chin while in the later, and subsequently used, releases the umbrella is on the ground.

The inner sleeve features a London Underground-style roundel for a railway station called “Cairo East” on one side and a group history on the other. The “Cairo East” roundel was illustrated by Painter and former bass player with Kilburn and the High Roads Humphrey Ocean.