Madness “7” 1981. Stiff Records. Today, January 13th, is Madness vocalist Suggs’ birthday (b. Graham McPherson, 1961). 7 is Madness’ third album; it went to #5 on the UK album chart. I believe our copy is a UK original as it has all of the intended tracks: the song “Day on the Town” was removed from some markets, replaced by “Never Ask Twice,” the b-side to the single “Shut Up.” Other markets added “It Must Be Love” (originally by Labi Siffre, 1971) which was a UK stand-alone single (#4 UK in 1981, #33 US in 1983) or “In the City” which was the b-side to “Cardiac Arrest.” We do have “Day on the Town” and none of those other songs on our copy of 7. Like all Madness records, it’s a rollicking ska-bopping good time and I’ve enjoyed their Monty Pythonesque videos since the early 80’s. My favorite tracks include the singles “Cardiac Arrest” (#14 UK), “Grey Day” (#4 UK) and “Shut Up” (#7 UK) as well as the non-single “Mrs. Hutchinson.”