When originally trying to find a new name for the group, such titles as the Wasp Factory, the One, More and the Earthmen were considered, and at one point BBC Radio 1 listeners were even invited to write in with suggestions.

They built the 24-track professional studio in the basement, whilst the first floor has always been an office and chill out area, and a room upstairs for song mixing.

"Gabriel's Horn" was recorded in 1986 when the group were working on the never-completed Lost in the Museum album, and this demo version appeared as a track on the 1992 re-issue of the Madness single "House of Fun".

[8] The band initially stressed that they were not "the Nutty Boys" the public knew and loved, as they attempted to become a more serious group.

[9] However, due to the lack of commercial success from the album and singles, the Madness disbanded by the beginning of 1989.

[7] Madness reformed with its original members for a reunion tour in 1992 and they have remained together since, playing live and recording new material.

On the one video we've just done we tried to be serious, but Lee's got a Mohican haircut and in a bit of it we dyed his face red and things like that, so it hard to be... we don't want to be a serious, cheeks sucked-in arty farty band, but the subject matter of a lot of our songs has always been serious.

[10][11] On the back-sleeve each song listed was accompanied with a small drawing in similar style to the album's cover – resembling a face.

[16] The album was originally issued on CD and vinyl LP via Virgin Records in the UK and Europe, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

[18] Since its initial release, the album has remained out-of-print on CD and today second-hand copies are often listed for sale for £50 or more.

[24] Each Union Square Music/Salvo release contained a page of Madness albums soon to be made available as part of the series.

In promoting to the album and lead single, the one and only TV appearance of the Madness was on Friday Night Live, a cult late-night comedy show hosted by Ben Elton.

He highlighted the tracks "Nail Down the Days", "What's That" and "Beat the Bride", but felt "the rest of the LP tries too hard to be clever".

[33] Max Bell of Number One wrote: "Songwise, the Camden crooners continue to delve into sombre waters.

"[32] Darryl Cater of AllMusic retrospectively stated: "The tinny, muddled pop sound proves what a big contribution producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley had made to the polished, resonant Madness records.

There are flashes of trademark Madness melody, but too much of the album is an indistinguishable blur of drum machines, keyboards and '80s pop guitar.

These former British skinheads have always been better at the wacky than the meaningful, and the lyrical emphasis on social issues feels strained.