Madness have reached the top of the UK Albums Chart with ‘Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C’est La Vie’.
The group’s 13th LP is their third chart-topper overall – after ‘Complete Madness’ (1982) and ‘Divine Madness’ (1992) – and their first studio album to reach the summit.
It also marks the group’s 20th Top 40 album to date and 11th Top 10.
In addition to its success on the main chart, ‘Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C’est La Vie’, also debuted at No. 1 on the Official Vinyl Albums Chart and the Official Record Store Chart.
Celebrating as they re-opened the doors of HMV’s flagship 363 Oxford Street store in London on Friday (November 24), Madness said: “Thank you so much to everyone who worked with us, our record company, our management, and especially you, the fans, for making us Number 1!”
Clocking in at 14 tracks, the LP is the group’s first full-length effort in seven years, with the band sharing of the record:“Well, well, well, here we are… our 13th album (lucky for some). ‘Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C’est La Vie’ is ready for your ears.
“For us, recording it was the perfect antidote to the chaos of the past few years – we were all there, properly in the zone. It was just us, in an industrial unit in Cricklewood, playing together. We loved it!”
In a review of the album, RETROPOP called ‘Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C’est La Vie’ one of the band’s “most varied and diverse” albums and “without question the band’s most pop-oriented in years”.
