Release date: 17 November 2023
1 Prologue: "Mr Beckett Sir…"
2 Theatre of the Absurd
3 If I Go Mad
4 Baby Burglar
5 Act One: "Surrounded on all sides..."
6 C’est La Vie
7 What On Earth Is It (You Take Me For?)
8 Hour of Need
9 Act Two: "The damsel in distress..."
10 Round We Go
11 Act Three: "The situation deteriorates.."
12 Lockdown and Frack Off
13 Beginners 101
14 Is There Anybody Out There?
15 The Law According to Dr. Kippah
16. Epilogue: "And so Ladies and Gentlemen..."
17 Run For Your Life
18 Set Me Free (Let Me Be)
19 In My Street
20 Fin: "Ladies and Gentlemen..."
After a disparate couple of years which saw the band at their most polarised and fragmented, Madness reunited in an industrial unit in Cricklewood at the beginning of the year, where Suggs, Mark, Chrissy Boy, Mike, Lee and Woody realised that what united them was always bigger than what divided them. Emerging re-energised and reinvigorated with a fresh bounce in their nutty step, the result was their most harmonious recording experience to date. For the first time ever, a brand new album came into the world that they were all completely agreed on. Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C’Est La Vie is the band's inaugural foray into self producing, working alongside engineer and mixer Matt Glasbey (Ed Sheeran, Maisie Peters, Rag’N’Bone Man). The governing principle behind Theatre Of the Absurd Presents C’Est La Vie, is: “let Madness be Madness”. The result is an album of typically timeless brilliance that also reflects the wonky years of its creation, these 14 songs representing the cream of the bumper crop of tunes the group cooked up, whittled down this punchy, focused set.