"The Return of the Los Palmas 7" is a song by British

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

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band

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, written by Mike Barson,

Mark Bedford Mark William Bedford (born 24 August 1961),Strong, Martin C. (2002) ''The Great Rock Discography'', Canongate, , p. 638 nicknamed Bedders, is an English musician, songwriter and composer. Bedford came to prominence in the late 1970s as the bass ...

and

Daniel Woodgate Daniel Mark (Woody) Woodgate (born 19 October 1960) is an English musician, songwriter, composer and record producer. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Woodgate came to prominence in the late 1970s as the drummer for the English ska band ...

.Woodstra, Chris. The song was Woodgate's first credit as a songwriter, and was released as the band's seventh single on . The single reached number 7 in the UK and remained in the charts for 11 weeks. The single release is slightly different from the track on the album '' Absolutely'', upon which it is listed as "Return of the Los Palmas 7" and is approximately 30 seconds shorter. The song is mainly instrumental, except for some ad-libbing by Chas Smash at the beginning, the sound of "Waiter!" approximately 42 seconds into the track and "Good night!" at the very end. Dave Robinson, head of

Stiff Records Stiff Records is a British independent record label formed in London, England, by Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera. Originally active from 1976 to 1986, the label was reactivated in 2007. Established at the outset of the punk rock boom, Stiff ...

, was keen on Madness recording another instrumental track, especially after the success of " One Step Beyond...". The resulting song was not as ska-influenced as were their earlier songs, but was played heavily on

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. This helped Madness gain a new generation of older fans.

Music video

The single's music video was filmed in January 1981 at the Venus Cafe, 95 Golborne Road,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

W10 5NL, and at Kenwood Park, North London. The video mainly features the band in the cafe, switching between a greasy-spoon scene and an elegant restaurant scene. In the middle of the video, the band are shown dressed as cowboys in Kenwood Park. These three scenarios are interspersed between random clips, which comprise the bulk of the video, as it was created just two weeks before the single's release. Some of these clips are also included in the video for the

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

song " One Love", which includes guest appearances by Suggs and Chas Smash. The song is incorrectly titled "Return to the Los Palmos 7" in the credit block, appearing both at the head and tail of the video. The clips that are interspersed throughout the video are chronologically summarised below.

Clips used

Appearances

In addition to its single release and appearance on the album ''Absolutely'', "The Return of the Los Palmas 7" also appears on the Madness collections ''

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'' (a.k.a. ''The Heavy Heavy Hits''), '' Complete Madness'', '' It's... Madness Too'', '' The Business'', ''

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'' and ''Ultimate Collection''.

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "The Return of the Los Palmas 7".

7" vinyl single

12" vinyl single

Included with the 12" single was a copy of the first edition of "The Nutty Boys" comic. The demo version of "My Girl" is notable for being the first officially released Madness track to feature a lead vocal by Mike Barson; it would take another 28 years before a second Barson vocal track was released on the " Sugar and Spice" download single.

Charts

Certifications and sales

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Return of the Los Palmas 7, The 1981 singles Madness (band) songs 1980s instrumentals Songs written by Mike Barson Songs written by Mark Bedford Songs written by Dan Woodgate 1980 songs Stiff Records singles Song recordings produced by Clive Langer Song recordings produced by Alan Winstanley