7

7 is the third album from the British ska/pop band Madness. Released in October 1981, it reached #5 in the UK album chart. All but one track was recorded at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas in the summer of 1981, the exception being Grey Day which was recorded in London earlier in the year. Although in 2011 Co-producer Alan Winstanley stated in the 'Guided Tour Of Madness' boxed-set that a lot of the album was re-recorded in London when they returned from Nassau. There were several different versions of the album released throughout the world. Some territories removed the not so tourist-friendly A Day On The Town while others replaced it with Never Ask Twice aka Aeroplane / Airplane, which was issued on the Shut Up 12" in the UK. In Belgium Never Ask Twice was issued on a one sided 7" single with initial copies of the album. France renamed A Day On The Town as A Place In The City. Australia added It Must Be Love as the first track on side one. And Japan added In The City, which was issued there as a single after it was initially written for and used to promote Honda cars in TV commercials.
Later vinyl pressings featured different mixes of some tracks (most notably Mrs Hutchinson and A Day On The Town). When first issued on CD in 1989 these 'later' mixes were the ones used, and have been since.