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Source	Rating
AllMusic
Christgau's Record Guide	B+
Encyclopedia of Popular Music
Mojo
Q
Record Collector
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Smash Hits	6/10

One Step Beyond . . . is the 1979 debut album by the British ska-pop group Madness. It was ranked 90th in a 2005 survey held by British television's Channel 4 to determine the 100 greatest albums of all time.

The album, which was recorded and mixed in about three weeks, peaked at number two and remained in the UK Albums Chart for over a year.

It was the first album produced by the Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley team, who would go on to work with artists such as Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Morrissey, Dexys Midnight Runners, They Might Be Giants, and David Bowie as well as producing many more Madness albums.

The "Nutty Train" photo on the sleeve, shot by Cameron McVey, was inspired by the photo of Kilburn and the High Roads roadie, Paul Tonkin, on the back-cover of their album, Handsome.

The title track, released as a single, was originally written and recorded by the Jamaican ska musician Prince Buster. The spoken line, "Don't watch that, watch this ..." in the introduction is adapted from another Prince Buster song, "The Scorcher". Their first single, "The Prince", was a tribute to the musician.

The other Prince Buster cover on the album, "Madness", wasn't listed on the original LP in the UK, nor many other territories. It was listed, however, on the North American release, primarily because it was issued as a single there.

The 2009 reissue also includes the music videos for "The Prince", "One Step Beyond...", "My Girl", "Night Boat to Cairo" and "Bed & Breakfast Man". The first four of these were also included on the version of One Step Beyond... issued as part of the box set The Lot. The bonus disc contains B-sides as well as all three songs previously only released on the Work Rest and Play EP in April 1980.

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