UB40 - Classic Album Selection: 1980-1984 (2013) [5CD Box Set]

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UB40 - Classic Album Selection: 1980-1984 (2013) [5CD Box Set]

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UB40 - Classic Album Selection: 1980-1984 (2013) [5CD Box Set]

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UB40 are an English reggae and pop band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. They have been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album four times, and in 1984 were nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Group. One of the world's best-selling music artists, UB40 have sold over 70 million records. The ethnic make-up of the band's original line-up was diverse, with musicians of English, Irish, Jamaican, Scottish and Yemeni parentage. Their hit singles include their debut "Food for Thought" and two Billboard Hot 100 number ones with "Red Red Wine" and "Can't Help Falling in Love". Both of these also topped the UK Singles Chart, as did the band's version of "I Got You Babe". Their two most successful albums, Labour of Love (1983) and Promises and Lies (1993), reached number one on the UK Albums Chart. The band's line-up was stable for nearly 29 years, from March 1979 until January 2008, when frontman Ali Campbell left the band; followed shortly thereafter by keyboardist Mickey Virtue. Another member, Astro, remained with the band until November 2013; when he departed the original band to team up with Campbell and Virtue in a new version of UB40. In 2014, legal advice was sought by the original band (now consisting of remaining co-founding members drummer Jimmy Brown, guitarist Robin Campbell, bassist Earl Falconer, percussionist Norman Hassan, and saxophonist Brian Travers, along with new vocalist Duncan Campbell) against the group containing Campbell, Virtue, and Astro over usage of the band name, due to it being used by both parties.

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UB40 - Classic Album Selection: 1980-1984 (2013) [5CD Box Set]

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UB40 - Classic Album Selection: 1980-1984 (2013) [5CD Box Set]

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So ubiquitous was UB40's grip on the pop-reggae market that it may have been difficult for younger fans to comprehend just how their arrival shook up the British musical scene. They appeared just as 2 Tone had peaked and was beginning its slide towards oblivion. Not that it mattered, as few would try to shoehorn the band into that suit. However, the group was no more comfortable within the U.K. reggae axis of Steel Pulse, Aswad, and Matumbi. Their rhythms may have been reggae-based, their music Jamaican-inspired, but UB40 had such an original take on the genre that all comparisons were moot. Even their attack on the singles chart was unusual, as they smacked three double-A-sided singles into the Top Ten in swift succession. By rights, the second 45 should have acted as a taster for their album (it didn't, coming several months too soon), while the third should have been a spinoff (it wasn't, boasting two new songs entirely). Regardless, both sides of their debut single -- the roots-rocking indictment of politicians' refusal to relieve famine on "Food for Thought" and the dreamy tribute to Martin Luther "King" -- were included, as well as their phenomenal cover of Randy Newman's "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" off their second single. The new material was equally strong. The moody roots-fired "Tyler," which kicks off the set, is a potent condemnation of the U.S. judicial system, while its stellar dub, "25%," appears later in the set. The smoky Far Eastern-flavored "Burden" explores the dual tugs of national pride and shame over Britain's oppressive past (and present). If that was a thoughtful number, "Little by Little" was a blatant call for class warfare. Of course, Ali Campbell never raised his voice -- he didn't need to. His words were his sword, and the creamier and sweeter his delivery, the deeper they cut. Their music was just as revolutionary, their sound unlike anything else on either island, from deep dubs shot through with jazzy sax to the bright and breezy instrumental "12 Bar," with its splendid loose groove transmuted later in the set to the jazzier and smokier "Adella." Meanwhile, "Food" slams into the dance clubs, and "King" floats to the heavens. It's hard to believe this is the same UB40 that later topped the U.K. charts with the likes of "Red Red Wine" and "I've Got You Babe." Their fire was dampened quickly, but on Signing Off it blazed high, still accessible to the pop market, but so edgy that even those who are sure there's nothing about the group to admire will change their tune instantly. ~Review by Jo-Ann Greene~

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UB40 - Classic Album Selection: 1980-1984 (2013) [5CD Box Set]

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The popular perception of UB40 as a band who cling to the coattails of true reggae artists is partially merited, given their '90s karaoke-quality interpretations of popular standards in a Jamaican rub-a-dub style. But with albums such as their debut and this, admittedly a more uneven effort, their affection for the music was self-evidently genuine and generally well observed. Their conscience-driven lyrics ("One in Ten" especially) are heartfelt and convincing, though Ali Campbell's Rastabrummyfarian voice takes some getting used to. ~Review by Alex Ogg~

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UB40 - Classic Album Selection: 1980-1984 (2013) [5CD Box Set]

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UB40s third album, not counting The Singles Album, which summed up their short career to date, or the Present Arms in Dub remixed dub version of the second album, was a step away from the brooding soulful reggae that one had come to expect from experiencing Signing Off and Present Arms. Despite the fact that by 1982 the 2 Tone sound of the Specials had vanished and other successful ska bands had moved on, notably Madness, UB40 released a mixture of horn-driven pop/ska and reggae songs that, in the main, had two major faults, a lack of melody, which never helps any style of music, and a loss of the sense of political injustice that had dominated the first two albums. It couldn't have been easy; all their vitriol had been directed against the government of Margaret Thatcher and how, in their opinion, the fabric of the country was systematically being destroyed, but late in 1982, the government was riding a wave of popularity, having won the war in the Falklands, and it was suddenly out of step to disagree with them. Although UB44 hit number four, the singles released were at a low point, all three of them -- "So Here I Am," "I Won't Close My Eyes," and "Love Is Here Is Alright" -- all failing to hit the higher regions of the singles chart, and without melody, UB40 songs tended to have little to offer. As "The Key" merged into "Don't Do the Crime" into "Folitician," it was difficult to appreciate that one song had ended and a new song had begun. A change of direction was called for, and after a live album released early in 1983, UB40 Live, the band found their way again big time with their next project, Labour of Love. ~Review by Sharon Mawer~

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UB40 - Classic Album Selection: 1980-1984 (2013) [5CD Box Set]

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A victim of both overexposure and embracement from privileged hedonists around the globe, UB40's Labour of Love is still a near perfect album, one filled with warmth and an infectious love of the music it's covering. Then there's that reggae version of "Red Red Wine" that spills out of yachts, frat parties, soirees by the pool, water parks, and just about anywhere there are sun-seeking tourists. Delivered with a drunken sway, the band's cover of the Neil Diamond favorite also features a new toasted/rapped break in the middle, which comes courtesy of UB40 MC Astro and adds so much mirth and fun to the number that Diamond lifted it for his own live show. Even if omnipresence has since made it pop-reggae's "Don't Worry Be Happy," the U.K. crew's version is in the Jamaican tradition of covering sweet, soothing tunes that pre-date lovers rock, plus the rest of this all-cover-versions album sticks with the classic reggae songbook, as even the Impressions' "Keep on Moving" is done in a style that honors the 1973 recording from Bob Marley & the Wailers. If "Red Red Wine" is effortless almost to a fault, Jimmy Cliff's "Many Rivers to Cross" is performed with full heart and can rock the soul's foundation, while "Johnny Too Bad" is just spiky enough to bring reminders of the group's birth in the time and land of post-punk. Everything else is A- at worst, and the end-to-end LP flow is classic while recontextualizing "Red Red Wine" for the better. Put it on at a party and spill beer on it if you must, because the resilient Labour of Love is true sweetness and light. ~Review by David Jeffries~

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UB40 - Classic Album Selection: 1980-1984 (2013) [5CD Box Set]

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UB40 was faced with following up the surprisingly successful covers album Labour Of Love (which had topped the U.K. chart, and become their U.S. chart debut) with this album of original material. Their own songs were good, but no match for what then seemed a one-of-a-kind collection. "If It Happens Again," which went to Number Nine in Britain, sounded like a song by The English Beat, while the second single, "Riddle Me" (at Number 59), was a deeper reggae groove tune. It was a good set, but without a classic like "Red, Red Wine," it suffered from a certain anonymity, especially in the U.S. ~Review by William Ruhlmann~