― The Good Dr. Bill (Andrew Unterberger), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 22:32 (twenty years ago) link
"tyler," from the excellent debut album, "signing off."
― fact checking cuz (fcc), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 22:36 (twenty years ago) link
Uh, you mean "going?"
― mike a, Wednesday, 18 February 2004 22:39 (twenty years ago) link
― search and delete (searchanddelete), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 22:42 (twenty years ago) link
*proceeds to rise from the dead*RARRRRRRRRRRR
― Francesco Dellamorte (Francis Watlington), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 22:52 (twenty years ago) link
I'm bemused by the statement that they were a better band than Steel Pulse, though - how does that work out?
― H (Heruy), Thursday, 19 February 2004 13:56 (twenty years ago) link
....what about that rat in that kitchen? He was one of God's Creatures too, y'know!
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 19 February 2004 14:20 (twenty years ago) link
― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 19 February 2004 14:21 (twenty years ago) link
― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 19 February 2004 14:22 (twenty years ago) link
― BrianB (BrianB), Thursday, 19 February 2004 14:22 (twenty years ago) link
http://www.pauseandplay.com/ub40.gif
Oh no? That guy on the far right seems pretty successful.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 19 February 2004 14:24 (twenty years ago) link
― BrianB (BrianB), Thursday, 19 February 2004 14:25 (twenty years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 19 February 2004 14:26 (twenty years ago) link
Yes, Tom, "One in Ten" is pretty good. While obviously a protest song, you have to work a lirrle bit to get all the references, which is a good thing. Musically, their songs could be a bit of a plod (and that saxophone can be really irritating) but they did come up with some fine melodies.
Search? for starters try (in order): Burden of Shame, Love Is All Is Alright, The Earth Dies Screaming, Little by Little, Folitician.
― Jeff W, Thursday, 19 February 2004 14:41 (twenty years ago) link
-- mike a (mik...) (webmail), February 18th, 2004 4:39 PM. (link)
uh, it's patois. or mock patois, in any case.
― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Thursday, 9 September 2004 02:19 (nineteen years ago) link
― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Thursday, 9 September 2004 07:13 (nineteen years ago) link
"If it happens again, I'm leavingI'll pack up my things and go."
It may be hard to believe now but they really were a great band to start with. They were excellent live (I saw them several times) and the first few singles and the first album (with the free 12") were absolutely fantastic; the second album had it's moments but they seemed to be running out of material (and releasing a dub version of that album didn't really do them any favours).
Then they released an ill-conceived covers album (yet more evidence that the song-writing inspiration was rapidly dying up); inexplicably had a huge hit with an awful version of Red Red Whine (sic) from that album; and they immediately and irreversibly turned to shit.
― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 9 September 2004 08:19 (nineteen years ago) link
― Vasquesz, Thursday, 9 September 2004 08:26 (nineteen years ago) link
pahahahaha!
although it does sound like 'feast' on rat, but it's not.
― piscesboy, Thursday, 9 September 2004 11:32 (nineteen years ago) link
[oh no, more lyrical exegesis]
― Vasquesz, Thursday, 9 September 2004 11:54 (nineteen years ago) link
So obviously this must be a toy, mechanical, wind-up rat that Ali and Rob Campbell mistook for a real rat in theor kitchen , leading them, to shit their pants.
Obviously they're not going to admit that but when you think about it, it's obvious - and what's more it just goes to prove what a big bunch of jessies they turned into.
― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 9 September 2004 12:00 (nineteen years ago) link
There`s a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?There`s a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna go?I`m gonna fix that rat thats what I`m gonna do,I`m gonna fix that rat.
When you open your mouth you don`t talk, you shoutAnd you give every body the blame,But when they catch you up,They will shut you upAnd you got no one to blame
(Chorus)
When you out on the street,You practice lies and deceiptAnd you scandalize my nameBut when I catch you upI`m gonna pull you upI`m gonna check-out inside your brain
when yo deh pon the scene,You make everyone screamBecause they know your so unjustBut when they catch you upThey will kick you upBecause you someone they cannot trust
You invade my spaceMake me feel disgracedAnd you just don`t give a damnIf I had my wayIf I had my sayI`d like to see you hang
― Vasquesz, Thursday, 9 September 2004 12:02 (nineteen years ago) link
― artdamages (artdamages), Thursday, 9 September 2004 12:52 (nineteen years ago) link
I mean, you are all kidding here, right?
― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Thursday, 9 September 2004 13:29 (nineteen years ago) link
Their live album from 1983 is pretty amazing.
― put your money where the maracas are (how's life), Tuesday, 25 November 2014 01:18 (nine years ago) link
They do a better "Can't Help Falling In Love" than Corey Hart.
― MaudAddam (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 25 November 2014 01:23 (nine years ago) link
Don't Break My Heart yeah.. way sinister. and amazing.
― piscesx, Tuesday, 25 November 2014 07:37 (nine years ago) link
Stewart O said what I was going to.
― Mark G, Tuesday, 25 November 2014 07:45 (nine years ago) link
Their cover of The Slickers ain't bad, and kinda subversive for them too.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 25 November 2014 07:49 (nine years ago) link
They're a guilty pleasure of mine. Pre-prejudice Mum & Dad car music; it makes me feel very warm and safe and very likely played a big factor in my later love of reggae music.
― Piss-Up Artist (dog latin), Tuesday, 25 November 2014 09:55 (nine years ago) link
Bears repeating, occasionally, that anyone avoiding UB40 because of cheese-baggage is really missing out. The debut "Signing Off" hitting the sweet spot right now, but at least up through "Rat in the Kitchen" their stuff is pretty great. I admit I'm not sure I've heard anything since the self-titled, though.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 23 May 2016 18:11 (seven years ago) link
a great 80's 12-inch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eazi8sEhjMI
― scott seward, Monday, 23 May 2016 18:52 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTnATywQj28
just a casual throwaway, let's be cool
― Noodle Vague, Monday, 23 May 2016 19:06 (seven years ago) link
i wonder if red red wine was the first time I (& a lot of ppl) heart jamaican dancehall toasting
― rockpalast '82 (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 23 May 2016 19:16 (seven years ago) link
I have a big soft spot for UB40. Even the cheesy crap.
― TARANTINO! (dog latin), Monday, 23 May 2016 20:51 (seven years ago) link
me too. first dub album i heard was "present arms in dub"! love this one too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCqafkyures
― Neptune Bingo (Michael B), Monday, 23 May 2016 22:30 (seven years ago) link
aswad suffer a similar affliction, the success of 'don't turn around' and 'give a little love' and 'shine' sort of obscure the great earlier stuff like new chapter of dub
― real orgone kid (NickB), Monday, 23 May 2016 22:40 (seven years ago) link
it's all gone wrong for the 2 warring versions of the band/s themselves which seems ridiculous and a shame when you read the backstory
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/mar/15/ub40-name-dispute-sets-campbell-brothers-against-each-other
― piscesx, Monday, 23 May 2016 23:27 (seven years ago) link
Aswad's Live'n'Direct is an absolute masterpiece. UK reggae really gets a bad rap doesn't it? But man, Steel Pulse, Black Uhuru, Aswad, a lot of it is excellent.
― TARANTINO! (dog latin), Monday, 23 May 2016 23:34 (seven years ago) link
wait, what am i talking about? black uhuru aren't UK at all. why did i think that?
― TARANTINO! (dog latin), Monday, 23 May 2016 23:35 (seven years ago) link
This is my annual stop to reassert that UB40 is pretty great and one of the most underrated acts of all time, a band unfairly judged by many for their mediocre later work, which requires ignoring their first really good eight or so albums, which is more good music than most bands manage.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 24 August 2017 21:32 (six years ago) link
Josh is correct. Which makes this cover even more regrettable.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 21 March 2018 01:14 (six years ago) link
Their cover of "Johnny Too Bad" is uh... not too bad!
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Wednesday, 21 March 2018 01:53 (six years ago) link
Food for Thought is great, not sure about the rest. As a child, I always thought that first line was "I'm a prima donna" ...
― Zelda Zonk, Wednesday, 21 March 2018 02:00 (six years ago) link
What an opening track:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSdT5jerxhk
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 23 June 2023 22:08 (ten months ago) link
I saw them at Red Rocks years ago. This was about . . . 1985? While they were overshadowed by the opening act (Midnight Oil), they were still an immensely enjoyable act. Solid live band.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Friday, 23 June 2023 23:49 (ten months ago) link
This LA Times review of the Irvine show from the same tour is pretty spot on.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-08-12-ca-4161-story.html
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Friday, 23 June 2023 23:52 (ten months ago) link
I've been meaning to give these guys another chance, but I was told the best stuff was the early stuff, specifically the singles, which can be confusing because those records were re-sequenced into different releases here in the U.S. Any recommendations as to which compilation, CD, etc might be best? I know their first covers album (the one that finally got them a hit in the U.S.) is supposed to be good too, and I do love "Red Red Wine," but I get the feeling any argument for true greatness lies with the original material.
― birdistheword, Saturday, 24 June 2023 00:25 (ten months ago) link
Geffery Morgan is a very good record.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Saturday, 24 June 2023 00:37 (ten months ago) link
Like I think I posted a while back, i think the first seven or eight albums are sold.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 24 June 2023 00:45 (ten months ago) link
and also, yes, geographically Birmingham and Coventry are very close to each other (about 25 miles apart).
― stirmonster, Sunday, 2 July 2023 02:16 (ten months ago) link
Ah, messed up my geography - I mean beyond Coventry, the southernmost center of the Midlands, and further north into Birmingham. (Apologies, I’ve never even been in the Midlands!)
― birdistheword, Sunday, 2 July 2023 02:22 (ten months ago) link
I have a very limited familiarity with British reggae so I’ll defer to everyone here. I figured if it were true, it was in a very general sense of crafting politically-charged British pop music based exclusively in a Jamaican musical genre (like beyond what a punk group like the Clash would do). Also as an extension of that, many of these groups are racially integrated, which feels like a natural result of this music rather than a calculated move.
― birdistheword, Sunday, 2 July 2023 02:35 (ten months ago) link
According to some guy on the internet UB40 turned down an offer to record for 2-Tone, as did Dexys Midnight Runners. I knew Dexys had had some connection with 2-Tone but I'd never heard about a UB40 connection before. Then there's this:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/may/06/ub40-reggae-back-mi5-were-tapping-our-phones
“We weren’t very friendly, we kept ourselves to ourselves.” Rather than foster an affinity with the Specials, another militant, multiracial collective from the Midlands, UB40 dismissed the two-tone bands as “revivalists”. They regarded their own music as more subversive.
― Renaissance of the Celtic Trumpet (Tom D.), Sunday, 2 July 2023 10:21 (ten months ago) link
the guy who put out the early ub40 records on Graduate ended up running a tiny record shop in Tewkesbury (although discogs say they were based in Dudley which fits the Midlands theme)
― koogs, Sunday, 2 July 2023 10:44 (ten months ago) link
a bit more digging and that may not be true... David Virr is the ub40 guy and none of the obits mention anything. the record shop had a lot of Graduate memorabilia and I'm sure i remember some kind of link, but a guy called Charlie Pollack is listed as running it from '84, unless that's a different one (but the two listed locations match my memory)
― koogs, Sunday, 2 July 2023 10:57 (ten months ago) link
Two-tone had no influence on UB40, certainly. But it did have a bearing on how successful they were, channels were open and ready.
And distribution channels were open for independent albums to sell and chart by then.
Still, their achievement was stunning
― Mark G, Sunday, 2 July 2023 22:19 (ten months ago) link
For whatever reason, I couldn't get "Red Red Wine" out of my head this morning, so I put on Labour of Love. It is an absolute masterpiece of sterile 80s production.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 6 September 2023 15:45 (seven months ago) link
I feel like a lot of reggae acts (not necessarily UB40 specifically) remain relatively unheralded electronic drum pioneers.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 6 September 2023 15:53 (seven months ago) link
"Guilty" is smooth as buttah.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 6 September 2023 15:59 (seven months ago) link
their first album had a cool proggy hologram cover varianthttps://www.discogs.com/release/5469010-UB40-UB44https://www.discogs.com/release/1450437-UB40-UB44
― brimstead, Wednesday, 6 September 2023 16:02 (seven months ago) link
that's their 3rd album.
― stirmonster, Wednesday, 6 September 2023 18:40 (seven months ago) link
It would have made more sense as the fourth.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 6 September 2023 18:43 (seven months ago) link
My mum has that
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Monday, 25 September 2023 22:37 (seven months ago) link
Anyway I really like the background ethereal vocal sample on this. I wondered if I'd heard it before - was it the credits to Cold Feet or some 2001 ITV show or something? - but no it isn't.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LylddF-Lnog
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Monday, 25 September 2023 22:39 (seven months ago) link
The Campbells didn't like the electronic d'n'b-ish stuff on Cover Up and Homegrown and blamed it on two of the other guys less bothered about 'eight guys in a room' after two decades but I think some, any, variation present on some bad selling mid/late-period UB40 albums is necessary.
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Monday, 25 September 2023 22:43 (seven months ago) link
Don't know if anyone mentioned the thing they did with Bambaata but I love it so much:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHrg6hBXDwM
― blazin' squab (NickB), Monday, 25 September 2023 23:50 (seven months ago) link
glad i caught this thread a while ago and gave the first album a go, i really liked it
― maf you one two (maffew12), Tuesday, 26 September 2023 01:45 (seven months ago) link
This was mentioned 21 years ago, but honestly what is their jungle B-side all about...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzxs5rFBlDk
I have no idea how it happened, why it exists, seen no commentary on it anywhere. This was the B-side to a total mega-selling single, well over a year before the first jungle hit in the UK (Incredible), in fact very much from jungle's infancy, but it's just invisible.
Made even more enigmatic by almost every UB40 interview I've ever seen or read hammering home the 'we're popularising some reggae songs and people and we're not interested in doing anything else' angle (which I assume made some band members fidgety - there are arguably dnb influences on a few later tracks)
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Friday, 3 November 2023 04:24 (six months ago) link
Comment at discogs responding to query similar to yours:
Earl Falconer and Gerry Parchment (member of UB40) were E.Q.P. who were responsible for the Jungle Classic "Crackman The Return".Falconer championed jungle from day one and is still active in the scene! He founded Maximum Boost Recordings and Circus Records (5) along Swan-E, which are responsible for the Jump-Up side of DnB and Dubstep. (Flux Pavillion, DJ Hazard, et al.)
Falconer championed jungle from day one and is still active in the scene! He founded Maximum Boost Recordings and Circus Records (5) along Swan-E, which are responsible for the Jump-Up side of DnB and Dubstep. (Flux Pavillion, DJ Hazard, et al.)
― visiting, Friday, 3 November 2023 05:01 (six months ago) link
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Monday, 25 September 2023 23:39 (five months ago) bookmarkflaglink
Watching some old Channel 4 idents and it's occurred to me where I recognise it from. Channel 4's schools idents from 96-99. Is this a sample from something else or?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMGB-rmG4ak
(One such ident ofc had a pre-fame Billie Piper in)
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Tuesday, 5 March 2024 01:53 (one month ago) link