A bit off-piste for this newsletter, I know, but this just turned up out of the blue. Or, actually, a Windows 10 folder... It's the original version of a 2016 review for folking.com: the published version was appreciably shorter, as this is, I must admit, not the shortest review I've ever written... And it's not exactly the most current!
There's only one small addition to the text below.
Since I've put this one up, I suppose I'll probably put up one or two more of the reviews I've put on my own sites, but there's no rush for that!
UB40 Featuring Ali, Astro and Mickey – Unplugged + Greatest Hits (UMC, Product Code 5722654)
Few readers of these reviews are likely to be totally unaware of the hugely successful UB40. And while not many people would think of their reggae-based rhythms as characteristic of a UK folk band, there are enough of their own songs of social commentary in their back catalogue to put them in a similar category to singer/songwriters like, say, Billy Bragg. (In fact, social commentary is a dominant thread among reggae songwriters.) That said, both these CDs contain a high percentage of cover versions of songs that you probably won't encounter much in a folk setting. But that doesn't bother me: my finger was surgically removed from my ear many decades ago.
What I didn't realize when I offered to review the Unplugged album (along with the Greatest Hits compilation), by the band calling itself UB40 Featuring Ali, Astro and Mickey, is that UB40's current status deserves and requires a little clarification.
Once upon a time – when I first started to listen to folk music – there was the Clarion Skiffle Group, the Ian Campbell Trio and the Ian Campbell Folk Group. As well as nurturing such luminaries as Dave Swarbrick, Spencer Davis, Christine Perfect, and Dave Pegg, Ian was himself the composer of a number of fine songs, many of them with a political message. He was also the father of four sons, two of whom, Ali and Robin, went on to become founder members of UB40, a heavily reggae-influenced band also noted for its political sensibilities.
In 2008, however, frontman Ali Campbell left the band, followed soon after by keyboard player Mickey Virtue, and in 2013 by percussionist and vocalist Astro. In due course, the three of them were reunited in the line-up represented on the Unplugged CD. Meanwhile, Duncan, a third Campbell brother, replaced Ali as the original band's vocalist. (There is yet another, David, at one time the band's manager but as a performer more inclined to the traditional, not to be confused with the Guyana-born singer/songwriter David Campbell.)
After that, things got a bit murky, as there now seem to be two versions of UB40, with some tension between the two bands resulting in a still unresolved legal dispute over the use of the name and some muted verbal sparring on their respective websites. [When I looked at the UB40.org site to check that the link still worked, it looked as if that was still going on. I've no further comment to make on it: I haven't looked at all that and don't really want to. (April 2025)]
The Unplugged CD which is the main subject of this review is the work of the three core members of the newer incarnation of the band, Ali, Astro and Mickey, and consists of re-recorded, stripped-back interpretations of hit singles recorded by UB40, or on which UB40 members (especially Ali Campbell) were featured. The Greatest Hits CD, on the other hand, consists entirely (as far as I can tell) of original recordings by the band as it existed for most of its life up to 2008, and which did, of course, also include Ali, Astro and Mickey. Confused? Yes, me too, but then I only have promotional copies and the web site gives virtually no information on the content of either CD.
First of all, I'll look at the Unplugged CD: where an earlier version of a track is featured on Greatest Hits, though, it seems reasonable to compare the two versions rather than consider them in isolation.
'Kingston Town' revisits the 1970 song by Lord Creator which was a hit for UB40 in 1989 and also features on the Greatest Hits CD. The arrangement is essentially a stripped down version of the older version, with guitar taking the lead part and piano taking the rhythm part. The vocal part proves that Ali's voice hasn't lost its charm. However, the unplugged recording suffers from the lack of the heavy underlying bass guitar part characteristic of so many reggae recordings (including the 1989 UB40 version). And I don't think it gains from the extended outro.
Neil Diamond's song 'Red Red Wine', like the older version, owes its reggae flavouring to Tony Tribe's 1969 version. This update has a 'toasting' talk-over by Astro, as did the original version on the 1983 album Labour Of Love. The version found on the Greatest Hits CD doesn't include the toast, so I guess it's the much shorter 1983 single, from which it was edited out.
Jimmy Cliff's 'Many Rivers To Cross', like the original, has a somewhat gospel-y feel enhanced by the organ backing. It doesn't reproduce the synthesizer parts or backing vocals of the older version, and I didn't particularly miss them.
This version of Eddy Grant's 'Baby Come Back' doesn't particularly resemble the Equals version from the '60s, but revisits the 1994 version by Pato Banton that featured Robin and Ali Campbell, and again features Banton (but this time without Robin Campbell, presumably). The older version doesn't appear on the other CD. It's not a song I've ever been particularly fond of, but it fits well into the other tracks here.
Elvis Presley's ballad '(I Can't help) Falling In Love With You' was written by Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore and George David Weiss, though the melody is essentially that of 'Plaisir d'Amour' by Jean-Paul-Égide Martini (also known as Martini il Tedesco). This version follows the 1993 version by UB40 rather than Presley's – that version is included on the Greatest Hits CD. Personally I prefer its 1784 incarnation, and find the reggae-stration of the bridge a bit awkward compared to the Presley version, but clearly lots of people have liked both these approaches, and UB40 fans are probably not going to hate this revisit.
I must be one of the few people in the world who hadn't previously heard 'Purple Rain' by Prince, let alone by Ali Campbell (previously recorded for Radio Riddler's Purple Reggae album, and to the best of my knowledge never previously recorded under the name UB40). I must admit that I rather like it, but I don't know how it compares to the Purple Reggae version (or Prince's own, of course). It's not, of course, on the Greatest Hits CD considered here.
Sonny Bono's 'I Got You Babe', originally a hit for Sonny and Cher and later a hit for UB40 with Chrissie Hynde, is here re-recorded with Ali's daughter Kaya Campbell taking the female vocal part. It's not a song I'm fond of, but she sings it at least as well as Chrissie.
The first UB40 original on this CD is 'One In Ten', a song of social commentary said to refer to a contemporary statistic: 9.6% of the workforce in the West Midlands was said to be claiming benefits in the summer of 1981. Some commentators have suggested that it was an indirect response to Margaret Thatcher's 'no such thing as society' observations. While it doesn't have the biting specificity of a Bragg or Ochs, it does a good job of expressing the prevailing alienation and polarization of the time. The guitar part lacks expression compared to the atmospheric sax on the original recording, but the harmonies are as strong as ever.
'Homely Girl' is another reworking of a UB40 cover version of the 1974 Chi-Lites hit. However, the jaunty reggae arrangement has more in common with the Inner Circle arrangement. The Unplugged version is notable for substituting some in-your-face but smiley melodica for the subdued synth on the Greatest Hits version.
'Please Don't Make Me Cry' is a Winston Tucker song originally covered on the Labour Of Love album, and not included on Greatest Hits. This also includes some melodica, presumably played by Astro, and it's surprisingly effective. (Melodica is quite widely used in reggae and related forms, partly as a result of its being promoted by producer and keyboard player Augustus Pablo.)
'Food For Thought' was the first UB40 single (that version being included on here on Greatest Hits). On the Unplugged version, the original saxophone parts are approximated on guitar and the vocals seem further forward in the mix. While I miss the sax, I prefer the vocal balance here. The song takes a gloomy look at a world where some are celebrating Christmas in a spirit of overindulgence while for much of the world it's just another day of starvation.
'Cherry Oh Baby' is yet another cover version, this time of a lightweight but very popular song by Eric Donaldson. The lighter arrangement for the Unplugged arrangement allows more focus to the vocal hooks than the version from Labour Of Love (also included on Greatest Hits), though I rather like the older version.
'Rat In Mi Kitchen' is a rare example (here, at any rate) of a UB40 original that seems to carry no overt social message: apparently it was written by Astro about a rat in Ali's kitchen… Both versions are entirely listenable, but the brass on the Greatest Hits version, including trumpet from Herb Alpert, does give it some extra oomph.
'Tyler', originally recorded on UB40's 1980 debut album, is based on the disturbing case of Gary Tyler, who served 41 years in prison in Louisiana before being released in 2016. The older version isn't included on Greatest Hits, but the Unplugged version works very well with its minor melody and plaintive melodica riff.
'You Could Meet Somebody' is a re-recording of a UB40 original originally released on the Rat In The Kitchen album, and not included on Greatest Hits. This is another track with melodica to the fore and pleasant harmonies, though the lead vocal is a little nasal.
'That's Supposed To Hurt' is from Ali Campbell's first post-UB40 solo album, Flying High. A pleasant end to the CD.
Here's the track listing for the Greatest Hits compilation. Tracks marked with an asterisk have been re-recorded for Unplugged, so I won't consider those tracks again below.
'Red Red Wine'*
'I Got You Babe' featuring Chrissie Hynde*
'(I Can't Help) Falling In Love With You'*
'Kingston Town'*
'Food For Thought'*
'Cherry Oh Baby'*
'Don't Break My Heart' was the follow-up to 'I Got You Babe', but I evidently missed it. Unusually for this collection, it sounds more New Romantic than reggae.
'Homely Girl'*
'The Way You Do The Things You Do' was written by Smokey Robinson and Bobby Rogers of The Miracles, and an early hit for The Temptations. This version, however, is closer to the catchy reggae arrangement by Eric Donaldson.
'Please Don't Make Me Cry'*
'Many Rivers to Cross'*
'Higher Ground' is a UB40 original from 1993. Catchy tune and brass arrangement, interesting lyric.
'One In Ten'*
'Rat In Mi Kitchen'*
'Breakfast In Bed' is 1988 track featuring Chrissie Hynde's vocals. It's a cover of a song recorded by Dusty Springfield for her 1969 Dusty In Memphis album. This is a decent version if you don't mind the change of rhythm, but for me Dusty's version is definitive.
'Here I Am (Come And Take Me)' is an Al Green song, but with an arrangement modelled (according to Wikipedia) on a version by Irving 'Al' Brown.
'King' is another UB40 original, and was the other side of 'Food For Thought', though I don't remember it. Good harmonies and a strong lyric relating to Martin Luther King.
'If It Happens Again' is another UB40 original, reported to have been written in response to the Conservative party's election success in 1983, though that isn't clear from the lyric.
'Bring Me Your Cup' is also a UB40 original. Nice brass arrangement.
The last track and the last original on the CD, 'Sing Our Own Song' has a strongly anti-Apartheid lyrical theme, and provides a rousing finale.
I enjoyed the opportunity to revisit UB40's Greatest Hits, which has quite a few songs with which I wasn't well acquainted. The combined package as a whole offers a good selection of songs associated with UB40. And as a standalone CD, Unplugged is a good introduction to the work of the Ali/Astro/Mickey lineup in the context of the older material, and may hold particular appeal for those who may only be familiar with their recent Silhouette album. But is it successful as a fresh re-imagining of the original recordings? I'm not entirely convinced. In general, we're presented with a version of an original arrangement, just modified to adapt to the more limited instrumental palate available to the smaller line-up. In some cases, it works very well – certainly I enjoyed the melodica passages more than I expected. In some other cases, the vocals are more effective than on the original recordings, though sometimes the phrasing seems exaggeratedly 'reggae'. But I'm not hearing any complete recasts like, for instance, Clapton's acoustic version of 'Layla'.
David Harley
Artist’s website:
http://ub40.org/
[Video of Many Rivers To Cross]: