44 years ago on this day Birmingham's UB 40 released their debut album Signing Off. They selected their name in reference to an attendance card issued to people claiming unemployment benefits from the UK government. UB 40 were in their early days a political band like many others in the early 80's who raised their voices against the Thatcher government. Their first album was musically significant in that they integrated reggae and especially elements of dub and brass into their sound. It was probably not only me that this mixture made me dive deeper into Jamaican music and discover greats like Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry. Even after decades, Signing Off is an album that I can listen to in one go and still discover little things.
UB 40 - Tyler
UB 40 - Madame Medusa
UB 40 - Signing Off
UB 40 - King
5 Kommentare:
Great album.
A classic example of a band who started of with some great albums and then went rapidly downhill.
Thank goodness! I thought the title meant YOU were signing off, which would have been too terrible.
Agree with CC about the sad decline of UB40.
Don't worry, Ernie. As long as I've some visitors on this blog I will continue my work
Signing Off is a masterpiece, Present Arms is pretty good too and the third album UB44 has its moments, but after that it's downhill all the way!
In these 44 years they have had their ups and downs. To say it goes downhill afterwards, is correct. To say it went down and up and down and up a few times would be my opinion. They have made very brilliant reggae/dub in the 2000s.
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