ub40 Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

UB40 “Labour of Love II”

sfilzen — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 17:02:36 +0000

UB40 “Labour of Love II” 1989. 80’s reggae via the UK, the band’s 9th LP, all cover songs. I just got this record yesterday, for free, from an old friend whose cousin’s husband does crime-scene and hoarder house cleanups for a living. You can’t make this shit up. Anyway, he had a couple crates of records to unload so I got the call. This was the only one I scooped (we had pretty much everything else already that was worth having), and mostly for the UB40’s cover of “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)”, originally by Al Green (’73). It’s my all-time favorite UB40 track and reminds me both of freshman year of college (’89-’90) as well as a trip to the Bahamas (’08) when this track was on heavy rotation while I lounged for endless hours beside the pool. Really excellent memories all around. Their version of “Here I Am” went to #7 in the US and to #46 in the UK. UB40 had a couple of other singles from Labour Of Love II: “Kingston Town,” originally by Lord Creator (’70) went to #4 in the UK but didn’t chart in the US. Better received was their cover of the The Temptations‘ “The Way You Do the Things You Do,” which went to #6 in the US but only to #49 in the UK. While not released as a single in the US, “Homely Girl” became a hit in Europe, going to #6 in the UK. The original soul single was by The Chi-Lites (’73). Also pretty great on the album is “Groovin’” originally by Byron Lee (who introduced the electric bass guitar to Jamaica; he and his band The Dragonaires appear in the James Bond movie Dr. No and he owned Dynamic Sounds at which musicians like The Rolling Stones recorded).

The post UB40 “Labour of Love II” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

UB40 “Geffery Morgan”

sfilzen — Wed, 21 May 2025 18:05:43 +0000

UB40 “Geffery Morgan” 1984. 80’s UK reggae, the band’s fifth LP. I need a dose of island flavor today – it’s the end of May, below 50 degrees and has been raining nonstop for what feels like days. It’s a smooth and groovy, sunny record filled entirely with original material, unlike their ’83 album Labour of Love which was all covers. My top track is the single “If It Happens Again” which went to #9 in the UK. It also charted on the US dance chart at #69 and I’m fairly certain got at least a bit of radio and/or MTV play as I totally remember hearing it back in the day. That single’s b-side “Nkomo-A-Go-Go” is great – a relentlessly deep groovy beat, a tight horn section and an undercurrent of dark danger. The opener “Riddle Me” was also released as a single, going to #59 in the UK and is pretty good, as is the bright and boppy rap-goes-reggae “You’re Not an Army” and the slow burner “I’m Not Fooled So Easily.”

The post UB40 “Geffery Morgan” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

UB40 “1980-1983”

sfilzen — Sat, 04 Jan 2025 19:36:46 +0000

UB40 “1980-1983” 1983. Early comp of singles from the British pop/reggae band that they recorded, obviously, between 1980-1983. Their debut release was the double A-side single “King” and “Food for Thought,” which appear on the 1980 LP Signing Off (the album version of “King” is on this comp); the single hit #4 in the UK. From their second album, Present Arms (1981) is the single “One in Ten” (a really excellent protest song about the inequities under Thatcher) which went to #7 in the UK, plus two non-single tracks “Present Arms” and “Silent Witness.” From 1982’s UB44 the tracks “So Here I Am, ” “I Won’t Close My Eyes,” and “Don’t Do the Crime” appear on 1980-1983 (can’t find any info about chart performance for these). Two non-album tracks are also on this comp: from 1983 the extended version of “I’ve Got Mine” and its b-side, the upbeat “Dubmobile.” 1980-1983 is a decent enough overview of UB40’s early material but not captivating enough to hang onto – think this one is going to go.

Buy a Record

The post UB40 “1980-1983” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.