This post is part of the A to Z 2020 Challenge. I have decided to theme the posts around personal and societal responses to the Covid 19 crisis, including my resumption of Blogging!
Two days ago I said how important music was to me (and it’s still not too late to join the game ) – not only listening to the music itself, but the musicology – the story of where the music came from, the influences, the writers, composers, and even the producers and my relationship to the music of UB40 typifies how music has changed for me and I suspect lots of others.
When I met my partner back in the mid 80’s, I did not like spending money on myself, so she made up for that on birthdays and Christmas by buying me lots of music! UB40’s “Labour of Love” was one such (vinyl) album and featured the chart-topping “Red, Red Wine” – a cover of the 1967 Neil Diamond song but in the 1968 reggae styled version by Tony Tribe. This album gave rise to the idea that all UB40’s songs were covers but this is not the case yet the band with a very mixed ethnicity make-up, was very influenced by Ska, early Reggae and Lovers Rock. By the time they hit the big time and went to Jamaica, they were looking forward to meeting their musical roots who in turn were looking forward to the band which had given their careers a much-needed boost!
Named for the form issued to unemployed people applying for the dole, the members of UB40 hailed from Birmingham and were all unemployed when they formed up and indeed – their first album was called “Signing Off” to signify that they no longer needed to claim unemployment benefit. But all of these details had to wait for the internet to develop before I could become aware of them.
Meanwhile, CD’s came and went and now we have Spotify as my default way to listen to music. Now I have more musicology on the internet than I know what to do with, concerts on TV, access to many groups whole back catalogues yet I still have that first UB40 vinyl album given to me by my beloved – and hey! Guess what? Vinyl records are back and we can again dream of affording a bigger and better hi-fi system, maybe with exposed valve amplifier – nah! Just play me UB40 on any tinny device and you will find me singing along.
I'm a big fan of UB40 too 😉
While I enjoy their music, I knew very little about them as a band. It is amazing what we have access to today for information. Weekends In Maine
Thank you for the UB40 backstory! I had no idea! I played them a lot when the album first came out. I think I have it in cassette tape form. Haha. I'm old. (So old I still have all my vinyl. In wooden milk crates).
Did you know that one of the two remaining US vinyl pressers burned down recently? A good friend has had her record release delayed because of this (plus COVID restrictions). What a time we live in.
I don't think I've ever heard of them, but I really liked this song.
@JazzFeathers
The Old Shelter – Living the Twenties
I have heard of UB40, but not familiar with all the tracks.
Music is so soothing as well as invigorating, is it not?
Most of the time, there is some music playing always in my room.
Talking of music, you might like my blog post entry for V. (I don't know how to embed the link for my post here.)