By Elliott West
“We had been unemployed since school, trying to wade through Thatcher’s quagmire of shit and sing about it”.
UB40
Introduction
I want to take you back, back to a time when music read the mood of the nation, blasting out their loves and hates in well-thought-out lyrics. The year was 1978 and in Birmingham’s multiracial Balsall Heath, a group of school friends came together to form a band, a nucleus of black and white musicians who wanted to be the authentic voice of informed working-class dissatisfaction, music that had a rhythmic beat with an undertone of reggae that reflected a strong bond to the children of the Windrush generation. Music that made you tap your feet and whose songs rattled around in your brain days after first hearing them. The group in question, UB40, a name that came from the unemployment benefit attendance card that so many were filling out to get their dole money, a staggering 1.5 million people in 1978.
Hybrid Reggae
The spark in UB40 certainly wasn’t based on exact science. The band learnt how to play through imperfect imitation, listening to the records of Big Youth, Sly and Robbie, Lee “Scratch” Perry and King Tubby. Their music would echo these greats, jamming in the basement beneath where two of the band members, the bass player Earl Falconer and the saxophonist Brian Travers lived. They would stand and play on beer crates because every time Brian had a bath the water would stream down the walls. This band were determined and committed.
This was a group that if you were fly on the wall, would see a group of young and ambitious men, contemplating life amidst a cloud of cannabis smoke and trying to solve the problems of the world, jamming as they did. Yet Ali Campbell’s father, Ian, a Scottish folk singer and devout Communist, wasn’t totally convinced, what was the point of a band if you can’t play instruments properly, although he did admire the meaningful lyrics that the group produced.
The Early Days
UB40’s early work was raw and pulled few punches, challenging Britain’s colonial past and lamenting the assassination of Martin Luther King. They were powerful songs but years later Ali Cambell would admit that nothing had changed as a result of writing and releasing them. Signing up to a record label called Graduate, the Brummie lads squeezed into the bedsit room of local drummer Bob Lamb, producing the album Signing Off in 1980, still considered to be one their best debut albums. Produced on a four-track Fostex machine, this was like a scene out of Alice in Wonderland with the room space so small, the percussionist Norman Hassan had to play in the garden. This was a work that was brilliant but at the same time something that was so much better than anything recorded in a studio. If you listen carefully to some of the tracks, you can actually hear the noise of traffic from outside and birds singing. An album where true uniqueness shines through in abundance.
The Spark
The catalyst to UB40’s success stems from Chrissie Hynde taking the band on tour as a support act with her group The Pretenders. As a result, their album and single Food for Thought became top five hits. This was a democratic band that stuck to its socialist values, splitting the songwriting equally and voting on every decision. They stuck to their Birmingham roots and yet were quite an unsociable bunch, preferring their own company, smoking joints in the dressing rooms and distancing themselves from the limelight and the vibrant scene that bands such as The Specials had created. Their mission was to introduce people to reggae. A sound that had political undertones, a breath of fresh air to the manufactured sounds that resonated from the Top of the Pops studio.
Hit After Hit
The group were on a high producing a waterfall of hits, with follow-up albums of Signing Off and the iconic Labour of Love, released in 1983. This brilliant album would contain songs such as Red Red Wine with a memorable video shot in black and white, originally written by Neil Diamond. A video was shot in a pub with a young Ali Campbell getting drunk on Ansells Bitter, as he thinks about the love of his life. A love dream that is shattered when she walks into the pub with another man. Ali ends up in an alleyway where his pipe-smoking father finds him and takes him home.
A second Labour of Love album would follow with the song Kingston Town on it. Some would say that these two albums was the point when the band turned commercial, forgetting their politics, and surrendering their anti-establishment kudos. A few fans deserted the UB40 camp but on the whole, the band was highly successful. A band that had forty top 20 hits in the 1980s and 1990s with their music formatted on cassettes, and vinyl and whose music has a record 100 million sales on CD alone.
The Split
This band’s spilt would be acrimonious with Ali leaving in 2008 to pursue a solo career and Astro joining him five years later to form one of the two UB40 bands that now exist. A few nasty words were fired into both camps and this was the point of no return. I have seen both versions of this band with Ali’s brother Robin fronting the other, a version I saw a few years at the Hammersmith Apollo with the late frontman Maxi Jazz with his jazz band as a support act. Having seen the band with Ali Campbell several times, I have to admit Ali’s version is much better. Although both versions still think they are the best and Ali admits that despite making millions, he has a problem with money and has spent most of it. However, both sides do agree on one thing, they are proud of their achievements.
Loss
Ali Cambell and his band would be hit by the tragic and sudden loss of Astro, real name Terrence Wilson, who died after a short illness, aged 64, in 2021. Astro had just finished recording a new album called Unprecedented, a mix of new songs and covers with Ali in Kingston, Jamaica with the final version not being finished until a few weeks after his death. Astro unusually takes part in a number of the backing tracks and Ali admits it has been hard to adapt after his and every time he looks right, he is not there. The album has several poignant tracks that are still hard to perform without their bandmate.
The Legacy
UB40 is now celebrating its 45th year in the music industry with a tour now in full swing across the UK including a concert at the Albert Hall. Their music lives on, precisely because it is well-crafted, and performed giving the listener an Anglo/Caribbean vibe that puts its finger on the reggae pulse, producing 39 hits. UB40’s music is as relevant today as when it was first released. Its sadness and joy can be heard on radio channels, television channels and in the comfort of your own home. The mix of politics, love and heartbreak rings out in their many hits, forever echoing their Birmingham beginnings. Songs that you can dance to, laugh to and cry to, a winning formula that warms the heart and makes your day much easier as a result. A brand of music that is played and performed across the world as far as the Solomon Islands.
