Ub44 [Import]

After many years waiting for this to be re-released in the U.S. I gave up and bought an Import copy. This is a very good album and unfortunately not too many people have ever heard it. It was released right before their breakthrough U.S. release "Labour of Love". I guess you can say that it was released at an awkward time. Three of the best songs on this album "I Won't Close My Eyes","Dubmobile" and "So Here I Am" were released on a Greatest Hits Collection entitled "80-85". It was a compilation of their songs from the first four albums. The rest of these songs are good as well. I actually prefer their 80's material because it was more straitforward reggae. They got more commercial as the 90's rolled around. Which I'm not saying is bad. There's nothing like some English boys playing some reggae. It's good to hear this again after being in hiding for so long.

I bought UB44 as part of my gradual effort fill in some holes in my collection. I listened to it a few times initially, but then set it to the side while I was working on other stuff. Not unusual for me. I am going to put it back in rotation again soon, so consider the 4 stars provisional. My final opinion could be 4.5 or even 5, depending on long-term results.
This album certainly fits in among their other output at the time- Signing Off, Present Arms, Rat in the Kitchen, and Geoffrey Morgan being the ones I was already very familiar with. Confrontational, sharply observed and plaintive, all locked up with a generally good beat. But it is also a little harder to get into than some of the others I listed. I would actually suggest Geoffrey Morgan or Rat in the Kitchen as a start for the curious, followed by Signing Off and Present Arms and others.
I have not tracked too much of their later stuff, after maybe Labour of Love II. Though I have found out some of it is now worth a closer look.
As lightweight as UB40 are sometimes considered in the mainstream (Red, Red Wine and all that), their music routinely has some of the best lyrics going, and they put them to good use in telling often kick-to-the-gut stories. A wrongly convicted man in "Tyler", a sarcastic officer serving a 3rd world dictator in "You're Not the Army", the stifling rage of city life in "Silent Witness", the suicide of a prostitute in "The Pillow". The real trick is that they don't knock you over the head with politics. They draw you in with the quality of the underlying music and let the story tell itself from there. Very underrated. There's a reason they've been around for thirty-plus years.

More wonderful sweet reggae. Complex rhythms within a beat you already know, "Music So Nice" from a group you already love, nothing better...