Present Arms is another huge hit for UB40

UB40 : One In Ten

In the last week of May, 1981, UB40 released its second album Present Arms. Despite the fact that they've been playing their instruments for fewer than three years, and looked less than trendy, the band was selling more albums in Britain than any other living reggae act. 

"I think we've been really lucky," singer Ali Campbell told Smash Hits," in that we were around when The Specials were just taking off, and we were nothing to do with the 2-Tone thing, but the media aligned us with them --you know, black and white act--and we got to play gigs with them, and as far as England was concerned that really helped.

"And then we're much more accessible than most reggae bands. There's a lot of people who find it strange listening to Jamaican reggae.There's nothing to identify with when you've got a black band singing about Jah. It's definitely easier for white people if some of the group are white too."

The single "One In Ten" is an attack on Thatcherism :

“I’m a starving third world mother, a refugee without a home/

I’m a housewife hooked on Valium, I’m a pensioner alone”

The album would peak at UK#2, and like the debut, stick around for months and months, eventually going Platinum. An amazing accomplishment for an indie release. UB40 earned 65% of every record sale, as opposed to 10% for most artists. Every member is involved in writing the lyrics and music so everyone was earning good, if not an outrageous amount of money. Saxophone player Brian Travers bought a new house in 1981. He said everyone in the band is at the same level musically, and they like it that way:

"If someone came in from the outside who was either better than us at his instrument or worse than us, that's really throw us. We're happy as we are. "

Critics had mostly kind things to say about the sophomore album. The Village Voice's  Robert Christgau gave Present Arms an A-, writing:

They're not about to revolutionize JA--not by carpentering the bass lines, horn charts, and dub effects of the reggae of yesteryear (1975, say) into an indigenous pop r&b. And though they have their own DIY label, they're not about to revolutionize their native U.K. either. But their conscience is catching--I know, because I fell for "One in Ten" on Radio Luxembourg despite my objections to its merely liberal message. Their toasting is pretty infectious too. And they relegate the instrumentals to a bonus twelve-inch. Still, I doubt they'll break the DOR barrier here--what passes for mild protest in England these days might sound dangerous Stateside. It might even be dangerous

Record Mirror's Mike Gardner gave the album 4.5 stars out of 5 , calling UB40 "the hardest dance band in the country and you can't complain about that".