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".

 

UB40 debut simmers with rage

UB40 : Burden of Shame

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On August 29, 1980 the Birmingham reggae band UB40 released their platinum debut album Signing Off to critical praise. The album entered the charts on October 2, 1980 and stayed there for 71 consecutive weeks. The band took their name and their album cover from a British unemployment benefit form and discovered their political voice by growing up in a city that had experienced the Birmingham pub bombings, IRA conflict, migrants families living in fear and the police using "sus laws" to detain Black citizens.

 Though the band has a worldwide reputation for its feel good covers, the debut simmers with rage. 

In "Burden of Shame" singer Ali Campbell recounts the misdeeds of British Imperialism.

There are murders that we must account for 

Bloody deeds have been done in my name 

Criminal acts we must pay for

 And our children will shoulder the blame

Campbell's smooth voice and the mellow vibe of the song might lead some listeners to miss the point of the songs, but most reviewers figured it out, including David Hepworth of Smash Hits:

Robert Christgau gave the album a  grade of B+ writing " They don't play no ska--they're songsmiths in a deep reggae groove. Like good reggaeheads (and unlike punk/mod ska speeders), they take their time instead of pressing on to the next one, and more than one instrumental outwears its welcome. But when they're singing 'Tyler is guilty' or 'King where are your people now?' or 'I'm a British subject, not proud of it' or--guess who--'Madame Medusa,' patience is rewarded."

Sounds awarded Signing Off five stars out of five, claiming that "it is an (almost) perfect album... It's rare to find a debut album so detailed, so excellently played and so packed with bite – I sometimes think it hasn't really happened since The Clash."

NME described the album as "a courageous debut... Their radical sentiments and trenchant lyrics are given all the more force by the soft-fist of UB40's measured musical delivery... The music might be mellow, but the hard-backed sentiments are hardly those of the nice reggae band you may have pigeonholed the UBs as."

Melody Maker said "The UBs, chirpy and still fully independent, have wrapped up their initial promise and persuasion and delivered a well-girthed winner of a debut album... Certainly the music of UB40 benefits far more in both quality and quantity from the exacting freedom of an LP than any of their close contemporaries... the band have broadened out the unique, shy commerciality of the two singles, "King" and "Food for Thought"... to an approach that sharpens the shape of their music and magnifies the message.

Record Mirror called the band "important" and observed that "their subtle dance music is opening up a lot of ears to the pleasures of British reggae"

UB40 would sell more than 120 records worldwide and have 50 singles in the UK charts, but here is where the band showed its edge. 

UB40's delivers messages on its popular debut single

UB40 : King

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On February 13, 1980 UB40 released its debut single, a double A side featuring "Food For Thought" and "King". It topped the independent music chart for three months and peaked at UK#4 on he pop charts, not bad for a single on Graduate, a small independent label from the band's hometown, tBirmingham. "We don't trust anybody and that's one of our strengths," saxophone player Brian Travers would tell Spin in 1985. Another strength, at least in the early days of UB40, is the band's lyrics. 

"King" is addressed to the late Martin Luther King, Jr., questioning the lost direction of the deceased leader's followers.

King, where are your people now? 

Chained and pacified 

Tried in vain to show them how 

And for that you died

It is interesting to note not all the critics were taken. Melody Maker said "Disappointing debut from one of the seemingly few new bands playing reggae rather than ska. Nice line in mournful singing, though." 

The NME said 

"The rhythm track may well be born-again soft centered Black Country reggae, but the melodies and treatments ( especially on 'Food For Thought") sound like those irritatingly haunting themes featured in countless mid-60's continental Riviera romance youth movies. Actually, Blondie has already plundered the genre to perfection with 'Atomic'".

I would just note Blondie's 1980 hit "The Tide is High" would show there was plenty more to plunder. In any case, here's UB40, all eight of them,  getting a shot at the big time on "Top of the Pops":

According to Robin Campbell, the lyrics relate to "the hypocrisy of Christmas, the fact that there are starving people in Africa and here we are all sat around eating our Christmas dinner and praising the Lord".

Politician's argue sharpening their knives. 
Drawing up their Bargains, trading baby lives. 

Yes, UB40 beat Bob Geldolf's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" by four and a half years.