We weren’t planning the revolution, but if the revolution happened, we knew what side we were going to be on. Guitarist Robin Campbell drew up a list of possible tracks which were then whittled down to a final choice of ten following discussion among the band members. Labour of Love is an album of songs that touched and inspired UB40 in their formative years and you know something? The band has been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album four times, and in 1984, were nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Group.

Labour of Love II - Wikipedia

Released in the UK on 12 September 1983, [2] the album is best known for containing the song " Red Red Wine", a worldwide number-one single, but it also includes three further UK top 20 hits, " Please Don't Make Me Cry", " Many Rivers to Cross" and "Cherry Oh Baby". In an attempt to revive some of the old renegade spirit, Ali Campbell and Astro will perform a live stream of Signing Off next month. We all demonstrated against the National Front and supported Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League. Some tracks use songs as background/soundtrack music and people act and some of the tracks are like videos.D. Considine of Rolling Stone also gave the album a positive review: while criticising the vocals, he also noted that "UB40's ingenuity and unmistakable affection for the material keeps the comparisons from being too lopsided" and felt that each song "retains the spirit of the original while also capturing a modern feel". King, written a decade after the assassination of Martin Luther King, lamented that the black leader’s people were still “chained and pacified”.

Labour of Love III - Wikipedia

The blunt anti-colonialist message of Burden of Shame – “I’m a British subject, not proud of it” – was too strong even for Ian Campbell, who questioned why they were ashamed of their nationality. The band has placed more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. Some user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. Rather than foster an affinity with the Specials, another militant, multiracial collective from the Midlands, UB40 dismissed the two-tone bands as “revivalists”.Championed by Chrissie Hynde, who took UB40 on tour with the Pretenders, both the album and debut single, Food for Thought, became top five hits – “and we never really looked back,” says Astro. The five remaining original members of the group – with a third Campbell brother, Duncan, now on vocals – still record and tour as UB40.

UB40 - Labour Of Love | Releases | Discogs

The album consists of cover versions of ten of the group's favourite songs by reggae artists from the period 1969 to 1972. With the inclusion of the new version of “Red, Red Wine,” the album regained popularity in 1988 and climbed to No. We were eight people who had been unemployed since school, trying to wade through Thatcher’s quagmire of shit and then sing about it.The album was accompanied by a 30-minute film shot in black and white, also entitled Labour of Love and released on VHS video. UB40 featuring Ali and Astro perform Signing Off in full in an online concert available to view from 16 June. Labour of Love is the fourth studio album by British reggae band UB40, and their first album of cover versions. In another interview with Melody Maker, drummer Jim Brown explained that the band were being pressured to deliver a new album, but didn't have enough original material completed, so it seemed an ideal time to revisit the idea of making an album of cover versions.