UB40 – SIGNING OFF 2LP – Nr MINT 1980  SKA REGGAE INDIE

UB40 – Signing Off
(Graduate Records  1980  GRADLP2)
Matrix No’s: A1/B1

Textured Sleeve in Nr MINT- condition
– a few small discolouration spots near edges
Inner Sleeves have a little light ringwear but no splits

Double Vinyl in Nr MINT condition
(there are some surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality)

UB40 are an English reggae and pop band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. They have 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. One of the world’s best-selling music artists, UB40 have sold over 70 million records. The ethnic make-up of the band’s original line-up was diverse, with musicians of English, Irish, Jamaican, Scottish and Yemeni parentage.

Their hit singles include their debut “Food for Thought” and two Billboard Hot 100 number ones with “Red Red Wine” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love”. Both of these also topped the UK Singles Chart, as did the band’s version of “I Got You Babe”. Their two most successful albums, Labour of Love (1983) and Promises and Lies (1993), reached number one on the UK Albums Chart.

The band’s line-up was stable for nearly 29 years, from March 1979 until January 2008, when frontman Ali Campbell left the band; followed shortly thereafter by keyboardist Mickey Virtue. Another member, Astro, remained with the band until November 2013; when he departed the original band to team up with Campbell and Virtue in a new version of UB40. In 2014, legal advice was sought by the original band (now consisting of remaining co-founding members drummer Jimmy Brown, guitarist Robin Campbell, bassist Earl Falconer, percussionist Norman Hassan, and saxophonist Brian Travers, along with new vocalist Duncan Campbell) against the group containing Campbell, Virtue, and Astro over usage of the band name, due to it being used by both parties.

Signing Off is the debut album by UB40, released in the UK on 29 August 1980 by Graduate Records. It reached #2 on the UK Albums Chart and spent a total of 71 weeks on the chart, and received a Platinum certification by BPI on 11 June 1981.

Overview

Signing Off was UB40’s first album and it featured a mix of reggae and dub material which was lyrically politically charged and socially conscious, while musically it was reverb-heavy, doom-laden yet mellifluous, best exemplified in the hits “King” and “Food For Thought” as well as the searing “Burden of Shame”.

“King” was a song written about the late Martin Luther King, Jr., questioning the lost direction of the deceased leader’s followers and the state of mourning of a nation after his death. Perhaps the biggest success of the album was the song “Food For Thought”, which was an attempt to publicize and condemn the Ethiopian famine in Africa, comparing it with the Western over-indulgent celebration of Christmas, a full five years before Band Aid brought the subject to widespread attention. Subsequently it was also a prominent feature of UB40’s 2005 Live 8 appearance in Hyde Park, London – 25 years after the song had been first released. Both “King” and “Food For Thought” were released together as a Double A-side, as their debut single in February 1980. It topped the Indie chart for three months, reached #4 in the UK charts, and went on to sell half a million copies. It was the first single to reach the UK Top 10 without the backing of a major record company.

The follow-up “My Way of Thinking”/”I Think It’s Going to Rain Today” peaked at #6 on the UK charts in June 1980. Although this was their second single before the album was released, “My Way of Thinking” was not included on the album. The group was not entirely happy with the number and Ali Campbell had confessed to being embarrassed with the sexist nature of some of the lyrics.

The original vinyl album consisted of a ten-track LP plus a 3-track 12-inch record which included the tracks “Madam Medusa”, “Strange Fruit” and “Reefer Madness”. The opening track “Tyler” was written about a young black American Gary Tyler, who was convicted of murdering a 13-year-old white boy, at the age of 17. UB40 intended “Tyler” to be their first single in the States. “Burden of Shame” recounted the misdeeds performed in the name of British Imperialism. “I’m a British subject, not proud of it/While I carry the burden of shame”. The 12-inch single contained one of the band’s finest compositions: “Madam Medusa” featured some of their most impassioned and bitter lyrics. The song was a vivid description of Margaret Thatcher’s rise to power depicted in a grotesque style – a lyrical equivalent to the goriest caricatures of the Iron Lady!

In 1985 the album was repackaged as a double album under the title The UB40 File, with the addition of “My Way Of Thinking”, “The Earth Dies Screaming” and “Dream A Lie”. The latter two were released two months after the release of Signing Off, and were written during the release of the album. For a short time in 1981/82 in Australia, the original album was released with a bonus 45 single, in an identical smaller version of the album cover, containing these two tracks. Both the original album and [The UB40 File] have been released on cd as well.

As an indication that Signing Off is considered by many to be by far UB40’s best album, as well as one of the finest reggae albums by a British group, in 2000 Q magazine placed it at number 83 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.

In 2010, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the album’s release, UB40 announced a tour of concerts where the band would perform the whole album.

Cover art

The front cover and reverse has been made to look like the UB40 unemployment benefit attendance card from which the band took their name.

Track listing

All tracks written by UB40 except where noted.

LP

Side One

Side Two

EP Side One

EP Side Two

Personnel

• Astro – Voices
• Neil Black – Assistant Engineer
• Jim Brown – Drums, Group Member
• Ali Campbell – Rhythm Guitar, Vocals
• Robin Campbell – Guitar, Vocals
• Earl Falconer – Bass
• Ray Falconer – Producer
• Norman Hassan – Congas, Percussion, Vocals
• Bob Lamb – Engineer, Producer
• Rafe McKenna – Engineer
• Brian Travers – Tenor Saxophone
• UB40 – Producer
• Michael Virtue – Keyboards, Organ, Strings