UB40 - Greatest Hits
Virgin / EMI (9/30/08)
Reggae / Pop

Is UB40 essentially a cover band? It’s kind of difficult to deny when more than half of the tracks on this Greatest Hits compilation are revamped from someone else’s catalogue. Probably close to ninety percent of the population knows UB40 for one of their cover songs, which have always been their biggest hits. From Motown to rock to old-school reggae, the band has shown time and time again that they can craft a new, reggae-laden hit out of an older classic.

But it wasn’t always that way. In 1980, the lads from Birmingham, England, released their debut album, Signing Off, on Graduate Records. Hitting the record stores just as the 2 Tone sound (spearheaded by bands like The Specials, Madness and The Selecter) was starting to taper off, UB40’s (band name taken from a British government-issued unemployment form) sound had a darker tone, much truer to the rich, murky dub sound (complete with reverb-a-plenty), with socially and politically adroit lyrics (one of the album’s biggest hits was the MLK Jr. tribute, “King”). “One in Ten”, which appeared on the band’s subsequent album, 1981’s Present Arms, was a scathing attack on the overly ideological views of then-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and it’s unfortunately the only representative of the band’s earlier, doom-laden, dub-rich sound. This stuff is so good that it could have been released on Trojan Records.

“Red Red Wine” is obviously here, from the band’s first cover album and fourth studio album, 1983’s Labour of Love. It was originally written and recorded by Neil Diamond in 1968, though it was Jamaican rocksteady singer Tony Tribe’s version, released a year later, that would be more of an inspiration to UB40 (they had apparently never even heard the Diamond version, those lousy goys). Unfortunately, Tribe’s version has also subjected us to many other insufferable reggae takes on the track, including versions by Capleton, Sizzla and Sean “Mini-Biggie” Kingston.

The band’s version of Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe”, featuring Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde, another of their biggest hits, is another no-brainer for inclusion; one of three tracks on 1985’s Baggariddim that was not a reworking of a previous UB40 track. Another was the ragga-ballad “Don’t Break My Heart”, an original which also appears in the set, between Johnny Osbourne’s “Come Back Darling” and “Cherry Oh Baby”, originally by Eric Donaldson though later on popularized even further by the Rolling Stones. Hynde makes another appearance in the collection on “Breakfast in Bed” (another cover of a cover, it was originally recorded by Dusty Springfield in 1969, then by reggae singer Lorna Bennett in 1973) from the band’s self-titled 1988 album, and it doesn’t really do much to complement the set. It should have been left off in favor of either the 808 State remix of “One in Ten” or even the “Light My Fire” cover.

1989 brought us Labour of Love II, and along with it, obviously, a whole new crop of covers. In this case, “Kingston Town” (originally recorded in 1970 by calypso singer Lord Creator) and “Homely Girl” (The Chi-Lites) were the first two singles, though a revamping of the Smokey Robinson-written Temptations track “The Way You Do the Things You Do” and Al Green’s “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)” proved to be more successful radio hits. All four are included in the set, and rightfully so.

While all of the aforementioned covers are among twelve composing the majority of this collection, it’s “(I Can’t Help) Falling in Love With You” (originally titled “Can’t Help Falling in Love”, when Elvis sang it) that opens up the set. From 1993’s Promises and Lies , it is the band’s most successful worldwide single, as it also was featured in the horrid Sharon Stone film, Sliver, which did pretty decent numbers in spite of being horrid, owing most of that success, presumably, to Sharon Stone and her perky breasts. “Higher Ground” (which, believe it or not, is not a cover of the Stevie Wonder hit, but, rather, a very good original track that had a decent amount of success in its own right) also appeared on Promises and Lies, showing again that the band could also be just as successful with an original composition. These two tracks helped make Lies the best-selling UB40 album ever.

And speaking of original compositions, “Rat in Mi Kitchen”, from 1986’s Rat in the Kitchen is great example of what this band could do when not focused on creating covers. It’s a great, laid-back, straight-up reggae track demonstrating their solid grasp of the genre, and one of the best songs of their post-1983 career. The lush “Sing Our Own Song”, also from Kitchen makes an appearance as well, though it’s certainly one of the tracks that could have been nixed in favor of something from the earlier catalogue. Ditto on “If It Happens Again”, from 1984’s Geffery Morgan.

So, yes, I suppose that UB40 has primarily made a career of covering other people’s songs, but they’re far from a glorified cover band. With “Red Red Wine”, UB40 became a household name, and they found that even though they could create very good original songs, their most success came as a result their covers. It certainly didn’t hurt that said covers were almost always catchy and very radio-friendly. But don’t fault the band—they may have milked the cover-cash cow, but meanwhile they also released a hell of a lot of good original material as well. It’s just a shame that most of that material (especially the first three albums) has slipped under the radar.

And wait a second… hasn’t UB40 released, like, five greatest-hits compilations already? While this is far from the definitive UB40 collection, it serves its purpose in containing almost all of their major hits left out of 2000’s The Very Best of UB40: 1980-2000, and to a casual fan of the band (i.e., someone who likes “Red Red Wine” and a few of the other big ones), this would be a good addition to your music library and introduction to the band’s other material. It is exclusive in featuring the band’s UK hit, “Swing Low”, which served as the official anthem for the English rugby team’s championship run during the 2003 Rugby World Cup, but chances are that if you liked the song five years ago, you’ve probably already acquired it by now. As for the rest of you who would prefer a more complete and true collection of the band’s career, without quite as many of the covers, pick up the aforementioned 2000 collection instead.

Rating: