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I don't think it ever occured to me to wonder why they're all drinking beer in the video back then. Neither did it ever occur to me that this song wasn't really new: I think the whole concept of cover versions was beyond my ken at that point. To this day I don't think I've ever heard the Neil Diamond version and I'm really quite happy with that.
I've never owned a UB40 record (although I think my Dad had the Greatest Hits for a while) and at the risk of falling in line with critical consensus, I quite like what I've heard of the really early stuff ('Food For Thought', 'Tyler' etc) but once they get to this point all bets are off. I was struggling to define exactly what was so bad about it until we had a domestic discussion about it - I concluded that even though this is in the venerable tradition of reggae acts covering non-reggae material, it almost sounds like the opposite, a band who don't understand reggae trying to cover a reggae song.
But of course we know that UB40, whatever else you say about them, did know their reggae. So it's slightly difficult to understand quite what went wrong - Greed? Complaceny? Tinny early-80s production values? Was it just a hostage to fortune recording a song with the word "w(h)ine" in the title?
Either way, I don't think they ever quite recovered from it artistically, although that obviously wasn't a universal view as this was the song that really made them stars, ultimately topping the US charts and launching them in that market too.
It's not that you never hear this one, but it was also brought back to mind by Sean Kingston's minor follow-up hit 'Me Love' last year. Thanks a bundle Sean.
Also appearing on: Now 4, 6, 7, 9, 13, 17, 18, 26, 41, 56
Available on: The Best Of UB40, Volumes 1 & 2 [2CD]
God, I hate that song.
ReplyDeleteI never liked UB40 either.
They were 80s cool-corporate slick, and the "A" listers dug them to death. Knowing they're not around anymore is reason enough to get up in the morning. So too the fact that the "A" listers are all trudging along the endless gray highway of American mediocrity. Brings a smile to my face.
The best to you and this blog. It looks great.
Bad news first - they're still going. But there has been something of a schism between Ali Campbell and everyone else so they now appear to have Maxi Priest on lead vocal.
ReplyDeleteOne reason I've been harder on this than other records that probably aren't really any better is because UB40 weren't always like this: I've added a link to 'Food For Thought' in the original post as an example of the sort of band they once were.