2023 Charity Shop Purchases #68 - UB40 - Signing Off
I am old enough to remember when UB40 were good. I am also old enough to remember having to use an Unemployment Benefit Attendance Card back in the late 70s/early 80S.
I picked up a vinyl copy of Signing Off the debut album on the Graduate label from 1980 in a Clarkston charity shop. It comes in an interesting format namely a 10 track album plus a three track 45 rpm EP.
Unfortunately it looks as though my MP3 turntable has just about given up the ghost and will require to be replaced. Therefore I have to rely on the two tracks that I have in my music folder on the PC.
Fortunately one is the magnificent Madam Medusa from the EP all 12 minutes 51 seconds of it. It is a song that portrays the Thatcher regime which was responsible for millions of us owning UB40 cards. And you think the Johnson/Truss/Sunak regime was bad ...
I'm a British subject not proud of it
While I carry the burden of shame
The album not only highlights injustices in the UK. The opening track Tyler was written about the young black American Gary Tyler, who at the age of 17 was convicted by an all-white judge and jury of murdering a 13-year-old white boy, despite serious irregularities in the prosecution case and the lack of a murder weapon ever being found (Wiki)
There is a simple mantra when it comes to UB40 albums. Anything before 1983's Labour of Love is worth having. Anything after isn't.
Don't use titles like that, it makes us panic.
ReplyDeleteEntirely agree with CC's UB40 Rule
You can't get rid of me that easily!
DeleteSuch a brilliant LP. Present Arms and UB44 were pretty good too, but after that, the quality of their music, to quote Monty Python, didn't so much fall as plummet. Where did it all go wrong?
ReplyDeleteAgree with the CC rule...would go see them live if they only played songs up to and including 1982..
ReplyDeleteTotally agree on your cut off point for the good UB40. Out of interest (to absolutely nobody but myself) I worked in an Unemployment Benefit Office in the 70s and we all felt pretty smug when UB40 namechecked 'our' stationery. A UB40 was indeed the card people had to complete when 'signing off' but claimants had to produce their white card UI2 when signing on each week. I think it's important to set this before you!
ReplyDelete