| A Real Labour of Love | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 2 March 2018 | |||
| Recorded | 2017 | |||
| Genre | Reggae | |||
| Length | 72:39 | |||
| Label | Universal | |||
| Producer | Ali Campbell [1] | |||
| UB40 featuring Ali, Astro and Mickey chronology | ||||
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A Real Labour of Love is the third studio album by UB40 featuring Ali, Astro and Mickey. [2] It peaked at number 2 on the UK Albums Chart, making it the highest-charting UB40 album since Promises and Lies , which reached number-one in 1993. [3]
In 2008, Ali Campbell unceremoniously quit UB40 after 30 years as their lead singer; he was soon followed by founding member, keyboardist Mickey Virtue. Trumpeter and toaster Astro left the band in 2013. In August 2014, Campbell announced that the trio had reunited to record a new album, Silhouette, under the name "The Legendary Voice of UB40 Ali Campbell reunited with Astro & Mickey". [4] He said of his brother Duncan's singing, "I sat back for five years and watched my brother Duncan murdering my songs. We're saving the legacy". [5] They record under the name 'UB40 featuring Ali, Astro and Mickey' after legal action preventing them from calling the band UB40.
Their first release was The Hits of UB40 Live in 2015. In 2016, their Unplugged album reached number 17 on the UK Albums Chart. [6]
A Real Labour of Love was released in March 2018, an album much in the vein of UB40's Labour of Love series of albums. [7] It reached number two on the UK Albums Chart, and entered the Billboard Reggae Albums chart at number one. [6] [8]
| Chart (2018) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [9] | 152 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [10] | 199 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [11] | 67 |
| UK Albums (OCC) [12] | 2 |
| US Reggae Albums (Billboard) [13] | 1 |
UB40 are an English reggae and pop band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham, England. 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. UB40 have sold more than 70 million records worldwide. The ethnic make-up of the band's original line-up was diverse, with musicians of English, Welsh, Irish, Jamaican, Scottish, and Yemeni parentage.
Signing Off is the debut album by British reggae band UB40, released in the UK on 29 August 1980 by Dudley-based independent label Graduate Records. It was an immediate success in their home country, reaching number 2 on the UK albums chart, and made UB40 one of the many popular reggae bands in Britain, several years before the band found international fame. The politically-concerned lyrics struck a chord in a country with widespread public divisions over high unemployment, the policies of the recently elected Conservative party under Margaret Thatcher, and the rise of the National Front party, while the record's dub-influenced rhythms reflected the late 1970s influence in British pop music of West Indian music introduced by immigrants from the Caribbean after the Second World War, particularly reggae and ska – this was typified by the 2 Tone movement, at that point at the height of its success and led by fellow West Midlands act The Specials, with whom UB40 drew comparisons due to their multiracial band line-up and socialist views.
Max Alfred Elliott, known by his stage name Maxi Priest, is a British reggae vocalist of Jamaican descent. He is best known for singing reggae music with an R&B influence, otherwise known as reggae fusion. He was one of the first international artists to have success in this genre, and one of the most successful reggae fusion acts of all time.
The Very Best of UB40 1980-2000 is a greatest hits album from the British dub/reggae band UB40.
Who You Fighting For? is the fifteenth album by UB40 released on 13 June 2005. The album was nominated for the reggae album Grammy in 2006. It marks the return of the rootsier, political sound that the group cultivated during the early 1980s. It was the band's first release by Rhino Records in the US.
"Many Rivers to Cross" is a song written and recorded in 1969 by Jimmy Cliff. It has since been recorded by many musicians, including Harry Nilsson, John Lennon, Joe Cocker, Percy Sledge, Little Milton, Desmond Dekker, UB40, Cher, The Brand New Heavies, Eric Burdon & The Animals, The Walker Brothers, Marcia Hines, Toni Childs, Oleta Adams, Linda Ronstadt, Annie Lennox, Bryan Adams, Chris Pierce, Arthur Lee, Ted Leo, Jimmy Barnes, Lenny Kravitz, and Chitral Somapala. It was also performed in the Caribbean by Alison Hinds of Barbados and Tessanne Chin of Jamaica, Cliff's native nation.
Labour of Love is the fourth studio album by British reggae band UB40, and their first album of cover versions. Released in the UK on 12 September 1983, 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". The album reached number one in the UK, New Zealand and the Netherlands and the top five in Canada, but only reached number 39 in the US on its original release, before re-entering the Billboard 200 in 1988 and peaking at number 14 as a result of "Red Red Wine"'s delayed success in the US.
Labour of Love II is the ninth album and second covers album by UB40, released in 1989. The album contained two top-ten Billboard Hot 100 hits – "Here I Am " peaked at No. 7, "The Way You Do the Things You Do" peaked at No. 6 – and "Kingston Town" reached No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart.
UB44 is the third studio album of original material by UB40, released on the DEP International label in 1982. It was advertised as their 'fourth album' although Present Arms in Dub had been a remix album. The album reached No. 4 in the UK album chart and the early release of the packaging had a hologram cover. UB44 was the Department of Employment form letter sent to British unemployment benefit claimants when they missed their 'signing on' appointment.
Geffery Morgan is the fifth album by UB40. Released in 1984, it takes its title inspired by a band roadie who had a friend named "Geffery Morgan who ... loved white girls" Following the success of their covers album, Labour of Love, all tracks on this album are self-penned. The album contained the hit "If It Happens Again", which reached No. 9 in the UK Singles Chart.
Promises and Lies is the tenth album by the British reggae band UB40, released in 1993. It includes the hit from the soundtrack of the 1993 movie Sliver, "Can't Help Falling in Love", originally sung by Elvis Presley. The album reached No. 1 in the UK and No. 6 in the United States. It is the band's best-selling album, having sold over 9 million copies.
"Baby, Come Back" is a song by English band the Equals from their 1967 album Unequalled Equals. Written by Eddy Grant, the song was originally released as a B-side in 1966 and was later released as a single in continental Europe before being released as a single in the UK in 1968. "Baby, Come Back" charted in multiple countries, including number one on the Belgian, Rhodesian and UK charts in 1967 and 1968.
Cover Up is the fourteenth studio album by English reggae band UB40, released on 22 October 2001 through Virgin Records and DEP International. Recorded with co-producer Gerry Parchment at DEP International Studios in Birmingham, the album followed a musical break for the group. It exemplifies their distinct reggae/pop sound and uses programmed rhythms as the basis for songs; the incorporation of the latter caused friction within the band and singer Ali Campbell later criticised the production style.
Homegrown is the sixteenth studio album by English reggae band UB40, released on 3 November 2003 through Virgin Records and DEP International. The follow-up to Cover Up (2001), the album was produced by UB40 at DEP International Studios in Birmingham. Described by Robin Campbell as an old-fashioned UB40 record, Homegrown features both love songs and political numbers. As with Cover Up, its use of programmed rhythms was the cause of musical differences in the band and was later criticised by frontman Ali Campbell.
Alistair Ian Campbell is an English singer and songwriter who was lead singer and co-founder of the British reggae band UB40.
The discography of UB40, a British reggae band, consists of 20 studio albums, 19 compilation albums, six live albums, four remix albums, 65 singles and a number of appearances with other artists.
Magic! is a Canadian reggae fusion band from Toronto. Based in Los Angeles, the band comprises lead vocalist, guitarist/producer Nasri Atweh, guitarist/keyboardist Mark "Pelli" Pellizzer, and bassist Ben Spivak. Active since 2012, the band is signed with Latium, Sony, and RCA Records, releasing their debut studio album Don't Kill the Magic in 2014, their second studio album Primary Colours in 2016, and their third studio album Expectations in 2018. They are best known for their hit single "Rude", which charted at No. 1 in several countries worldwide, including the US and UK.
Greatest Hits is a compilation album by English reggae group UB40, released in 2008. The album includes all 21 tracks from 11 studio albums and the compilation The Best of UB40: Volume Two.
For the Many is the nineteenth studio album by English reggae band UB40. It was released on 15 March 2019 on the Shoestring record label. The album cover was designed by the band's saxophonist Brian Travers and depicts a silhouette of tower blocks, following the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire. The album's name has been associated with the Labour Party and its leader Jeremy Corbyn's use of the slogan "For the many, not the few". Travers commented on the connection in an article published in a Birmingham Live article, stating, "We're all socialists and Labour supporters".
Last Night in the Bittersweet is the fourth studio album by Scottish singer-songwriter Paolo Nutini, released on 1 July 2022 by Atlantic Records. Two songs from the album, "Through the Echoes" and "Lose It", were jointly released on 11 May 2022. Last Night in the Bittersweet is Nutini's first release in eight years, following his third studio album, Caustic Love (2014).
