Ub40

For the Many is the twentieth 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". For the Many is the band's first album of original material to feature vocalist Duncan Campbell and drummer Jimmy Brown.

UB40 are a British reggae/pop band formed in 1978 in Birmingham, England. The band has placed more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. The band has 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. This box set contains 5 original albums: Signing Off, Present Arms, UB44, Labour of Love, Geoffery Morgan.

Only fans who follow UB40 closely will be aware that, as of 2013, there have been two different bands performing under the name UB40. The UB40 who perform with no caveats attached to their appellation are fronted by Duncan Campbell, the brother of Ali Campbell, who led the band through its peaks in the '80s and '90s. Ali acrimoniously left the group in 2008, soon followed by fellow vocalist Astro and keyboardist Mickey Virtue, leaving the remaining UB40 to be something of an upscale Reggae Sunsplash act, churning out reggae-fied covers of old pop and rock standards. All three former members reunited in 2014 for an album called Silhouette – confusingly billed to Ali Campbell the Legendary Voice of UB40 Reunited with Astro & Mickey – which helped establish these refugees as a distinct entity from the UB40 that kept performing under the household name, but the 2018 album A Real Labour of Love is where the trio make a stab for the crown they vacated.

The Best of UB40, Vol. 1 is an adequate collection of the group's biggest '80s hits, including "Breakfast in Bed," "Red Red Wine," "Rat in Mi Kitchen," "Food for Thought," "Please Don't Make Me Cry," "Don't Break My Heart," and "Sing Our Own Song." Although it doesn't give enough weight to the group's earliest, edgiest (and best) recordings, it still offers a good sense of the band's evolution into a fine pop-reggae band, and it will satiate the needs of most casual fans. The Best of UB40, Vol. 2 concentrates on the group's '90s recordings…

UB40 have a catalogue of poignant original material and era-defining cover versions that make the band so loved. In 2014, a 20-track collection ‘Red Red Wine: The Collection’ was released and enjoyed incredible success. Four years on, UMC brings you ‘Red Red Wine: The Collection – volume 2’ a carefully compiled sequel to the original release which features 20 further recordings by the chart-topping Birmingham outfit. Featured here is a selection loaded with chart successes, including some of their undisputed highlights – ‘Rat In Mi Kitchen’, ‘Sing Our Own Song’, a much-loved extended version of their UK Chart No. 1 ‘Red Red Wine’ as well as great live versions of ‘Food For Thought’ and ‘I Got You Babe’. It is a fine, unmistakable body of work that has been part of the fabric of the UK music scene for over three decades.

UB40 featuring Ali Campbell & Astro's album, Unprecedented, is the follow-up to 2018's A Real Labour of Love which went to #2 on the U.K. charts. Recorded in studios in London and Jamaica between lockdowns, the album is a collection of songs that Ali & Astro have loved for years by artists they admire (such as Stevie Wonder and Kris Kristofferson) alongside self-penned tracks inspired by the pandemic and the state of the U.K. at the moment. The album was originally scheduled for release in 2021 but the release was postponed due to the sad passing of Astro in November 2021.

UB40 fans intrigued to see how former frontman Ali Campbell would fare since his acrimonious departure a year previously could be forgiven for thinking the Brummie vocalist was in the midst of a midlife crisis, judging by the guest appearance of grime artist Sway and a cover of a Britney Spears song on his third solo album, Flying High. But while its star-studded roll call may be more suited to pirate radio than the Radio 2-friendly guest list of predecessor Running Free (Mick Hucknall, Katie Melua), it isn't the radical departure its credits suggest. Indeed, only the rather shoehorned quickfire lyrical delivery of the aforementioned South London MC on "It's a Crime" would sound out of place on his previous outfit's back catalog, as Campbell wraps his distinctive nasal tones around 14 tracks that stick rigidly to his well-worn formula of lilting reggae and breezy ska-pop.

What does a veteran band do when it's some 25 years into its career and wants to record a new album but doesn't have any new original songs? Why, record a covers album of course! And that's exactly what Madness, the kings of British ska revival, have done for their ninth studio album, 2005's The Dangermen Sessions, Vol. 1. It's their first new album since 1999's Wonderful, but they've been active in the interim, playing gigs on a regular basis. This means that the group sounds supple and professional, even if the lack of new songs in six years does suggest that the band doesn't really have anything to say at this point, and would just rather play, relax, and have a good time while encouraging others to have a good time.

Robert Palmer was an English singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He was known for his distinctive, soulful voice, eclectic mix of musical styles on his albums, combining soul, jazz, rock, pop, reggae, blues, and sartorial acumen. He found success both in his solo career and with the Power Station, and had Top 10 songs in both the UK and the US. His iconic music videos directed by British fashion photographer Terence Donovan for the hits "Addicted to Love" and "Simply Irresistible" featured identically-dressed dancing women with pale faces, dark-eye makeup and bright-red lipstick, which resembled the women in the art of Patrick Nagel, an artist popular in the 1980s. Palmer's involvement in the music industry commenced in the 1960s, covered four decades and included a spell with Vinegar Joe.