''Labour of Love'' is the fourth studio album by British reggae band
UB40
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 ...
, and their first album of
cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
s. Released in the UK on 12 September 1983, the album is best known for containing the song "
Red Red Wine
"Red Red Wine" is a song originally written, performed and recorded by American singer Neil Diamond in 1967 that appears on his second studio album, '' Just for You''. The lyrics are written from the perspective of a person who finds that drinki ...
", a worldwide number-one single, but it also includes three further UK top 20 hits, "
Please Don't Make Me Cry
"Please Don't Make Me Cry" is a song written and originally recorded by Winston Groovy in 1970.
UB40 version
The most well-known recorded version of the song is by reggae group UB40, and was the follow-up single to their chart-topping cover ...
", "
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.
Following the record's success, UB40 have since released three further albums of cover versions under the ''Labour of Love'' title.
Background and recording
The album consists of cover versions of ten of the group's favourite songs by reggae artists from the period 1969 to 1972. Guitarist Robin Campbell drew up a list of possible tracks which were then whittled down to a final choice of ten following discussion among the band members. Campbell told UK music magazine ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'', "It's a collection of songs ''we'' knew as reggae songs. We'd wanted to do it for years, we wanted it to be our first album... Why we recorded them was because they were part of an era for us, what we were into."
In another interview with ''
Melody Maker
''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...
'', drummer Jim Brown explained that the band were being pressured to deliver a new album, but didn't have enough original material completed, so it seemed an ideal time to revisit the idea of making an album of cover versions. UB40 had recently opened their own studio, the Abattoir, and Campbell spoke about how the combination of not having to write songs and having their own studio in which to produce them had resulted in a happy environment during the album's recording: "We could relax with this; there wasn't the pressure of it being our own material. We experimented with several things like
LinnDrum
The LinnDrum, also referred to as the LM-2, is a drum machine manufactured by Linn Electronics between 1982 and 1985. About 5,000 units were sold.
Its high-quality samples, flexibility and affordability made the LinnDrum popular; it sold far mo ...
s and synthesised basslines. It was a lot more fun."
The group were apparently unaware during recording that the most famous track on the record had not originally been a reggae song.
Ali Campbell
Alistair Ian Campbell (born 15 February 1959) is an English singer and songwriter who was lead singer of the British reggae band UB40. As part of UB40, Campbell sold over 70 million records worldwide and toured the globe for 30 years. In 2008, C ...
told ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'', "Nobody was as shocked as we were to find out that
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has had ten No. 1 singles on the Hot 100 and Adul ...
wrote 'Red Red Wine'... To me, it was always a
Tony Tribe
"Red Red Wine" is a song originally written, performed and recorded by American singer Neil Diamond in 1967 that appears on his second studio album, '' Just for You''. The lyrics are written from the perspective of a person who finds that drinki ...
song. He sang it."
The album and 12" version of "Red Red Wine" included a
toasted
Toast most commonly refers to:
* Toast (food), bread browned with dry heat
* Toast (honor), a ritual in which a drink is taken
Toast may also refer to:
Places
* Toast, North Carolina, a census-designated place in the United States
Books
* Toas ...
verse by Astro, later copied and included by Diamond in his live performances of the song.
The band defended their decision to make an album of cover versions, stating that they had always wanted to make reggae for a wide audience. Robin Campbell said, "We actually set out in the first place to popularise reggae. That was our intention."
His brother Ali added, "What we want to do is play heavy dub reggae. But if we came straight out doing that, it would never have gotten on the radio. We commercialize our music all the time; it's been a series of compromises."
''Labour of Love'' film
The album was accompanied by a 30-minute film shot in black and white, also entitled ''Labour of Love'' and released on
VHS video.
It was directed by
Bernard Rose and written by Rose and the group's saxophone player Brian Travers. The story followed a fictional version of the lives of the band members, their relationships with family and girlfriends, and their jobs in a junkyard, with all roles in the film played by the band and their friends. The plot focused on the rivalry between two brothers (played by the band's Ali and Robin Campbell) trying to win the affections of the same girl (played by keyboard player Mickey Virtue's real-life girlfriend at the time, Bernadette McNamara). The film featured songs from the album as its soundtrack, and the music videos for the singles "Red Red Wine", "Please Don't Make Me Cry" and "Cherry Oh Baby" were lifted directly from the film. Rose would go on to direct music videos for
Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Frankie Goes to Hollywood were an English synth-pop band formed in Liverpool in 1980. The group's best-known line-up comprised Holly Johnson (vocals), Paul Rutherford (backing vocals), Peter Gill (drums, percussion), Mark O'Toole (bass guit ...
and
Bronski Beat before becoming a Hollywood movie director.
Artwork
The album's cover art was created by Ken Ansell of the Design Clinic and featured two collages of images that illustrated each of the songs on the album (the five songs on side one were illustrated on the front cover, and the five songs on side two on the back cover). It was the first time that UB40 had not had any input on the artwork on one of their albums, but they were on tour in the US at the time and
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...
, the parent company of UB40's DEP International label, could not afford to wait until they returned for the sleeve to be designed. As Ansell recounted to ''Classic Pop'' magazine in 2017, "We pitched the idea to Virgin of creating an illustration for each song so that as and when they were released as singles we would have ready-made images. Fortunately, on their return the band liked the concept and we went ahead."
Critical reception
Reviews of the album in the UK were generally positive. In ''
Melody Maker
''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...
''
Colin Irwin expressed his irritation at his fellow journalists' insistence on bringing up the band's left-wing political views in articles about them, saying, "UB40's mode of escape from these glib cliches is to make their own highly specialised version of
Bowie's ''
Pin-Ups
A pin-up model (known as a pin-up girl for a female and less commonly male pin-up for a male) is a model (person), model whose mass produced, mass-produced pictures see widespread appeal as part of popular culture. Pin-up models were variously ...
'' or
Ferry
A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...
's ''
These Foolish Things
"These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)" is a standard with lyrics by Eric Maschwitz, writing under the pseudonym Holt Marvell, and music by Jack Strachey, both Englishmen. Harry Link, an American, sometimes appears as a co-writer; his input ...
''. ''Labour of Love'' is an album of songs that touched and inspired UB40 in their formative years and you know something? It's beautiful. What may appear to be a simple form of escapism has in fact galvanised this band, snatching them out of their increasingly confined introversion and seemingly opened their eyes to bold new horizons... To make comparisons with the originals is to miss the point. Sometimes you just have to step back to leap forward." Richard Cook of ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' was more reserved, feeling that UB40's versions didn't always have the impact of the originals: "I think the Campbells' memories might be deceiving them. The music of the era they recall was always far ruder and tougher and far more percussive than their honey-smooth treatments imply." However, he welcomed the change from the political stance of the group's own songs, calling the cover versions "gentle, sometimes caressing, a shallow groove far preferable to the morose intensity of the group's usual tug at the lapels... Everything blurs perfectly there, the rippling draft of the rhythm, the stewed warmth of the saxophone, all melting around the dry edge of the vocal. Sometimes UB hit the spot of rock-reggae with absolute accuracy, and its power to turn ears is far superior to the weight of their customary glam pamphleteering."
In the US,
J.D. Considine
J. D. Considine (born 1957) is a music critic who has been writing about music professionally since 1977.
Background
J. D. Considine's work has been published in numerous newspapers and music magazines, and he has contributed to several books. ...
of ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' also gave the album a positive review: while criticising the vocals, he also noted that "UB40's ingenuity and unmistakable affection for the material keeps the comparisons from being too lopsided" and felt that each song "retains the spirit of the original while also capturing a modern feel".
In ''Rolling Stone''s end-of-year round-up of 1984's key albums,
Kurt Loder
Kurtis Loder (born May 5, 1945) is an American entertainment critic, author, columnist, and television personality. He served in the 1980s as editor at ''Rolling Stone'', during a tenure that ''Reason'' later called "legendary". He has contribute ...
stated that "UB40 ... not only makes these songs their own but brings them into the Eighties without betraying their buoyant period spirit... This album's title is an accurate assessment of its approach. A thoroughly enjoyable record."
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
professed his initial dislike of an album of cover versions, before revising his opinion after repeated listens, admitting that "it hit me once again that reggae tunes can take a long, long time to hook in".
[Robert Christgau Consumer Guide](_blank)
/ref> In his retrospective review for AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
, David Jeffries called ''Labour of Love'' "a near perfect album, one filled with warmth and an infectious love of the music it's covering", and that even if its most famous track had been overplayed on the radio, "the end-to-end LP flow is classic while recontextualizing 'Red Red Wine' for the better".
Reviews of the 2015 deluxe edition remained positive, but lamented that ''Labour of Love'' didn't have the intensity of the band's earlier, more political, records. Ian Harrison of '' Q'' said of the album, "It's still quality, but it's hard not to mourn the earlier militancy". Lois Wilson of ''Mojo
Mojo may refer to:
* Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* MOJO HD, an American television network
* ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film
* ' ...
'' agreed, observing that "Revisited now, it seems caught up with nostalgia... On the back of ''Labour of Love''s huge international success, UB40 became reggae's world ambassadors and their focus shifted; they'd make political records again but never anything as potent as ''Signing Off
''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, ...
'' or '' Present Arms'', instead relying on the surefire hit potential of further cover albums".
Accolades
In 1989, it was ranked number 98 on ''Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Albums of the Eighties".
Track listing
2015 deluxe edition
Disc One
As original album.
Disc Two
Disc Three
BBC Live Sessions
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
Session 14/04/83
#"Red Red Wine"
#"Please Don't Make Me Cry"
BBC Radio 1 in Concert 7/1/84
- "One in Ten"
- "Keep on Moving"
- "Don't Let It Pass You By"
- "Love Is All Is Alright"
- "Johnny Too Bad"
- "Sweet Sensation"
- "Cherry Oh Baby"
- "Red Red Wine"
- "Please Don't Make Me Cry"
- "Present Arms"
- "Tyler"
Personnel
UB40
*James Brown – drums, syncussion
*Ali Campbell
Alistair Ian Campbell (born 15 February 1959) is an English singer and songwriter who was lead singer of the British reggae band UB40. As part of UB40, Campbell sold over 70 million records worldwide and toured the globe for 30 years. In 2008, C ...
– vocals, guitar
*Robin Campbell – guitar, vocals, lead vocals on "Sweet Sensation"
*Earl Falconer – bass
*Norman Hassan – percussion, vocals, lead vocals on "Johnny Too Bad" and "Guilty"
*Brian Travers – saxophones
*Michael Virtue – keyboards
*Astro – toasting, rhyming, percussion
Additional personnel
*Mo Birch – vocals on "Many Rivers to Cross"
*Josh Fifer – trumpet on "She Caught the Train"
*Jaki Graham
Jacqueline Graham (born 15 September 1956) is a British singer-songwriter. Following her hit version of " Could It Be I'm Falling in Love" with David Grant in 1985, Graham scored a further five UK top 20 hits over a two-year period. In 1994, he ...
– vocals on "Many Rivers to Cross"
*Jackie Mittoo
Donat Roy Mittoo (3 March 1948 – 16 December 1990), better known as Jackie Mittoo, was a Jamaican-Canadian keyboardist, songwriter and musical director. He was a member of The Skatalites and musical director of the Studio One record label.
...
– additional keyboards on "Johnny Too Bad", "She Caught the Train" and "Many Rivers to Cross"
*Ruby Turner
Francella Ruby Turner MBE (born 22 June 1958) is a British Jamaican R&B and soul singer, songwriter, and actress.
In a music career spanning more than 30 years, Turner is best known for her album and single releases in Europe and North Americ ...
– vocals on "Many Rivers to Cross"
Production
*Produced by UB40 and Ray "Pablo" Falconer
*Engineering and assistant production by Howard Gray
*Assistant engineering by Alan Caves
*Tape operation by Keith Nixon
*Design by Kenneth Ansell and illustration by David Dragon for Bitter and Twisted
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Labour Of Love
1983 albums
A&M Records albums
Covers albums
UB40 albums