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Rating: Good |
Now off welfare, the brilliant Birmingham octet wasted little time releasing their second album. "Present Arms" arrived in May 1981, just nine months after "Signing Off." It brilliantly raises the bar to a new level, primarily because the album is slimmer, featuring eight excellent tracks (this release includes a bonus 45rpm 12-inch), half of which are worthy of being labeled all-time classics.
The first of these, "Present Arms," opens the set dramatically with 30 seconds of military drumming leading up to the sergeant major's cry of "Preseeeeeeeent Arms!" Immediately, the magnificent horns and rhythm section declare that UB40 is back with serious reggae, led by Ali's lyrics, which lament the bleak prospects for the young men of the time who see the army as the only way out: "The khaki ranks of flesh and steel, teach you to laugh and kill, they teach you to ignore the screams and the tears."
"Sardonicus" was based on a 1961 horror film and has been reimagined here for a 1981 horror story in development, as drummer Jimmy Brown explains: "It's about a guy with a hideous grin on his face. At the time, the film was focused on Ronald Reagan. It was made by William Castle, a well-known director of cheap, bizarre, low-budget 'shockers' in the '50s and '60s."
The album's lead single, "Don't Let It Pass You By," a #16 hit in the UK, boldly proclaimed an atheistic message: "There ain't no heaven and there ain't no hell, Except the one we're in and you know too well, There's no one waiting on, waiting on a higher high, Don't let the only world you're ever gonna live in pass you by." Well said, that band! The instrumental "Wildcat" takes time to reflect and closes with some lovely percussion.
Side two opens gloriously with "One In Ten," chosen as the album's second single in late July (a #7 hit). This, too, was written by drummer Jimmy Brown, completing his transatlantic barb against Reaganomics and Thatcherism. Nearly 10% of the West Midlands working population was unemployed in the summer of 1981, and UB40 confronts a sad reality for many: "I'm the child that never learned to read because no one spared the time… I'm another teenage suicide in a street that has no trees… I'm a housewife hooked on Valium, I'm a pensioner alone… Nobody knows me but I'm always there, a statistic, a reminder of a world that doesn't care." There's no society, haven't you heard? It's every man for himself. What a state of affairs in this country.
The unwavering brilliance continues on “Don't Slow Down,” a life-pressured track that features Brian Travers’ smooth sax to soothe the soul and offer respite to the troubled mind.
This mood is captured in the classic "Silent Witness," which embraces the downtrodden, with the utmost empathy for those who have a rock for a pillow: "The neon haze of city lights, The tribal sound of marching feet, Cuts through the gloom on cold dark nights, The tired and homeless roam the streets." This, my friends, is the sound of compassion. Catch it at the right moment, and tears might well fall.
The final conclusion of this classic LP is reached on "Lamb's Bread": there's no other option, legalize marijuana! Not a moment wasted on this offer; UB40 and The Beat position Birmingham as the most vibrant city in the reggae world in 1981.
= Full Album Play List =
= Track List =
