UB40: Relevant Again In Hard Times?
UB40’s “Signing Off,” which will be re-released on November 1 to mark its 30th anniversary, came out in August 1980 and went on to spend 71 consecutive weeks in the UK album chart. Full of provocative and biting social comment, served up to the mellowest of reggae accompaniments, it is an outstanding debut album by a band who gave voice to the problems that millions of Britons faced in that austere and difficult era. With the Tories back in power in the U.K. and the Republicans poised to come back in the U.S., has the album’s message regained relevance?
