UB40 - Labour of Love Parts I + II 2xCD

AllMusic Review

Labour of Love Review by David Jeffries

A victim of both overexposure and embracement from privileged hedonists around the globe, UB40's Labour of Love is still a near perfect album, one filled with warmth and an infectious love of the music it's covering. Then there's that reggae version of "Red Red Wine" that spills out of yachts, frat parties, soirees by the pool, water parks, and just about anywhere there are sun-seeking tourists. Delivered with a drunken sway, the band's cover of the Neil Diamond favorite also features a new toasted/rapped break in the middle, which comes courtesy of UB40 MC Astro and adds so much mirth and fun to the number that Diamond lifted it for his own live show. Even if omnipresence has since made it pop-reggae's "Don't Worry Be Happy," the U.K. crew's version is in the Jamaican tradition of covering sweet, soothing tunes that pre-date lovers rock, plus the rest of this all-cover-versions album sticks with the classic reggae songbook, as even the Impressions' "Keep on Moving" is done in a style that honors the 1973 recording from Bob Marley & the Wailers. If "Red Red Wine" is effortless almost to a fault, Jimmy Cliff's "Many Rivers to Cross" is performed with full heart and can rock the soul's foundation, while "Johnny Too Bad" is just spiky enough to bring reminders of the group's birth in the time and land of post-punk. Everything else is A- at worst, and the end-to-end LP flow is classic while recontextualizing "Red Red Wine" for the better. Put it on at a party and spill beer on it if you must, because the resilient Labour of Love is true sweetness and light.

Labour of Love II Review by David Jeffries

A second swing at the all-cover version formula, Labour of Love II doesn't even come close to the lively original. It's encouraging to see a more interesting set of selections and it would lead one to think that the album isn't a contrived cash-in. Too bad the band falls prey to the same antiseptic digital production that was marginalizing much of the dancehall scene. Labour of Love II downplays the band's driving horn section in favor of sterile keyboards and electronic percussion replaces acoustic. Covers of R&B chestnuts "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)" and "The Way You Do the Things You Do" are enjoyable enough, but the band has a harder time adding much to the reggae-sourced numbers. Only the Heptones' wonderful "Baby" gets a decent workout, with the rest only serving as reminders of how well the originals were written. It would take the band four years to return to the studio, perhaps an indication of the fatigue and doldrums affecting this album.

077778649526

CDVIRD (WG) 176 (7864952)

DEP International. 1991

Country: SOUTH AFRICA

Good condition

C10