UB40 – Food for Thought [DVD]
Eagle Rock Entertainment (11/10/09)
Unrated
81 minutes
UB40 are the undisputed kings of British reggae, and Food for Thought is another installment from the German television series Rockpalast. Filmed in July 1981, the concert takes place at the Sartory-Sale in Cologne, shortly after the release of the band’s second album, Present Arms. The set is predominately taken from this album and their debut, Signing Off.
Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders is credited with giving the band its first break after witnessing them at a local pub in Birmingham, and signing them up to support for her band on tour. Formed in 1978 by a bunch of friends attending different colleges, the band started promoting their group before any of them could play instruments. After lead singer Ali Campbell received settlement money from a bar fight on his seventeenth birthday, the band was finally able to purchase the much coveted noise makers needed to make sound.
The version of UB40 that you might remember from the days of MTV is slightly different than the group presented on this DVD. Back then, the band was exclusively a reggae act, and would start adding dashes of pop and new wave as the ’80s forged ahead. With over 70 million records sold worldwide and a career spanning three decades, UB40 still remains a force in the music world.
The set opens with the title track from Present Arms and rolls right into the matching tempo of “Tyler”. The band then takes it down a notch with their first single, “King”/”Food for Thought”, and “The Earth Dies Screaming” (a favorite of mine, with its deep lyrical message and just plain awesome song title). “Madam Medusa” and “Dr. X” also get the job done, while the performance closes with encores, “Burden of Shame” and the title track from their first record, the apropos “Signing Off”.
Fifteen tracks appear on the DVD, and though there are no bonus features, it’s still a solid release. The band is very tight and the sound is crisp, making it hard to believe that most of these guys had just started playing musical instruments three years earlier.
