UB40 - BBC Sessions, Volume 6: In Concert, Brixton Academy, London, Britain, 12-20-1998

I was looking through my music collection the other day, and noticed some albums I thought I'd posted but I'd somehow missed. This is one. Between 2022 and 2025, I posted five albums of UB40 performing for the BBC, all of them from the early 1980s. This sixth BBC album is a concert from well over a decade later, in 1998.

Personally, I like early UB40, but I feel they went downhill after finding mainstream success. Be that as it may, I found this concert, and I didn't have to edit it much, so I figured I might as well post it. It came right after the release of their studio album "Labour of Love III." Like the two previous albums in that series, it consists entirely of cover versions. So if you don't like later UB40, this actually mostly consists of covers, plus early songs, like "Tyler" and "King." 

There also were two special guests: Ken Boothe and Winston Groovy. Boothe was a big reggae star in the 1960s and 70s. He had tons of hits in Jamaica, and also two big hits in Britain in the 1970s: "Everything I Own" and "Crying Over You." The latter song was performed here. Groovy also was a big reggae star in that same general time period. His best known song, "Please Don't Make Me Cry," was covered by UB40 on their 1983 album "Labour of Love," and was a hit for them. He performed the song with them here.

As far as edits go, I only made one alternation, but it was a big one. It turns out the lead vocals were really low in the mix. I used the UVR5 program to bring those up to normal levels.

The music here is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent. 

This album is 56 minutes long. 

01 Come Back Darling (UB40)
02 Homely Girl (UB40)
03 Here I Am [Come and Take Me] (UB40)
04 talk (UB40)
05 Crying Over You (UB40 with Ken Boothe)
06 Kingston Town (UB40)
07 talk (UB40)
08 Tyler (UB40)
09 King (UB40)
10 I'll Be There (UB40)
11 Wear You to the Ball (UB40)
12 Red Red Wine (UB40)
13 Love It When You Smile (UB40)
14 Can't Help Falling in Love (UB40)
15 Please Don't Make Me Cry (UB40 with Winston Groovy)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ULVYWNdb

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/udFrBaj28U7mHwM/file

The cover photo of lead singer Ali Campbell is from the Solidays Festival in Paris, France, on July 10, 1999.

UB40 - BBC Sessions, Volume 2: Rock Goes to College, Keele University, Keele, Britain, 11-25-1980

Here's another UB40 BBC album. It's a concert from 1980. Once again, I'm renumbering and reorganizing. (Sigh!) So I'm posting this concert from 1980 despite having already posted three from after this.

You can thank the music blog Voodoo Wagon for this one. After I posted a 1985 UB40 BBC concert, the person behind that blog pointed out that I'd missed this concert. I looked into it and saw that I'd known about this concert some time ago, but I'd decided against posting it mainly due to sound quality issues. But thanks to technological advances with audio editing in recent years, I decided to give it another try. 

The first thing I did was combine two recordings together. The BBC broadcast this twice, in different forms. First was a broadcast called "Rock Goes to College." Then, over a year later, there was another one called "BBC College Concert." The first one had "King" and "Little by Little," but not "My Way of Thinking," "Burden of Shame," "Madam Medusa," and "Wildcat." So I did my best to put them all together, although I had to guess at the song order in some cases. Both versions had one song before some introductory comments by BBC DJ Richard Skinner, but different songs, so I ended up having two songs before those comments.

Then I tackled sound quality issues. First, I ran all the songs through the MVSEP program. There was a constant crowd noise through some songs, though not others. I got rid of that wherever I could find it, while leaving crowd noise between songs and of course cheering at the ends of songs. Then I ran all the songs through the UVR5 program to properly balance the lead vocals compared to the instruments. It turns out that was poorly mixed for all the songs, often being really low in the mix. The end result is I think this sounds noticeably better than before. 

Another problem is the first song, "King," began partway through the song, missing the first two minutes or so, roughly up until the vocals began. So I used the version I included in "Volume 1" of this series to fill in the missing section. I added a little crowd noise at the start to get that to better fit in, since I actually used a BBC studio session version. That's why that one song has "[Edit]" in its title.

The music here remains officially unreleased. However, there's another UB40 BBC concert, from June 1981, that can be found on the deluxe edition of the band's album "Present Arms." I've decided not to include that one in this series since it is officially released, and the song list is pretty similar to this one, seeing as it took place only about six months later.

This album is an hour long.

01 King [Edit] (UB40)
02 My Way of Thinking (UB40)
03 talk by Pete Drummond (UB40)
04 Strange Fruit (UB40)
05 talk (UB40)
06 The Earth Dies Screaming (UB40)
07 talk (UB40)
08 Little by Little (UB40)
09 Burden of Shame (UB40)
10 talk (UB40)
11 I Think It's Going to Rain Today (UB40)
12 talk (UB40)
13 Tyler (UB40)
14 Food for Thought (UB40)
15 talk (UB40)
16 Madam Medusa (UB40)
17 talk (UB40)
18 Wildcat [Instrumental] (UB40)
19 talk (UB40)
20 Signing Off (UB40)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/oXE1XvEC

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/nx0pKDl9uIxiQaP/file

The cover shows lead singer Ali Campbell in concert somewhere in London in September 1980.

UB40 - BBC Sessions, Volume 1: 1979-1983

A couple of days ago, I posted a UB40 BBC concert from 1985. At first, I called this "BBC Sessions, Volume 3." But then, after just a few hours, I saw a commenter talk about a 1980 BBC concert by the band that I'd missed. I went to go find it, and stumbled upon more early material. So I immediately changed that 1985 concert to "Volume 5." Now I'm getting around to fill in the missing two early volumes. This first one contains just BBC studio sessions.

The British reggae band UB40 was formed in late 1978. They quickly found success. By the end of 1979, they did their first BBC studio session, for famed BBC DJ John Peel. That session makes up the first three songs. The next two are from 1980 session. The four after that are from a 1981 session. The four after that are from a 1982 session. Finally, the last three are from a 1983. I couldn't find any more BBC studio sessions after that.

All but five of the performances here have been officially released. They come from various deluxe editions of the studio albums of that era. The exceptions are the four 1982 songs from an unreleased John Peel session (tracks 10 to 13), plus track 15, from a 1983 session. For some reason two other songs from that session got released, but that one got overlooked.

This album is an hour and seven minutes long.

01 Food for Thought (UB40)
02 25 Percent [Instrumental] (UB40)
03 King (UB40)
04 I Think It’s Going to Rain Today (UB40)
05 My Way of Thinking (UB40)
06 One in Ten (UB40)
07 Present Arms (UB40)
08 Silent Witness (UB40)
09 Sardonicus (UB40)
10 I Won't Close My Eyes (UB40)
11 Love Is All Is All Right (UB40)
12 Folitician (UB40)
13 Prince Baldhead Meets Gymslip and the School Girls at the Chemist (UB40)
14 Red Red Wine (UB40)
15 Nkomo-a-Go-Go [Instrumental] (UB40)
16 Please Don't Make Me Cry (UB40)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/cSpbh1RC

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/fQ7kuAhpVtrO3LL/file

The cover photo of the band was taken somewhere in Germany in 1982.

UB40 - BBC Sessions, Volume 5: In Concert, Brighton Centre, Brighton, Britain, 11-4-1985

Here's another UB40 BBC album. This one is a concert from late 1985.

In my previous write-ups for UB40 albums, I've stated that I liked this band the most in their early years, before they moved in a more mainstream direction. This is the tail end of the period I like the most. It came a couple of months after the release of their studio album "Baggaridim." That contained two hits, both covers, "I Got You Babe" and "Don't Break My Heart." They performed both of those here, although "I Got You Babe" was a duet with Chrissie Hynde, so it was done here without the duet aspect.

This album is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent.

Note that, while putting this together, I noticed that I'd posted two previous BBC albums by UB40, but I didn't include "Volume 1" and "Volume 2" in their titles. But I also simultaneously discovered two more BBC albums that I'd missed. So those earlier ones because "Volume 3" and "Volume 4," with two even earlier ones to come. I also upgraded their cover art. So if you want those updated versions, here are the links:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2022/11/ub40-bbc-sight-and-sound-regal-theatre.html

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2022/11/ub40-bbc-in-concert-london-britain-1-7.html

This album is an hour and 33 minutes long.

01 If It Happens Again (UB40)
02 Keep On Moving (UB40)
03 As Always You Were Wrong Again (UB40)
04 talk (UB40)
05 Don't Break My Heart (UB40)
06 Cherry Oh Baby (UB40)
07 talk (UB40)
08 Johnny Too Bad (UB40)
09 talk (UB40)
10 Sweet Sensation (UB40)
11 Love Is All Is Alright (UB40)
12 Red Red Wine (UB40)
13 talk (UB40)
14 One in Ten (UB40)
15 Please Don't Make Me Cry (UB40)
16 Dubmobile (UB40)
17 talk (UB40)
18 I Got You Babe (UB40)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/o7qcbgVX

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/D9g3locZ147WeKz/file

The cover shows lead vocalist Ali Campbell at a concert in Massey Hall, London, on March 11, 1985. The original was in black and white. I colorized it with the use of the Kolorize program.

Various Artists - Heart Beat 86, National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, Britain, 3-15-1986

Here's an impressive 1986 benefit concert with performances by the Moody Blues, Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), Robert Plant, George Harrison, Roy Wood, UB40, the Fortunes, and more. It's completely unreleased, but the sound quality is excellent.

The inspiration for the concert began with Bev Bevan, the drummer for ELO. He was inspired by the Live Aid benefit concert in 1985, and wanted to do something for his hometown of Birmingham, England. All the proceeds went to benefit the Birmingham Children's Hospital. The concert ended up having a unusual Birmingham focus, with the vast majority of the musical performers originally coming from Birmingham. Some acts that hadn't been in the spotlight for some time, such as the Fortunes and Applejacks, got back together for this concert.

The concert was massive, nine hours long. Big acts like ELO and the Moody Blues played sets that lasted an hour or so. However, this album only contains an hour and a half of that. That's because all I could find was the portion that was later broadcast on BBC TV and radio. Parts of it also was broadcast on MTV in the US, and two songs ("The Voice" and "Lucille") come from that, with slightly lower sound quality. If anyone has any more of this, please let me know so I can add it in. But while it's sad that so much of the concert is missing, at least what is here has excellent sound quality.

One big act to perform was Robert Plant. Although he was having a very successful solo career, he avoided that kind of music and played rockabilly covers with the backing band the Big Town Playboys instead.

I think the ELO set is particularly interesting. Normally, ELO concerts were big productions, with lots of orchestral instruments and backing tapes and so on. This was a much more stripped down kind of performance, but the band showed they could still rock. It also was the band's first concert in four years. They would only play an additional handful of concerts in 1986 before breaking up. I'd especially love to hear the rest of their set, because I don't know of any other concert recording by the original ELO from after 1978 with this level of sound quality.

The Moody Blues were the last big act of the concert. But then everyone from all the earlier acts joined them on stage for a finale. Three songs were played: "Lucille," "Money (That's What I Want)," and "Johnny B. Goode." Unfortunately, I couldn't find a recording of "Money." But probably the highlight of the concert was "Johnny B. Goode," because a very unexpected guest star showed up on stage: George Harrison. He sang lead vocals on part of the song. But just having him there was a big deal, since he'd been pretty reclusive for the last decade or so. Apparently, even most of the other musicians were starstruck to be on the same stage as the ex-Beatle. 

By the way, it was hoped that there would be a reunion of the 1960s band the Move, since two major figures from that band, Jeff Lynne of ELO and Roy Wood, were at the concert. Plus, this was all about highlighting the best musical acts from Birmingham, and the Move definitely were one of those. It was announced the Move would reunite for the concert, but band member Carl Wayne didn't show up for some reason, so the reunion never happened. This was the closest to a Move reunion ever. That is no longer possible since Wayne passed away in 2004.

Note also that Denny Laine performed a set. However, his set was plagued by sound problems, and none of it was included in the BBC broadcast. He did sing lead on one verse of "Johnny B. Goode" for the final encore though. Also, Dave Edmunds was at the concert, but only had a minor role, playing a guitar solo on the song "Lucille" during the encore. And Noddy Holder, the lead singer of Slade, was at the concert, but his only role was singing a verse of "Lucille."

One final note. The emcee, Oliver Spencer (formerly known as Roger Spencer), used to be a member of the 1960s band Idle Race, also from Birmingham. The BBC recording included some stand-up comedy he did between acts, but I cut most of that out, since it doesn't have the same relistening value as the music.

This album is an hour and 37 minutes long.

01 Share It with You (Steve Gibbons Band)
02 B.S.A. (Steve Gibbons Band)
03 talk (Oliver Spencer)
04 Let It Be Me (Fortunes)
05 talk (Fortunes)
06 You've Got Your Troubles (Fortunes)
07 talk (Oliver Spencer)
08 See My Baby Jive (Roy Wood)
09 Are You Ready to Rock (Roy Wood)
10 talk (Roy Wood)
11 I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day (Roy Wood)
12 talk (Oliver Spencer)
13 I Got You Babe (UB40 & Ruby Turner)
14 Tell Me When (Applejacks)
15 talk (Oliver Spencer)
16 She Walks Right In (Robert Plant)
17 Come On (Robert Plant)
18 [Every Time I Hear] That Mellow Saxophone (Robert Plant)
19 He's in Town (Rockin' Berries)
20 talk (Oliver Spencer)
21 Telephone Line (Electric Light Orchestra)
22 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
23 Do Ya (Electric Light Orchestra)
24 Rockaria (Electric Light Orchestra)
25 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
26 Hold On Tight (Electric Light Orchestra)
27 Don't Bring Me Down (Electric Light Orchestra)
28 talk (Oliver Spencer)
29 Tuesday Afternoon (Moody Blues)
30 Question (Moody Blues)
31 Nights in White Satin (Moody Blues)
32 The Voice (Moody Blues)
33 Lucille (Noddy Holder, Roy Wood, Dave Edmunds & Everyone)
34 talk (Oliver Spencer)
35 Johnny B. Goode (George Harrison, Denny Laine, Robert Plant & Everyone)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/oygUAcFT

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/ldz5LsvyWmzV42C/file

The cover photo shows Jeff Lynne and George Harrison during the "Johnny B. Goode" finale from this exact concert. The photo was originally in black and white, but I used the Palette program to colorize it, then made some additional changes in Photoshop. Note that Lynne and Harrison were just starting to get to know each other around this time. They would go on to become good friends, as well as band mates in the Traveling Wilburys.

UB40 - BBC Sessions, Volume 4 In Concert, Hammersmith Odeon, London, Britain, 1-7-1984

To be honest, I'm mainly interested in the first few years of UB40's long career. They started out with a lot of promise, writing good songs with a political edge, but eventually turned into a bland, adult contemporary reggae-lite band that I don't have much interest in. In retrospect, the turning point probably was their 1983 album "Labour of Love." It consisted entirely of covers, and was a huge hit. I really like that album, but I think it showed them that they could have much more success doing covers than doing their own material.

Anyway, it turns out that UB40 did three BBC concerts in 1983 and 1984. That's probably one too much for my purposes. I've already posted one from early 1983, before they did any of their "Labour of Love" songs. This one is from the start of 1984, and consists mostly of "Labour of Love" songs, so I figure both concerts are worthwhile. For the BBC show in between, they are three nice songs that aren't played on the 1984 one. So I've added those as quasi-bonus tracks at the beginning.

This concert was included on a deluxe edition of the "Labour of Love" album, so the sound quality is great. The three tracks from a different show are unreleased.

This album is an hour and six minutes long. The concert without the three extra songs at the start is 55 minutes long.

UPDATE: On February 25, 2025, I updated the mp3 download file. The music is the same, but I renamed the album title, adding "BBC Sessions, Volume 4" to it. That meant I changed the cover art and mp3 tags as well.

01 Nkomo-a-Go-Go [Instrumental] (UB40)
02 Dubmobile (UB40)
03 I've Got Mine (UB40)
04 One in Ten (UB40)
05 talk (UB40)
06 Keep On Moving (UB40)
07 talk (UB40)
08 Don't Let It Pass You By (UB40)
09 talk (UB40)
10 Love Is All Is Alright (UB40)
11 talk (UB40)
12 Johnny Too Bad (UB40)
13 talk (UB40)
14 Sweet Sensation (UB40)
15 talk (UB40)
16 Cherry Oh Baby (UB40)
17 talk (UB40)
18 Red Red Wine (UB40)
19 Please Don't Make Me Cry (UB40)
20 Present Arms (UB40)
21 Tyler (UB40)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/MwRCc4Uj

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/4jSLKyqYezKPYO6/file

I couldn't find any really good photos from 1984, but I found one from early 1985.

UB40 - BBC Sessions, Volume 3: Sight and Sound, Regal Theatre, Hitchin, Britain, 1-19-1983

It's hard to believe now, but there was a time when UB40 was a edgy and cool reggae band. They started out as a bunch of working class lads railing against poverty and injustice. But after they hit in big in 1983, they moved increasingly to a safe, pop direction, until they eventually became more of an adult contemporary group with reggae flavor. This BBC concert captures them right around their peak, in my opinion.

In late 1983, UB40 would find massive success with their "Labour of Love" album consisting entirely of covers, including their big hit "Red, Red Wine." This is from earlier in the year, and doesn't contain any of those songs. Up until this point, the band did virtually all their own material, and had three hit albums in Britain. 

I do like "Labour of Love," and it turns out they did another concert for the BBC just after the release of that album which I can post later. But this just focuses on their early stuff. I particularly appreciate the inclusion of "Dubmobile" and "I've Got Mine," neither of which appeared on any of their studio albums.

This album is 44 minutes long.

UPDATE: On February 25, 2025, I updated the mp3 download file. The music is the same, but I renamed the album title, adding "BBC Sessions, Volume 3" to it. That meant I changed the cover art and mp3 tags as well.

01 Tyler (UB40)
02 Present Arms (UB40)
03 talk (UB40)
04 Love Is All Is Alright (UB40)
05 talk (UB40)
06 Don't Do the Crime (UB40)
07 talk (UB40)
08 Dubmobile (UB40)
09 I've Got Mine (UB40)
10 Folitician (UB40)
11 One in Ten (UB40)
12 talk (UB40)
13 Roots and Culture (UB40 with Mikey Dread)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/yG6WZDqa

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/IeyLPd4X3KN4yJP/file

The cover photo is a screenshot I took of a YouTube video of this exact concert. I found the font of the band name on the Internet as well. In February 2025, I upgraded the image slightly with the help of the Krea AI program.