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UB40 - Live At Montreux 2002
Eagle DVD
This music DVD from Britain's longtime reggae proponents
UB40 is a testament to the band's long career of bringing reggae
music to the pop charts. While never claiming to be an authentic
reggae band, UB40 nonetheless has done more to introduce pop
music listeners to the beats of reggae than anyone since the
Police and maybe Bob Marley himself.
Formed in a welfare line (the name of the band is taken
from the numeric designation of a British unemployment benefit
form) in 1978, the multi-racial band UB40 is a microcosm of the
working class community they rose out from. All struggling
musicians with a common denominator being their love for reggae,
the band quickly got together and started making a name for
themselves just as Britain's original Two-Tone reggae scene was
starting to fade. What doomed the two-tone movement was the
strict adherence to traditional reggae styles - something that
UB40 never really concerned themselves with. While it took them
a while to get going, the band started having hits pretty
steadily and continue to have hits to this day in Europe.
Performing twenty-one of their best loved and most
well-known hits, the video of UB40 at the Montreux Jazz Fest in
2002 makes for a definitive UB40 experience and amply shows why
the band has been one of the most popular British exports ever.
Developing a radical yet inoffensive sound, the band has managed
to carve out a career by taking covers of old songs and
re-popularizing them by re-doing them in a slightly
reggae/Brit-pop style. It does not hurt the band that they have
created a universal appeal due to not only their decidely
non-edgy, goodtime reggae but the band's dynamic as a
multi-racial family creating a spiritual dance groove.
This DVD will resonate with anyone who enjoys their
reggae mixed with a heavy dollop of British pop. Never shooting
for skanky, authentic reggae, the band ended up becoming one of
the most influential reggae bands in the world by watering down
the essence of reggae and mixing it with traditonal British pop
to create a blend of grooving reggae even the most uptight
person could enjoy. In other words, you don't have to be a
reggae collector to get a rise from this DVD. You've heard all
these songs on the radio - so check them out live. - Scott
Homewood
www.eaglerecords.com
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