Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!: Day 284 - UB40

Present Arms in Dub - UB40

DEP International

Produced by UB40 and Ray "Pablo" Falconer

Released 10th October 1981

UK Chart #38

Tracklisting

(In brackets are the song titles from Present Arms that the particular track is a Dub Version of)

 

 A1 Present Arms In Dub (Present Arms)
A2 Smoke It (Don't Walk On The Grass)
A3 B Line (Lambs Bread)
A4 Kings Row (Sardonicus)
B1 Return Of Dr.X (Dr X)  
B2 Walk Out (Wild Cat)
B3 One In Ten (One In Ten)  
B4 Neon Haze (Silent Witness)

Personnel
UB40
    Drums - Jim Brown
    Bass Guitar - Earl Falconer
    Rhythm Guitar - Ali Campbell
    Lead Guitar - Robin Campbell
    Keyboards - Michael Virtue
    Syn Percussion, Trombone, Congos - Norman Hassan
    Saxophone - Brian Travers
    Trumpet - Astro

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Present Arms - UB40

DEP International

Produced by Ray "Pablo" Falconer, Bob Lamb and UB40

Released 29th May 1981

UK Chart #2

A1 Present Arms    
A2 Sardonicus    
A3 Don't Let It Pass You By    
A4 Wild Cat    
B1 One In Ten    
B2 Don't Slow Down    
B3 Silent Witness    
B4 Lambs Bread

    12" (12X DEP 1)
1 Don't Walk On The Grass    
2 Dr. X

Singles on Present Arms

 Don't Slow Down / Don't Let It Pass You By

Double A-Side

May 1981

UK Chart #16

 

One In Ten / Present Arms in Dub

July 1981

UK Charts #7

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UB40 were one of a number of British Reggae bands who were making their mark at the trail end of the 1970s and into the early 1980s (Steel Pulse, Aswad, Reggae Regulars, Black Slate and Misty in Roots being a few of the others). They had three Top Ten Hit Singles in 1980 and an absolutely brilliant Debut Album in Signing Off that peaked at #2 on the album chart in the UK in 1980.

Dub Albums were nothing new in Reggae Music as down through the years there have been many great Dub Albums: Scientific Dub - The Scientist, Rasta Dub - The Aggrovators, King Tubby Meets The Rockers Uptown - Augustus Pablo, African Dub Almighty Chapter 3 - Joe Gibbs and the Professionals, to name but a few. But in Reggae/Pop Music a Dub album reaching the charts was a very rare thing indeed and it wasn't until the release of Present Arms in Dub that it actually became a reality.

The Dub Versions are all songs that originally appeared on the hit album Present Arms (which was released in May 1981) with the absence of only Don't Slow Down and Don't Let It You Pass You By which had both been released as the lead Double A-Sided single for the album.

 

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!