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Track List
01) Rainbow Nation
02) End of War
03) Lost and Found
04) Here We Go Again
05) Oh America
06) Instant Radical Change of Perception
07) I'll Be There
08) Once Around
09) This Is How It Is
10) The Road
01) Rainbow Nation
02) End of War
03) Lost and Found
04) Here We Go Again
05) Oh America
06) Instant Radical Change of Perception
07) I'll Be There
08) Once Around
09) This Is How It Is
10) The Road
6:12
4:40
4:37
3:37
4:59
3:46
3:59
4:37
3:57
4:28
Data Complete
80%
Total Rating
80%Total Rating
(0 users)
Back Cover
CD Art
3D Case
3D Thumb
3D Flat
3D Face
3D Spine
First Released
2008
Reggae
Carefree
Reggae
---
Medium
Album
0 copies
Album Description
Available in:
TwentyFourSeven is the sixteenth studio album by UB40. It is the last UB40 album to feature the classic line-up as vocalist/guitarist Ali Campbell and keyboardist Mickey Virtue departed the band in 2008.
Twentyfourseven was released as a free insert in The Mail on Sunday's 4 May 2008 issue, which sold nearly three million copies. This however, led to a backlash when the full 17 track version was released 21 June 2008, and most of the big retailers refused to stock it. It failed to go top 75 in the UK. This was a first for UB40, as all the official albums had previously gone Top 50 on the UK Albums Chart.
The track "Rainbow Nation" refers to Gary Tyler once again, originally the subject of "Tyler", the first song on their first album, "Signing Off". The original saxophone part from "Tyler" is played over the closing bars of the track.
UB40's next release (On EMI), was a collection called "Love Songs". This reached number 3 in the UK Charts.
Its low chart-position (#81) in the UK Albums Chart is due to the covermount release previously in The Mail on Sunday, as fans had already owned the album because of this covermount release. The follow-up album Labour of Love IV did not feature "covermount treatment", thus entering the UK Albums Chart at No. 24.
User Album Review
Remarkably holding together without a single lineup change ever since their debut in 1980, at the time of the release of this album in 2008, UB40 had suddenly lost two of their eight founding members. Singer Ali Campbell announced he was leaving in January and keyboardist Michael Virtue followed soon after. What exactly caused the split remained in dispute between the band and its ex-members, but there remains the fact that UB40 would now have to master this new situation. Coincidence or not, this album actually already gives various examples of what UB40 could sound like without their strikingly unique lead vocalist. Being the longest UB40 album ever (at 72 minutes length), it is nonetheless once again carried by Campbell's familiar style and sound. However, normal proceedings (as ever in a reggae style) are interrupted several times by a string of interspersed cover versions sung by guests (such as Maxi Preist and members of Arrested Development). Just as was the case with Ali Campbell's solo album Running Free (which was released in 2007 and was one reason that the band's album release was put back until half a year later), the choice of covers is rather run of the mill and even substandard, compared to the quality of the new originals on both of those albums. The covers might be good for listeners just wanting to "party on," but they can compete with the originals in neither elegance nor earnestness. The jarring thing is that this album finds UB40 returning to political themes much more decidedly than they had for quite some time, but the potential coherence of this album gets chopped up by the smattering of cover versions, as if coming from some entirely different compilation album of some sort. Still, on the plus side, there are new songs with strong hit potential, immediate appeal, and some sweet melodies. As for politics, even the cause of Gary "Tyler" (first sung about on the 1980 debut album) is revisited in "Rainbow Nation." Though not often so specific, topical conflicts such as those in Darfur and Gaza also get mentions in closing song "The Road." Now, however, UB40 have their own conflict to resolve, and 2009 brought with it the decision to install Duncan Campbell, a brother of Ali and Robin, as new lead singer, already featured on this album on a version of the evergreen "It's All in the Game." To possibly boost their commercial fortunes again (after having been a bit sadly overlooked by radio in recent years), the next step planned was to continue their very successful string of pure cover albums by making Labour of Love IV.
AllMusic Review by Alan Severa
External Album Reviews
None...
User Comments
Available in:
TwentyFourSeven is the sixteenth studio album by UB40. It is the last UB40 album to feature the classic line-up as vocalist/guitarist Ali Campbell and keyboardist Mickey Virtue departed the band in 2008.
Twentyfourseven was released as a free insert in The Mail on Sunday's 4 May 2008 issue, which sold nearly three million copies. This however, led to a backlash when the full 17 track version was released 21 June 2008, and most of the big retailers refused to stock it. It failed to go top 75 in the UK. This was a first for UB40, as all the official albums had previously gone Top 50 on the UK Albums Chart.
The track "Rainbow Nation" refers to Gary Tyler once again, originally the subject of "Tyler", the first song on their first album, "Signing Off". The original saxophone part from "Tyler" is played over the closing bars of the track.
UB40's next release (On EMI), was a collection called "Love Songs". This reached number 3 in the UK Charts.
Its low chart-position (#81) in the UK Albums Chart is due to the covermount release previously in The Mail on Sunday, as fans had already owned the album because of this covermount release. The follow-up album Labour of Love IV did not feature "covermount treatment", thus entering the UK Albums Chart at No. 24.
User Album Review
Remarkably holding together without a single lineup change ever since their debut in 1980, at the time of the release of this album in 2008, UB40 had suddenly lost two of their eight founding members. Singer Ali Campbell announced he was leaving in January and keyboardist Michael Virtue followed soon after. What exactly caused the split remained in dispute between the band and its ex-members, but there remains the fact that UB40 would now have to master this new situation. Coincidence or not, this album actually already gives various examples of what UB40 could sound like without their strikingly unique lead vocalist. Being the longest UB40 album ever (at 72 minutes length), it is nonetheless once again carried by Campbell's familiar style and sound. However, normal proceedings (as ever in a reggae style) are interrupted several times by a string of interspersed cover versions sung by guests (such as Maxi Preist and members of Arrested Development). Just as was the case with Ali Campbell's solo album Running Free (which was released in 2007 and was one reason that the band's album release was put back until half a year later), the choice of covers is rather run of the mill and even substandard, compared to the quality of the new originals on both of those albums. The covers might be good for listeners just wanting to "party on," but they can compete with the originals in neither elegance nor earnestness. The jarring thing is that this album finds UB40 returning to political themes much more decidedly than they had for quite some time, but the potential coherence of this album gets chopped up by the smattering of cover versions, as if coming from some entirely different compilation album of some sort. Still, on the plus side, there are new songs with strong hit potential, immediate appeal, and some sweet melodies. As for politics, even the cause of Gary "Tyler" (first sung about on the 1980 debut album) is revisited in "Rainbow Nation." Though not often so specific, topical conflicts such as those in Darfur and Gaza also get mentions in closing song "The Road." Now, however, UB40 have their own conflict to resolve, and 2009 brought with it the decision to install Duncan Campbell, a brother of Ali and Robin, as new lead singer, already featured on this album on a version of the evergreen "It's All in the Game." To possibly boost their commercial fortunes again (after having been a bit sadly overlooked by radio in recent years), the next step planned was to continue their very successful string of pure cover albums by making Labour of Love IV.
AllMusic Review by Alan Severa
External Album Reviews
None...
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