UB40 Featuring Ali Campbell & Astro ‘We’ll Never Find Another Love’ Out Now
Premiered this morning on Zoe Ball’s BBC Radio 2 show, 'We’ll Never Find Another Love', the new single from UB40 Featuring Ali Campbell & Astro, available now via UMC
‘We’ll Never Find Another Love’is taken from the new album Unprecedented out June 17 via UMC and available to pre-order now. ‘Unprecedented’ was recorded before the tragic death of Astro last November after a short illness.
“Astro’s death came as such a shock, and I’m still reeling from it,” comments Ali. “This album is now more poignant and special than either of us could have imagined when we were recording it. Astro heartbreakingly passed just two weeks after we’d finished the final mixes, so this is a way of keeping his memory alive.”
The follow-up to 2018’s A Real Labour Of Love – which debuted at No.2, the highest charting album by any incarnation of UB40 since 1993’s Promises And Lies, and spent a month in the Top 10 – Unprecedented is fueled by the roots rocking spirit that powered UB40’s original incarnation, and is an album to inject a little reggae sunshine into even the darkest days. It’s also a fitting memorial to Astro.
Astro, born Terence Wilson, got his nickname on account of his fondness for Dr. Martens boots emblazoned with the brand name Astronaut. When he joined up with singer and guitarist Campbell in the fledgling UB40, supplying additional vocals and playing trumpet and percussion, he added the final piece to a musical jigsaw that went on to conquer the charts and put British reggae on the world map.
“We’ll Never Find Another Love” is one of several original songs on Unprecedented, which in classic UB40-style blends new songs with covers of cherished reggae songs and some curveball choices, including Kris Kristofferson’s “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” and Stevie Wonder’s funky protest song “Do Yourself A Favour”, from 1971’s Where I’m Coming From. Perhaps most surprising of all, Ali and Astro also cover “Stay Another Day”, a poignant song by 1990s boy band East 17 written about the death of songwriter Tony Mortimer’s brother.
Elsewhere, the duo explore more authentic reggae material, including New York rock steady crew The Frightnrs’ “What Have I Done”, and two tracks from the under-appreciated UK reggae canon – the Gappy Ranks’ dancehall hit “Heaven In Her Eyes”, which uses Bob Marley & The Wailers’ “Soul Rebel” as a backing track, and Louisa Mark’s lovers’ rock classic “Caught You In A Lie”, the latter starring Ali’s daughter Indica on lead vocals.
Unprecedented is the latest chapter in a story that dates back to 1978, when UB40 began putting their own slant on Jamaican reggae. Taking their name from the form given to individuals claiming unemployment benefit, the multi-racial band played their first show at the Hare & Hounds pub in Kings Heath in 1979. Astro, an MC for the local Duke Alloy sound system, joined a month later.
After reaching number four in the UK with debut single “King / Food For Thought”, they released Signing Off, and went on to sell 70 million records, topping the UK singles chart on three occasions – with “Red Red Wine”, “I Got You Babe” (a duet between Ali and Chrissie Hynde) and “(I Can’t Help) Falling In Love With You”. Two of those singles, “Red Red Wine” and “(I Can’t Help) Falling In Love With You”, also reached number one in the States, while Ali and his brother Robin joined toaster Pato Banton to top the UK charts again in 1994 with “Baby Come Back”.
For Ali, a new era began when he left the original band 14 years ago. He had already released two solo albums in BigLove and Running Free and made two more, Flying High and Great British Songs, before he and keyboardist Mickey Virtue reunited with Astro on 2014’s Silhouette. That was followed by 2016’s UB40 Unplugged and 2018’s A Real Labour Of Love.
Updating the ethos of the original Labour Of Love trilogy, the latter focused on the digital reggae and dancehall styles of the late 1970s and 1980s and was held off the UK number one spot only by the soundtrack to Hollywood blockbuster The Greatest Showman.
Track Listing:
01 What Have I Done
02 We’ll Never Find Another Love
03 Unprecedented
04 Sunday Morning Coming Down
05 Emperors Wore No Clothes
06 Sufferer
07 Heaven In Her Eyes
08 Do Yourself A Favour
09 Happy Includes Everyone
10 Stay Another Day
11 Lean On Me
12 Mellow
13 Caught You In A Lie
Pre-order ‘Unprecedented’ Here
Follow UB40 Online
Source: Universal Music South Africa
