UB40 - Present Arms (Deluxe) (2017)

This new 3-CD Deluxe Edition brings together, for the first time, UB40’s 1981 album Present Arms and its companion release from later that same year, Present Arms In Dub. The album comes complete with new liner notes by respected reggae writer, David Katz.

Released in May 1981, the platinum-selling Present Arms spent 38 weeks in the UK album chart where it reached the No. 2 position. Present Arms In Dub was released in October 1981 and spent seven weeks in the chart. In addition this new deluxe edition includes a 12” version of the Top 20 single, Don’t Slow Down plus BBC Radio 1 session tracks and a BBC Radio 1 concert, Live from the Paris Theatre, both recorded in 1981. Present Arms is the second album to be recorded by UB40 and it spawned two Top 20 UK hits, One In Ten and Don’t Let It Pass You By/Don’t Slow Down. Like their debut album release, it concerned itself with many socially and politically charged themes, resonating with the politically uncertain times of the early 1980s when unemployment was rife and race riots afflicted many of the country’s inner cities. One In Ten was an undisguised attack on the Thatcher government of the period.