| Signing Off | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 29 August 1980 | |||
| Recorded | 21–24 December 1979, 31 March–10 April 1980, 16 June–1 July 1980, 18–20 July 1980 | |||
| Studio | Bob Lamb's "Home of the Hits", Moseley, Birmingham The Music Centre | |||
| Genre | Reggae, dub | |||
| Length | 66:22 | |||
| Label | Graduate Records | |||
| Producer | Bob Lamb, Ray "Pablo" Falconer, UB40 | |||
| UB40 chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Signing Off | ||||
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Signing Off is the debut album by British reggae band UB40, released in the UK on 29 August 1980 by Dudley-based independent label Graduate Records. It was an immediate success in their home country, reaching number 2 on the UK albums chart, and made UB40 one of the many popular reggae bands in Britain, several years before the band found international fame. The politically-concerned lyrics struck a chord in a country with widespread public divisions over high unemployment, the policies of the recently elected Conservative party under Margaret Thatcher, and the rise of the National Front party, while the record's dub-influenced rhythms reflected the late 1970s influence in British pop music of West Indian music introduced by immigrants from the Caribbean after the Second World War, particularly reggae and ska – this was typified by the 2 Tone movement, at that point at the height of its success and led by fellow West Midlands act The Specials, with whom UB40 drew comparisons due to their multiracial band line-up and socialist views.
Still considered by many fans and music critics to be UB40's best album,[1][2] Signing Off was reissued for its 30th anniversary in 2010 as a "collector's edition" containing bonus tracks and a DVD of the videos for the singles plus television footage of the band from the time of the album's release.