Monday, July 29, 2019

Monday Music "Red, Red Wine" by UB40

I am continuing my 80's music that I don't like.  A lot of people liked this song and it was popular in the mid 80's, but to me it was one of those "Fingers on Chalkboard" songs.  This song will also force me to change the channel to either the 90's or the 70's.  From what I have read, the group is really talented, but it is a personal preference thing.
    "Red Red Wine" is a song originally written, performed, and recorded by American singer Neil Diamond in 1967. It is included on Diamond's second studio album, Just for You. The lyrics are sung from the perspective of a person who finds that drinking red wine is the only way to forget his woes. 


UB40 recorded their rendition for their album of cover versions, Labour of Love. According to UB40 member Astro, the group's former vocalist and trumpet player, they were only familiar with Tony Tribe's version and did not realise that the writer was in fact Neil Diamond. Astro told the Financial Times, "Even when we saw the writing credit which said 'N Diamond,' we thought it was a Jamaican artist called Negus Diamond."
UB40's version features a lighter, reggae-style flavor compared to Diamond's somber, acoustic ballad. The UB40 version adds a toasted verse by Astro, opening: "Red Red Wine, you make me feel so fine/You keep me rocking all of the time", which was edited from the single that reached number one on the UK Singles Chart in August 1983 and number 34 in the United States in March 1984 but not from the version that reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 a few months after being performed at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Concert in 1988. In September 2014, the Official Charts Company announced that sales in the UK had reached one million.
Neil Diamond has stated that it is one of his favorite covers of his songs. He frequently performs the song live using the UB40 reggae arrangement, as opposed to the original version.


Labour of Love is the fourth studio album by British reggae band UB40, and their first album of cover versions. Released in the UK on 12 September 1983, the album is best known for containing the song "Red Red Wine", a worldwide number-one single, but it also includes three further UK top 20 hits, "Please Don't Make Me Cry", "Many Rivers to Cross" and "Cherry Oh Baby". The album reached number one in the UK, New Zealand and the Netherlands and the top five in Canada, but only reached number 39 in the US on its original release, before re-entering the Billboard 200 in 1988 and peaking at number 14 as a result of "Red Red Wine"'s delayed success in the US.
Following the record's success, UB40 have since released three further albums of cover versions under the Labour of Love title.
I could find no information on the video. Which is unusual for the 80's

3 comments:

  1. Never cared for that version either...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Old NFO;

      I agree, some remakes are really good, some...not so much. This one falls in that category.

      Delete
  2. I've always liked it. Like their sound in general. When my two youngest children were little bitty I would sing them to sleep with "Can't Help Falling In Love" like these guys did it on their cover-ish version from '93.

    ReplyDelete

I had to change the comment format on this blog due to spammers, I will open it back up again in a bit.