UB-40 are often dismissed as 'reggae-light' and, certainly by the time they were known in North America for 'Rat in the Kitchen' and Neil Diamond's 'Red Red Wine', the cap probably fit. However, Present Arms stands up as a solid document of the mood of discontent and social upheaval in Lady Thatcher's (more on her later) England. There are better songs on the album, but 'One in Ten' has stayed with me the longest. The teenaged me probably identified with the 1:10 living on the margins, isolated and mis-understood... a relatively benign bit of melodrama that leaves the rapidly middle-aging cringing with embarassment.UB-40 also reminds me of me friend Michael Storch, mostly because he bares (bore) a pretty convincing resemblance to the band's lead singer Ali Campbell.
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