HISTORY OF POP AND ROCK MUSIC - part 558 torrent

PART 558



UB40 - Many Rivers To Cross (1983)
UB40 - Red Red Wine (1983)
UB40 - Red Red Wine (1983) - live version
UB40 - Kingston Town (1989)




"Many Rivers to Cross" is a song written in 1969 by Jimmy Cliff. Rolling Stone ranked it #325 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. UB40 covered a version on their album "Labour of Love". It was originally released on 1 September 1983 and included the hits, "Red, Red Wine" (UK #1, US #1), "Cherry Oh Baby" (UK #12), "Many Rivers to Cross" (UK #16), and "Please Don't Make Me Cry" (UK #10).
"Red Red Wine" is a song written and originally recorded by American artist Neil Diamond. The lyrics are sung from the perspective of someone who finds drinking red wine the only way to forget his woes. UB40 made their rendition for their cover versions album "Labour of Love". According to the band they were only familiar with Tony Tribe's version (apparently they didn't realise that the writer - credited simply as "Diamond" - was in fact Neil Diamond), and their version featured a lighter, reggae-style flavor compared to Diamond's somber, acoustic ballad. The UB40 version adds a toasted verse by UB40 member 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 in the UK chart in August 1983, and number 34 in the U.S. in March 1984. In 1988, the song was rereleased as a single in the U.S., this time including the Astro toast, and climbed to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Kingston Town" is a 1970 song by Lord Creator. It was recorded in 1989 by reggae group UB40 and was the second single from their album "Labour of Love II" , reaching #4 on the UK singles chart. In France, the cover by UB40 peaked at #1 for three weeks from October 20 to November 3, 1990. It remained on the chart for 25 weeks, and was certified Gold disc by SNEP in 1991. Infodisc Website estimates it is the 426th best selling single of all time in France with 581,000 copies sold.