After a series of disappointingly bland albums, Homegrown marks a slight return to form for UB40.
While not as edgy and organic as longtime fans may have hoped, Homegrown has some great songs while avoiding the band's limp adult contemporary tendencies.
Vocalist Ali Campbell sleepwalks through a couple love songs but the numerous political numbers find him coming alive and inspiring the band to push the groove a little harder.
With dubby horns echoing and a lyrical and ominous warning to gun-carrying rappers, "Young Guns" is the kind of husky, slow groove that brings back the good old days.
Ragamuffin vocalizing on "Freestyler" and a dub version of "Nothing Without You" are solid reggae moments, and the traditional "Sweet Chariot" (a track recorded for the Rugby World Cup featuring United Colours of Sound) makes for an excellent, uplifting closer.
A little more energy and a little less filler and this could have been volume two of Rat in the Kitchen, but Homegrown at least points UB40 in the right direction while adding some worthwhile material to the band's repertoire.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | So DestructiveUB40 | UB40 | Play | 05:15 | 12 MB | 35 MB |
| 2 | I Knew YouUB40 | UB40 | Play | 04:33 | 10 MB | 33 MB |
| 3 | Drop on ByUB40 | UB40 | Play | 04:25 | 10 MB | 28 MB |
| 4 | Someone Like MeUB40 | UB40 | Play | 03:10 | 7 MB | 19 MB |
| 5 | FreestylerUB40 | UB40 | Play | 05:13 | 11 MB | 32 MB |
| 6 | Everything Is Better NowUB40 | UB40 | Play | 05:00 | 11 MB | 32 MB |
| 7 | Young GunsUB40 | UB40 | Play | 04:21 | 9 MB | 28 MB |
| 8 | Hand That Rocks the CradleUB40 | UB40 | Play | 04:10 | 9 MB | 25 MB |
| 9 | Nothing Without YouUB40 | UB40 | Play | 03:54 | 8 MB | 28 MB |
| 10 | Nothing Without YouUB40 | UB40 | Play | 03:54 | 8 MB | 28 MB |
| 11 | Just Be Good (Bushman Dub) | UB40 | Play | 05:00 | 11 MB | 31 MB |
| 12 | Nothing Without You (Dub) | UB40 | Play | 03:09 | 7 MB | 21 MB |
| 13 | Swing Low | UB40 | Play | 03:29 | 8 MB | 25 MB |
| 55 mins | 127 MB | |||||
| 55 mins | 372 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Astro | Group Member |
| 2 | Rick Blaskey | Executive Producer |
| 3 | James H. Brown | Group Member |
| 4 | Ali Campbell | Group Member |
| 5 | Robin Campbell | Group Member |
| 6 | Earl Falconer | Group Member |
| 7 | Matt Gannon | Photography |
| 8 | Norman Hassan | Group Member |
| 9 | Andy Hayes | Design |
| 10 | Austin Kilburn | Mixing |
| 11 | Martin Meredith | Sax (Alto) |
| 12 | Laurence Parry | Flugelhorn, Trombone, Trumpet |
| 13 | Neil Perch | Mixing |
| 14 | Charlie Skarbek | Arranger, Producer |
| 15 | Danny Sprigg | Digital Editing, Mixing |
| 16 | Traditional | Composer |
| 17 | Brian Travers | Group Member, Horn Arrangements |
| 18 | Jamie Travers | Engineer, Keyboards, Mixing, Programming |
| 19 | UB40 | Arranger, Composer, Mixing, Primary Artist, Producer |
| 20 | United Colours of Sound | Primary Artist |
| 21 | Michael Virtue | Group Member |
| 22 | Tim Young | Mastering |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |