In Jamaica, most Reggae would be played by a studio band in the studio's, with different vocalists and DUB engineers doing things with the recordings. 

Other than Bob Marley and the Wailers, there were only a few other bands who had their own repertoire and touring schedules, their own vocalists and so on.

How different was it in the UK, around that period of the late 1970's, early 1980's. It was a time, wherein a lot of bands started to play both live as well as in the studio. Bands like Misty in Roots, Steel Pulse, Aswad, Black Slate, and... UB40.

The band's name was taken from an unemployment benefit form, a thing which had to be filled in by the many unemployed. It was the same in the mid-west of the UK, where the band originated from.

They started to record and play music, in their own way. The father of the band's lead singer was a well-known folk singer, and so UB40's music was definitely Reggae, but with a different touch.

And that touch turned out to be a crucial touch, for the band became not only very popular, they reached a super-stardom until this very day in march 2007. 

PRESENT ARMS IN DUB is the DUB companion for their 2nd album "Present Arms". It used to be a rare and hard-to-find album, back in the pre-Internet days, and therefore the most interesting as well.

In these early years, UB40 already had their own specific sound but well rooted in Reggae Music. And what better way to show that you know your Reggae, than to produce a DUB companion with the vocal tracks? 

So they did.