UB40

Aptly titled, Getting Over the Storm (their 18th studio album) finds UK reggae/pop stalwarts UB40 aiming to prove that not even bankruptcy and internal squabbles can keep a good band down. Kicking things off with a reggae-ified cover of the Allman Brothers Band's "Midnight Rider" confirms that original lead singer Ali Campbell has opted to sit this one out — solo career and all that — and that brother Duncan continues to be a good, if not great replacement. Here, they pull back from their signature politically charged numbers — outside of a track like "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?" — and focusing on covering and reinterpreting country music ditties from genre artists like George Jones and Vince Gill. Songs like "How Will I Get Through This One," "If You Ever Have Forever In Mind" and "I'm Pretty Sure That's What's Killing Me" are good, but not in a "tour de force, let's re-introduce the band to a whole new generation with some familiar, but next level stuff"-type of way. Getting Over the Storm is disappointing in that respect, but it's good to see the band back together.