Concerts for the People of Kampuchea
Live album by
Various Artists
Released30 March 1981 (1981-03-30)
Recorded26–29 December 1979
VenueHammersmith Odeon, London
GenreRock
Length79:30
LabelAtlantic
ProducerChris Thomas
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Robert ChristgauB+[2]

Concerts for the People of Kampuchea is a double album credited to Various Artists and released in March 1981.[3] It contains live performances by Wings, the Who, Queen, Elvis Costello, Pretenders, the Clash, the Specials and other artists from the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea, held at London's Hammersmith Odeon in December 1979 to raise money for the victims of war-torn Cambodia. The event was organised by Paul McCartney and Kurt Waldheim.

History

The album starts with four songs from the Who (culled from a 3-hour set list) and finishes with three songs from Wings and three from the all-star line-up called Rockestra. A selection of the best performances from the concerts was compiled and released as a film, Concert for Kampuchea.

Rockestra was a Paul McCartney-led supergroup of at least thirty English rockers. The credited list appears at the bottom of the back cover of the LP. The name was first given to an assemblage of famous rock stars that were brought together by McCartney for the final Wings album, 1979's Back to the Egg. The supergroup – which consisted of Wings, John Paul Jones and John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, David Gilmour from Pink Floyd, Ronnie Lane of the Faces, Kenney Jones and Pete Townshend of the Who, and Hank Marvin of the Shadows – recorded two McCartney compositions, the instrumental "Rockestra Theme" and "So Glad to See You Here".

Then, McCartney and Kurt Waldheim re-assembled Rockestra for a series of benefit concerts for the people of Cambodia (also known as Kampuchea), suffering from the reign of Pol Pot. This time, Rockestra consisted of, among others, Wings, John Paul Jones, Bonham, Robert Plant, Rockpile, James Honeyman-Scott and Townshend. Hank Marvin was not available and Gilmour for tax reasons had to decline, as he was with the rest of Pink Floyd in Los Angeles, California, where they were in the midst of rehearsing for an upcoming concert tour for the just released Pink Floyd album The Wall.

Despite the all-star lineup and charting within the Top 40, it remains one of McCartney's few projects to never receive a remaster or a CD release.

Album track listing

  1. "Baba O'Riley" (Pete Townshend) – 5:12
  2. "Sister Disco" (Townshend) – 5:16
  3. "Behind Blue Eyes" (Townshend) – 3:46
  4. "See Me, Feel Me" (Townshend) – 5:49
  5. "The Wait" (Chrissie Hynde, Pete Farndon) – 3:28
  6. "Precious" (Hynde) – 3:23
  7. "Tattooed Love Boys" (Hynde) – 3:18
  8. "The Imposter" (Elvis Costello) – 2:10
  9. "Crawling from the Wreckage" (Graham Parker) – 3:02
  10. "Little Sister" (Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman) – 3:33
  11. "Now I'm Here" (Brian May) – 6:49
  12. "Armagideon Time" (Bennett) – 4:15
  13. "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick" (Ian Dury, Chaz Jankel) – 4:30
  14. "Monkey Man" (Toots Hibbert) – 2:26
  15. "Got to Get You into My Life" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) – 2:57
  16. "Every Night" (McCartney) – 4:17
  17. "Coming Up" (McCartney) – 4:08
    • Tracks 15–17 performed by Wings
  18. "Lucille" (Albert Collins, Richard Penniman) – 3:03
  19. "Let It Be" (Lennon, McCartney) – 4:12
  20. "Rockestra Theme" (McCartney) – 2:30
    • Tracks 18–20 performed by Rockestra

Rockestra's personnel

Charts

Album

Chart (1981) Position
US Billboard 200[4] 36

Album track

Year Title Chart Position
1981 Little Sister US Billboard Top Tracks 8

References

  1. ^ Concerts for the People of Kampuchea at AllMusic
  2. ^ Christgau, Robert. "Album: Concerts for the People of Kampuchea".
  3. ^ Madinger, Chip; Easter, Mark (2000). Eight Arms to Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium. Chesterfield, MO: 44.1 Productions. p. 600. ISBN 0-615-11724-4.
  4. ^ McGee, Garry (2003). Band on the Run: A History of Paul McCartney and Wings. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 233. ISBN 9780878333042.
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