Various Artists-Concert For The People Of Kampuchea

According to the liner notes Kampuchea(the new name for Cambodia)lost half of its population between 1975-1979 due to war,famine,and disease.Paul McCartney and other English musicians organized a benefit concert over four days from Dec.26-29 in 1979 at the Hammersmith Odeon in London. Side one had four songs by The Who,two from Who’s Next,”Behind Blue Eyes” and “Baba O’Riley”with Roger Daltry playing harmonica in place of the violin that is on the studio track. Side two has three from The Pretenders “The Wait” and intense versions of “Precious” and “Tattooed Love Boys”,one from Elvis Costello”The Imposter” and two from Rockpile with Robert Plant joining them for “Little Sister”. Side three opens with Queen doing “Now I’m Here” followed by The Clash with “Armagideon Time” and Ian Dury with “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick” both really good. The side ends with The Specials covering a Toots And The Maytals song “Monkey Man”. Side four is the weakest side with six songs by McCartney and Wings. “Got To Get You Into My Life” sounds more like Earth Wind & Fire cover than The Beatles. “Every Night” from his first solo album is good but the last three songs with The Rockestra,a supergroup with Wings,three from Led Zeppelin,Pete Townshend,Ronnie Lane Kenny Jones and others playing “Lucille”,”Let It Be” and ‘The Rockestra Theme” are just a bit too much.This came out in 1981 when I bought it. It’s never been released on CD but it was re-issued on vinyl a few years ago.

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