Concerts for the People of Kampuchea (album)

Concerts for the People of Kampuchea
Live album by Various Artists
Released	March 30, 1981 (1981-03-30)
Recorded	26-29 December 1979, Hammersmith Odeon
Genre	Rock
Length	77:54
Label	Atlantic
Producer	Chris Thomas
Paul McCartney chronology
McCartney II (1980) Concerts for the People of Kampuchea (1981) Tug of War (1982)

Concerts for the People of Kampuchea is a double album from Wings, The Who, Queen, Elvis Costello, The Pretenders, The Clash, The Specials, and many more artists of the highlights from the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea held at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, England to raise money for the victims of war-torn in Cambodia.

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 lineup called Rockestra. The best of the concerts was also released as a film.

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, John Bonham, Robert Plant, Rockpile, James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Townshend. Hank Marvin was not available and David Gilmour for tax reasons had to decline, as he was with the rest of Pink Floyd in Los Angeles, California, where they had just finished recording The Wall and were in the midst of rehearsing for an upcoming concert tour to begin in February 1980.

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
Robert Christgau	(B+) link

Album track listing

1. "Baba O'Riley" (Townshend) - 5:12
   • Performed by The Who
2. "Sister Disco" (Townshend) - 5:16
   • Performed by The Who
3. "Behind Blue Eyes" (Townshend) - 3:46
   • Performed by The Who
4. "See Me, Feel Me" (Townshend) - 5:49
   • Performed by The Who
5. "The Wait" (Hynde / Farndon) - 3:28
   • Performed by The Pretenders
6. "Precious" (Hynde) - 3:23
   • Performed by The Pretenders
7. "Tattooed Love Boys" (Hynde) - 3:18
   • Performed by The Pretenders
8. "The Imposter" (Costello) - 2:10
   • Performed by Elvis Costello & The Attractions
9. "Crawling from the Wreckage" (Parker) - 3:02
   • Performed by Rockpile
10. "Little Sister" (Pomus / Sherman) - 3:33
    • Performed by Rockpile with Robert Plant
11. "Now I'm Here" (May) - 6:49
    • Performed by Queen
12. "Armagideon Time" (Bennett) - 4:15
    • Performed by The Clash
13. "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" (Dury / Jankel) - 4:30
    • Performed by Ian Dury & The Blockheads
14. "Monkey Man" (Hibbert) - 2:26
    • Performed by The Specials
15. "Got to Get You into My Life" (Lennon / McCartney) - 2:57
    • Performed by Wings
16. "Every Night" (McCartney) - 4:17
    • Performed by Wings
17. "Coming Up" (McCartney) - 4:08
    • Performed by Wings
18. "Lucille" (Collins / Penniman) - 3:03
    • Performed by the Rockestra
19. "Let It Be" (Lennon / McCartney) - 4:12
    • Performed by the Rockestra
20. "Rockestra Theme" (McCartney) - 2:30 (*)
    • Performed by the Rockestra

(*) Live version of the track which originally appeared on Wings' album Back to the Egg recorded in October 1978 at the Abbey Road's studio #2.

Rockestra's personnel

• Piano: Paul McCartney
• Keyboards: Linda McCartney, Tony Ashton, Gary Brooker
• Guitars: Denny Laine, Laurence Juber, James Honeyman-Scott, Dave Edmunds, Billy Bremner, Pete Townshend, Robert Plant
• Bass: Paul McCartney, Bruce Thomas, Ronnie Lane, John Paul Jones
• Drums, Percussion: Steve Holley, Kenney Jones, Tony Carr, Morris Pert, Speedy Acquaye, John Bonham
• Horns: Howie Casey, Steve Howard, Thaddeus Richard, Tony Dorsey
• Vocals: Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, John Paul Jones, Ronnie Lane, Bruce Thomas, Robert Plant

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1981	US Billboard 200	36

Album track

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

See also

• Concerts for the People of Kampuchea, the concerts and set lists.
• Concert for Kampuchea, the film about the concerts.