Concerts for the People of Kampuchea (album and EP)

Infobox Album |
Name = Concert for Kampuchea
Type = EP
Artist = "The Rockestra"


Released = 24 September 1980
Recorded = Hammersmith Odeon December 31 1979
Genre = Rock
Length = 12:08
Label = Atlantic Records
Producer = Paul McCartney |

Concerts for the People of Kampuchea is a double album from Wings, The Who, Queen, Elvis Costello, The Pretenders, The Clash 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. A promotional Rockestra EP was released in 1980, with four songs. The EP has a track not released on the album, "Rockestra Theme" (a 58-second intro track); the other songs are the same.

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.

Album track listing

* "Performed by The Who:": Baba O'Riley 5:12: Sister Disco 5:16: Behind Blue Eyes 3:46: See Me, Feel Me 5:49
* "Performed by The Pretenders:": The Wait 3:28: Precious 3:23: Tattooed Love Boys 3:18
* "Performed by Elvis Costello & The Attractions:": The Imposter 2:10
* "Performed by Rockpile: Crawling from the Wreckage 3:02
* "Performed by Rockpile with Robert Plant": Little Sister 3:33
* "Performed by Queen:": Now I'm Here 6:49
* "Performed by The Clash:": Armagideon Time 4:15
* "Performed by Ian Dury & the Blockheads:": Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick 4:30
* "Performed by The Specials:": Monkey Man Specials 2:26
* "Performed by Wings:": Got to Get You into My Life 2:57: Every Night 4:17: Coming Up 4:08
* "Performed by the Rockestra:": Lucille 3:03: Let It Be 4:12: Rockestra Theme 2:30 (*)

(*) "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."

EP track listing

ide one

#"Rockestra Theme" (Paul McCartney) – 0:58
#"Let It Be" (Lennon-McCartney) – 4:12

ide two

#"Lucille" (All Collins/Little Richard) – 3:03
#"Rockestra Theme (Reprise)" (Paul McCartney) – 2:30

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 Holly, 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 - Billboard (UK)Single - Billboard (UK)

See also

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