Concerts for the People of Kampuchea (album)


Concerts for the People of Kampuchea is a double album by Wings, the Who, Queen, Elvis Costello, Pretenders, the Clash, the Specials, and other artists featuring highlights from the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea held at the Hammersmith Odeon in London to raise money for the victims of war-torn Cambodia. It has yet to be released on CD, though the Wings and "Rockestra" supergroup portions of the album have appeared on Paul McCartney bootlegs.

History

The album starts with four songs from the Who and finishes with three songs from Wings and three from the all-star line-up called Rockestra. The best of the concerts was 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, 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.

Album track listing

  1. "Baba O'Riley" – 5:12
  2. "Sister Disco" – 5:16
  3. "Behind Blue Eyes" – 3:46
  4. "See Me, Feel Me" – 5:49
  5. * Tracks 1–4 performed by the Who
  6. "The Wait" – 3:28
  7. "Precious" – 3:23
  8. "Tattooed Love Boys" – 3:18
  9. * Tracks 5–7 performed by Pretenders
  10. "The Imposter" – 2:10
  11. * Performed by Elvis Costello & the Attractions
  12. "Crawling from the Wreckage" – 3:02
  13. * Performed by Rockpile
  14. "Little Sister" – 3:33
  15. * Performed by Rockpile with Robert Plant
  16. "Now I'm Here" – 6:49
  17. * Performed by Queen
  18. "Armagideon Time" – 4:15
  19. * Performed by the Clash
  20. "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" – 4:30
  21. * Performed by Ian Dury & the Blockheads
  22. "Monkey Man" – 2:26
  23. * Performed by the Specials
  24. "Got to Get You into My Life" – 2:57
  25. "Every Night" – 4:17
  26. "Coming Up" – 4:08
  27. * Tracks 15–17 performed by Wings
  28. "Lucille" – 3:03
  29. "Let It Be" – 4:12
  30. "Rockestra Theme" – 2:30
  31. * Tracks 18–20 performed by Rockestra

    Rockestra's personnel

Album
Chart Position
US Billboard 20036

Album track
YearTitleChartPosition
1981Little SisterUS Billboard Top Tracks8