Concerts for the People of Kampuchea, Hammersmith Odeon, London, Britain, 12-26-1979 to 12-29-1979: Day 4: Elvis Costello, Rockpile & Paul McCartney

This is the fourth and final part of the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea, featuring music from the fourth night. Like the two previous nights, there were three music acts: Elvis Costello, Rockpile, and Paul McCartney. Technically, McCartney was billed as "Paul McCartney and Wings." This was the last Wings concert ever. Also, Robert Plant was the guest lead singer for one song in Rockpile's set.

As with the previous parts, I've only included the songs with what I consider worthy sound quality. I got lucky with those parts in that I found a decent amount of music from each of the acts. But I wasn't so lucky this time. I was only able to include two songs by Elvis Costello and three by Rockpile (including the one with Robert Plant). I couldn't find any more, not even with terrible sound quality.

I also didn't do that well with McCartney's set. I found a bootleg with all of the songs from his set, but most of it comes from an audience bootleg with poor sound quality. I didn't deem any of that worth keeping. (If anyone has any of the missing songs, please let me know. I saw some mentions that some more songs by McCartney exist in good sounding versions, like "Getting Closer," but I couldn't find them.) 

As a result of that, everything here sounds very good, but this is the shortest part out of the four. The other three parts are all at least an hour and 10 minutes long, with one of them being an hour and a half long, but this one is only 48 minutes long. The first track here is track 68, in case you want to put all four parts into one folder and play this as one massive concert.

The sourcing was pretty much the same as for the previous two parts. I relied on the official double album, long out of print, and a bootleg of high quality outtakes that had been considered for inclusion to the double album. One song by Elvis Costello, two by Rockpile, and six by McCartney are from the official album. Most of the rest are from that bootleg. But I believe I found McCartney's "Hot as Sun" elsewhere, since it was in the movie of the concerts but not the album. I also found some of McCartney's banter from the poor sounding bootleg of his set. Those talking bits didn't sound bad. I suspect some of them came from the movie, because they sounded a lot better than the other songs and even other banter.

The last three songs were performed by a rather curious McCartney-led "supergroup" called "Rockestra." McCartney had previously gathered lots of big names to play on two songs for his 1979 album "Back to the Egg," including the "Rockestra Theme." Most of those reprised their roles for this concert. Some who played in this version of Rockestra for the concert included: Pete Townshend, Gary Brooker, John Bonham, John Paul Jones, and Dave Edmunds. But in my opinion, it was kind of a waste of all that talent, because they only did three relatively short songs, all led by McCartney, and they pretty much sound like the other McCartney songs.

As mentioned above, this album is 48 minutes long.

68 The Imposter (Elvis Costello)
69 You Belong to Me (Elvis Costello)
70 Three Time Loser (Rockpile)
71 Crawling from the Wreckage (Rockpile)
72 Little Sister (Rockpile with Robert Plant)
73 Introduction [Instrumental] (Paul McCartney)
74 Got to Get You into My Life (Paul McCartney)
75 talk (Paul McCartney)
76 Every Night (Paul McCartney)
77 talk (Paul McCartney)
78 I've Had Enough (Paul McCartney)
79 Hot as Sun [Instrumental] (Paul McCartney)
80 talk (Paul McCartney)
81 Twenty Flight Rock (Paul McCartney)
82 talk (Paul McCartney)
83 Coming Up (Paul McCartney)
84 Lucille (Paul McCartney & Rockestra)
85 talk (Paul McCartney & Rockestra)
86 Let It Be (Paul McCartney & Rockestra)
87 talk (Paul McCartney & Rockestra)
88 Rockestra Theme (Paul McCartney & Rockestra)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17362756/VA-ConcrtsfrthPeplofKmpchea1979Day4CstelloRckpileMcCartny_atse.zip.html

alternate:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/E9X4FPne

The cover photo is from the Rockestra portion of this show. From left to right in the front is Denny Laine, Pete Townshend, and Paul McCartney. I improved the pic using Krea AI program.

Concerts for the People of Kampuchea, Hammersmith Odeon, London, Britain, 12-26-1979 to 12-29-1979: Day 3: The Pretenders, the Specials & the Who

Here's Part Three of the four-part Concerts for the People of Kampuchea. It has the highlights from the third night. Just like Part Two, there were three big music acts. This time, it was the Pretenders, the Specials, and the Who.

If you want to know more about these concerts in general, check out my write-up for Part One. The track numbering here begins with track 47 in case you want to put all four parts in one folder. If you do, you'll have a mega-concert nearly five hours long.

As I mentioned previously, there was an official double album released of these concerts, but it is long out of print. Three songs by the Pretenders, one song by the Specials, and four songs by the Who come from that. In addition, a bootleg of outtakes from the official album was made public eventually. The rest of the Pretenders and Specials songs come from that, as well as some of the Who songs. 

But on top of all that, I found a bootleg of the entire set by the Who. However, I've only included some of the songs from that, for a couple of reasons. One reason is that while the sound quality is very good, it's not quite as good as the songs from the other sources. 

The other reason is that it was an off night for the Who. Lead guitarist (and occasional lead singer) Pete Townshend was going through a phase where he was going overboard with drugs and especially alcohol. It was very obvious to concert goers that he was very drunk during this concert. He danced around much more than usual, but sometimes flubbed his guitar or vocal parts. He also gave a kind of political speech during the "Dancing in the Street - Dance It Away" medley. It was meant to support the goals of the benefit concert, but it was done in a sarcastic style that could have been easily misunderstood.

Because of all that, I tried to only pick the Who songs that sounded the best and didn't have obvious flubs. 

I would have liked to have more songs by the Pretenders and the Specials, but I think there's just enough for both acts to put up a good showing. But for all three acts, there were many more songs played that what's included here. I'm sure about the song order for the Who set, but the songs might be a bit mixed up for the other two acts, I'm not sure. Also, I'm guessing some of the banter between songs is missing. But since I've heard the full Who set, I know there was no banter before the starts of any of their songs.

This album is an hour and 33 minutes long.

47 The Wait (Pretenders)
48 Precious (Pretenders)
49 Tattooed Love Boys (Pretenders)
50 Brass in Pocket (Pretenders)
51 Private Life (Pretenders)
52 Monkey Man (Specials)
53 talk (Specials)
54 It Doesn't Make It Alright (Specials)
55 Stupid Marriage (Specials)
56 talk (Specials)
57 Too Much, Too Young (Specials)
58 Baba O'Riley (Who)
59 Sister Disco (Who)
60 Behind Blue Eyes (Who)
61 Who Are You (Who)
62 See Me, Feel Me (Who)
63 I Can See for Miles (Who)
64 Won't Get Fooled Again (Who)
65 Summertime Blues (Who)
66 Dancing in the Street - Dance It Away (Who)
67 The Real Me (Who)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/mqTe6o6o

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/mlzNvPL6h789zg0/file

second alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/DZ7ETVr3I2XqGoN/file

The cover photo is from this exact concert. Pete Townshend is closest to the camera. Roger Daltrey is in the middle ground, and John Entwistle is farthest away. I sharpened the picture using Krea AI, and made some additional changes in Photoshop.

Concerts for the People of Kampuchea, Hammersmith Odeon, London, Britain, 12-26-1979 to 12-29-1979: Part 2: Ian Dury & the Blockheads, Matumbi & the Clash

This is Part 2 of the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea. It was actually a series of four concerts in a row, so it makes sense to post each of the concerts separately.

For the first night, the only musical act was Queen. But for this second night, there were three acts: Ian Dury & the Blockheads, Matumbi, and the Clash, in that order. I've numbered the songs so you can put all four parts together in the same folder if you want. That's why the first track here is already track 25.

I explained some in my Part 1 write-up how the only officially released album from this concerts was a double album that is now long out of print. Merely two of the songs here come from that. Luckily, a lot of music has come out unofficially on bootleg. Decades later, one bootleg emerged that was about as long as the official double album and had excellent sound quality. It seems these all were songs that were being considered for the album but didn't quite make the cut. That's where I got all but one of the songs but Ian Dury and the Blockheads and all the songs by Matumbi.

But the only full set to emerge from this show was the one by the Clash. Unfortunately, although it's supposedly a soundboard recording, that recording merely sounds okay. My intention has been to only use the songs that had very good sound quality. So first I included the songs from either the official album - "Armagideon Time" - and the ones from that bootleg mentioned above - "Bankrobber" and "London Calling." 

Then I listened to the bootleg of the Clash's full set to see if any more songs sounded good enough to fit here. I decided on three more: "Jimmy Jazz," "Train in Vain," and "Jamie Jones." I picked them mainly on the basis on the instruments. When certain instruments were prominent, the recording sounded murkier. I also tinkered with those three to make them sound better. But there was only so much I could do, so those three still sound rougher than the others here. By the way, this version of "Train in Vain" is interesting for how unusually fast the tempo is compared to how the band usually played the song.

I had never heard of Matumbi before this. They were one of the most popular British reggae bands in the late 1970s. However, their 1979 song "Point of View [Squeeze a Little Lovin']" was their only Top Forty hit in Britain. They fizzled out then broke up in the early 1980s.

There's a lot more music played than what is presented here. Since there is a bootleg of the whole Clash set, we know they played 16 songs, yet I've only included six of them. I assume it was similar with Ian Dury and the Blockheads and Matumbi, though maybe their sets were shorter since they were the opening acts. If anyone has any of the other songs for this concert or the other ones with worthy sound quality, please let me know and I'll add them in.

This album is an hour and 11 minutes long.

25 talk (Ian Dury & the Blockheads)
26 Clever Trevor (Ian Dury & the Blockheads)
27 Blackmail Man (Ian Dury & the Blockheads)
28 Blockheads (Ian Dury & the Blockheads)
29 talk (Ian Dury & the Blockheads)
30 My Ol' Man (Ian Dury & the Blockheads)
31 Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick (Ian Dury & the Blockheads)
32 talk (Ian Dury & the Blockheads)
33 Sweet Gene Vincent (Ian Dury & the Blockheads with Mick Jones)
34 Empire Road (Matumbi)
35 talk (Matumbi)
36 Come with Me (Matumbi)
37 After Tonight (Matumbi)
38 talk (Matumbi)
39 Point of View [Squeeze a Little Lovin'] (Matumbi)
40 Jimmy Jazz (Clash)
41 talk (Clash)
42 Train in Vain (Clash)
43 Bankrobber (Clash)
44 Janie Jones (Clash)
45 Armagideon Time (Clash)
46 London Calling (Clash)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17362757/VA-ConcrtsfrthPeplofKmpchea1979Day2IanDryMtumbiClsh_atse.zip.html

alternate:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/bQ4anA9w

The cover photo is of the Clash and was taken from this exact concert. On the right side in the background, you can see a big, round United Nations logo used for the Kampuchea concerts. I sharpened the image using Krea AI program.

Concerts for the People of Kampuchea, Hammersmith Odeon, London, Britain, 12-26-1979 to 12-29-1979: Part 1: Queen

I mentioned the other day that I'm going to put more effort into posting big "various artists" concerts (with Live Aid being the most famous example), since those seem to get overlooked. A commenter then made the suggestion that I post the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea because the official double album that was released of those 1979 concerts was only ever released on vinyl and is long out of print. I decided that was a very good idea, because I don't think anyone else has ever put together all the well recorded songs for it.

The Concerts for the People of Kampuchea were actually a series of four concerts at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, from December 26 to December 29, 1979. These benefit concerts took place for the timely and controversial issue of what had happened to the country of Cambodia, as it is generally known in the West, or Kampuchea, as it is generally known in the East, including by the people of that country. I'm going to refer to it as Cambodia, since that's what I'm used to. Anyway, from 1975 to 1978, the country was ruled by Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge, a Communist political party. The country was devastated by their extreme measures, with about two million, or one-fourth of the entire population, killed during those few years. At the end of 1978, the neighboring country of Vietnam invaded Cambodia and easily took it over, since most Cambodians wanted the reign of terror to end by then.

Paul McCartney was the main musical force behind organizing the concerts, just as his fellow Beatle George Harrison organized the Concert for Bangladesh back in 1971. But, unusually for a rock concert, the United Nations was also officially involved with the concerts. I gather they handled the relief efforts from the money the concerts raised. Cambodia had been devastated by war even before the Khmer Rouge took it over, so they definitely needed help then. But for some people it was controversial for Western, capitalist countries to help a country that had recently been conquered by Vietnam, a Communist country at the time. A few years later, the US and its allies put an economic boycott on Vietnam because they refused to withdraw their army from Cambodia. But Vietnam withdrew in 1992 and the boycott ended. Cambodia slowly recovered, though remnants of the Khmer Rouge sustained an insurgency until the end of the 1990s. Unfortunately, its government is basically a dictatorship as I write this in 2023.

Anyway, let's get to the music. A double album of highlights from the four nights of music was released in 1981. However, it didn't do that well since it only had a couple, or sometimes even just one, song per artist, and often they weren't their best known songs. For instance, the only Queen song on the album was "Now I'm Here," which is a nice song, but far from one of their better known ones. The album quickly went out of print, and has stayed that way due to the difficulty of keeping the legal rights to all the different musical acts.

Luckily though, I was able to find a lot more material than just what was on the official album. In the case of Queen, they played a full concert that was nearly two hours long. They were the one and only musical act for the first night out of the four nights. Many more songs somehow emerged in soundboard quality on bootlegs. However, for some of the songs, there are only audience bootleg versions. I decided to keep the sound quality high for this entire series of concerts, so I have only included here the songs with soundboard level quality. That makes up a majority of the Queen show, including most of their best known songs, but not all of it. What's here is about an hour and ten minutes from a concert that was about an hour and 50 minutes long.

However, one extremely key song wasn't one of those with soundboard quality: "Bohemian Rhapsody." That's become their best known song, and is considered one of the most famous songs of all time, so I felt I couldn't leave it out. Instead, I took the audience bootleg version and used whatever audio editing tricks I had to try to make it sound a little better. One thing that helped me is that the vocals in the middle section, the acappella "opera section," were in fact just a recording from the record version. This was standard procedure for Queen concerts, because they felt they couldn't do that section justice with live vocals due to many, many vocal overdubs for that part. So I patched in the record version for that section, essentially replacing the vocals there. As expected, it was an exact match for the timing and the musical key, and it sounded much better. That's why that one song has "[Edit]" in the title.

I also put in some effort to make sure this recording flowed smoothly, despite the missing songs. Sometimes I had to fiddle with the song transitions to do that, for instance if the recording of one song ended with lots of cheering and the next song started out with near silence. It should all sound good now.

This album is one hour and ten minutes long.

01 We Will Rock You [Fast Version] (Queen)
02 talk (Queen)
03 Let Me Entertain You (Queen)
04 Somebody to Love (Queen)
05 talk (Queen)
06 Death on Two Legs (Queen)
07 Killer Queen (Queen)
08 I'm in Love with My Car (Queen)
09 You're My Best Friend (Queen)
10 talk (Queen)
11 Save Me (Queen)
12 Now I'm Here (Queen)
13 Don't Stop Me Now (Queen)
14 Love of My Life (Queen)
15 talk (Queen)
16 '39 (Queen)
17 talk (Queen)
18 Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Queen)
19 Bohemian Rhapsody [Edit] (Queen)
20 Tie Your Mother Down (Queen)
21 Sheer Heart Attack (Queen)
22 talk (Queen)
23 We Will Rock You - We Are the Champions (Queen)
24 talk (Queen)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17362751/VA-ConcrtsfrthPeplofKmpchea1979Day1Quen_atse.zip.html

alternate:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/REPPC7zX

The cover photo is from this exact concert. However, it only shows lead singer Freddie Mercury and guitarist Brian May.