Before Live Aid, before Conspiracy Of Hope, before No Nukes, before Live 8, before even the Freddy Mercury AIDS benefit, there was Concert(s) for the People Of Kampuchea (of course, after Bangladesh, Woodstock, and Monterey Pop). A concert held over 4 nights at the Hammersmith Odeon (of course, cause it seems all great shows take place "over there"). Featuring Paul McCartney, Robert Plant, The Who, aforementioned Freddie Mercury-fronted Queen, Pretenders, Clash, and "sub-marquee" (at least for that time) artists Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, Specials, and Rockpile. At the time (I was 11 or 12) all I really knew about Kampuchea was there was a really cool double album for it. Of course, this was to provide famine relief to the victims of Pol Pot's (yes, the "Pol...Pot...Pol...Pot" from Dead Kennedys' "Holiday in Cambodia") Khmer Rouge regime (we knew many of them as "boat people"). It did bring some awareness, and who knows if it raised money of significance. As with many other third-world-country-of-the-week benefits, the biggest impact it probably had, however, was raising people's awareness that there was this really cool benefit album with some great groups, and that it still remains to be released on CD and DVD (there was a VHS)...and probably the only people it "benefitted" are the CD and DVD pirates making a boatload (sorry...I couldn't resist the bad joke) selling counterfeit CD-Rs and DVD-Rs that cost them a dime a dozen to produce.
So...for your enjoyment, the first of 4 part series, Side 1 of Concerts For the People Of Kampuchea:
1. BABA O'RILEY -- The Who
2. SISTER DISCO -- The Who
3. BEHIND BLUE EYES -- The Who
4. SEE ME, FEEL ME -- The Who
Bless them for leaving in Entwhistle's false start. I remember that clearly from 81, when this was released. It's a good thing they didn't have Pro Tools back them. This is a really clean transfer. Listen in headphones cause you can even hear stage chatter.
Coming up next: Pretenders, Elvis, and Rockpile/Robert Plant
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