Merry Christmas and welcome to BROW. As the 1970′s ended, so did Paul McCartney & Wings. This week’s BROW recounts a farewell performance of one of the most successful acts of that decade. This last hoorah by Wings was recorded on December 29th, 1979 at a series of benefit concerts for the people of Kampuchea. The event took place at the Hammersmith Odeon in London and was organized by Paul and Kurt Waldheim to raise money for the victims of war-torn Cambodia. The line-up of Wings at the time was Paul & Linda along with Denny Laine (bass, guitars, piano), Laurence Juber (guitar, vocals) and Steve Holly (drums). This particular performance also includes a phenomenal amount of other English rock musicians on it such as Kenney Jones, Dave Edmunds, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, John Bonham, Gary Brooker, Pete Townshend and more. The combination of all of these musicians came to be known as the Rockestra Line-up and this rocking instrumental was their theme. Also present for the concerts were Queen, The Clash, The Who, Ian Drury & The Blockheads, The Pretenders, The Specials and more. The double album release covering the performances at the shows was not released to vinyl until March of 1981 and has never been released to CD. I have no idea why not, but since it hasn’t it is now a rare recording that has been out of print for many years. The way Paul yells “Happy New Year” at the conclusion made me feel that it was an appropriate time to feature this on the BROW. Enjoy, thanks for reading and Happy New Year to you all.

Cover for the 1981 double vinyl LP Concerts For The People of Kampuchea (never released to CD)

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