Wednesday, March 26, 2014


Es-Say #7- (Not So) Mysterious Charity Single at the Charity Shop

The 45 RPM record that I purchased today for £.50 at the charity shop is a well-known recording and documented, but I have a ton of questions as I hadn't heard of it. Let me make a list here.

  1. The 1980s had tons of celebrity charity singles that famously(and arguably) started off with Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" I'd like to know how many records featured Paul during this decade because every time I think I know, I find another one.
  2. Ferry Aid, The music group responsible for this Stock Aitken Waterman produced single is jam packed with artists taking part. However, I can only recognise the voices of McCartney, Boy George, Kate Bush, and Andy Bell. Everyone else gets lost in a loud choir. Why is that? (Ed Note: Would you like my opinion? It's a poor musical arrangement)  
  3. As a record that sold a half-million copies, was there a greater number of the population who refused to buy it because of The Sun newspapers association with the passenger ferry disaster?
  4. Equally, what caused some other artists to decide not to participate? or do a 360 degrees when first opposed?
  5. Did McCartney basically "phone it in" either by submitting a brand new vocal part of  "Let It Be" away from the roomful of celebrities located at a separate studio, or the original 1970 session tapes?
  6. I don't understand what I wrote in #5. What do you think I meant? He did "phone it in" but was it a new recording vocal done in 1987 or the original Beatles recording from 1970?
  7. Is there a video of this? Oh dear...Oh dear 
http://youtu.be/AmieR3KvQAc


Everyone had to lip-sync their 1987 vocals for the video including McCartney(to what does sound like the original 1970 recording) from a separate location. Ferry Aid seems to have focused on Boy George from the room choir but I can only think this is due to his very memorable performance on "Do They Know It's Christmas?"(and as we know, that too features our beloved Paul).

If I had heard of this charity back in 1987, I would just give directly to that charity given the choice of getting the record. Today, my crummy record player didn't skip once on either vinyl side(the side two jam choir is even worse) which means the previous owner didn't play it enough. The re-recording sounds disorganized but that is expected as it was rush-recorded. It's nice that celebrities want to help causes quickly but this is a clear example of why immediate telethons have gained in popularity when the 80s ended; nobody really has to sing in them.

1 comment:

  1. There is another version of this picture sleeve, with the only difference being that horrible double chin photo of Paul was replaced with a much nicer photo from around 1986. I can send you a photo if you want.

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