I fondly remember the face-off between Africa awareness tribute songs in the mid-80s. First came today’s song, Bob Geldof’s ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?,’ released in 1984 and recorded by rock stars across the pond. A year later came the U.S. response, the Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie-penned ‘We Are the World.’
That was my first taste of a British-American feud in popular music, and for my money the Brits won hands down. ‘We Are the World’ was a high-gloss schmaltz-fest, but ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ seemed far more genuine.
Twenty-four years later, I kind of feel like both songs are crap.
I’m straying a bit from my usual pattern and going with two theme weeks in a row. I’m also running this week’s theme posts from Sunday through Thursday rather than Monday through Friday.
Volume 8 in Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series is one of the best yet, and that’s saying a lot. This collection focuses on the past 20 years of Dylan’s career and it’s amazing that, though his voice has become more and more limited, his songs are just getting better and better.
James Brown could almost fit into last week’s theme week… he’s a classic artist with who I am not familiar enough. However, I do know some of the bigger hits so I didn’t include him in that lineup.
Back in August, I used some Amazon.com gift certificates to load up on new music. I bought the following CDs:
