Description
Released exclusively on the long since discontinued and deleted formats of VHS, Betamax and LaserDisc, the following is a NEW REMASTER in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Sound for the first time! This original documentary made back in 1984 and is so completely rare that the ONLY LaserDisc format release was in Japan
This REMASTERED DVD is sourced directly from the original high quality Japan imported LaserDisc and remastered to DVD for the first time ever! Quality is unmatched as it transferred from the long since deleted LaserDisc Master from 40 years ago.
Background: This documentary was issued and released on Betamax and VHS formats in US and UK only. Besides a brief run of the documentary on DVD in 2003 (from a company that no longer exsists), there are no other known releases of this documentary in any other format in the world other than the RARE LaserDisc that was released exclusively in Japan. It’s for that reason that this Japan only import LaserDisc inevitably is the best quality of this rare documentary and includes subtitles only in the interviews and not in any of the actual singing performances. It was exactly this Japan import that was sourced for the REMASTERING of this DVD. Still to this day, this rare and hurried documentary sourced from the Japan Imported Laserdisc has NEVER been officially released on DVD in ANY COUNTRY UNTIL NOW! This DVD is REGION FREE and will play in ALL DVD PLAYERS WORLD WIDE! So here, offered in the best possible quality, available for the first time in over 40 years is the REMASTERED from LaserDisc to DVD for all collectors of 80s music and anglophiles.
Description: Inspired by a news report on BBC 10 O’Clock News on October 23, 1984, Sir Bob Geldof created Band Aid and brought together some of the biggest names in pop – including Bananarama, Bono, Boy George, Duran Duran, George Michael, Glenn Gregory of Heaven 17, Paul Young, Phil Collins, Spandau Ballet and Sting – for the groundbreaking charity single, produced by Midge Ure. The film features footage from the November 25, 1984 recording session at SARM Studios in Notting Hill, London, filmed by director Nigel Dick.
This quickly made original documentary was put together in a flurry to be released on the various formats mentioned above to further benefits Ethiopian famine and asked to be in accompaniment to the single that was released earlier. It was, in many ways it would be looked back upon as one of the finest hours in music as many of the biggest names in British popular music gathered in November of 1984 for the sake of charity to record a song to raise money for the starving in Ethiopia. Organized by Bob Geldof, the singer for the British group The Boomtown Rats was inspired by a Ethiopian famine BBC news broadcast. The single ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ What is a once in a lifetime collaboration amongst England’s British music elite at the time.
In a press release, Bob says: “That Sunday morning when a bunch of young spotty English pop stars who were (more or less) just out of school and had taken over the pop culture of the world, ambled up a Ladbroke Grove street in London to make a song their friends had written for the starving people of Ethiopia, they could never have understood the enormous consequences of that day.”
“It was, if not exactly the ‘shot that rang around the world’, it certainly became, however unwittingly, ‘the shout that rang around the world’, culminating 20 years later in all its unlikely majesty in ultimately forcing the global political process to bend to its focused will at the Gleneagles G8 summit of 2005 and after the Live8 concerts.
“This then is the ‘fly on the wall’ story of that day from found footage that no-one had thought to look for before, but is now an integral part of British pop history. I love it because it is so… English. So guileless, so charming and yes so innocent.”
He continues: “These rock stars piling into the control room, babies under arm – it was a Sunday, family day, chipping in, laughing, shouting suggestions, taking the piss, funny, having fun making history, on top of the world. And boy can they sing.
“Compare and contrast with the American follow up and it’s hyper-sophisticated, hyper super-talent, hyper-organised and professional and our lot, basically a bunch of bouffanted oiks giving it large and being quite brilliant.
“What wonderful people they were. And largely still are. Great film. The Maysles Bros would be proud.”
This collaboration and the repercussive affects of the benefit and success of the single would inevitably lead to probably one of the biggest moments in music history seven months later. LIVE-AID on the 13th of July 1985. The world’s biggest rock concert and TV event which spanned several continents worldwide and spanned approximately 24 hours globally. This was a first time global satellite event with half the world watching which at the time was approximately 2 billion people. It later became the catalyst for similar recording projects in the U.S. and Canada.
It’s important to note that the music video included at the end of Side 2 is in fact the music video. It is also however a rough cut which inevitably is the original conceptual version. However, the version that is most commonly known to viewers around the world is more polished re-edit with slightly different audio which is now known as the “final edit” which is also featured exclusively on this DVD along with the music videos from BAND AID over the years in the “Bonus Material Accompaniment” featured below
DVD Menu divides content as “Side 1” and “Side 2” to mimic the content style of the original LaserDisc
Side 1
Bob Geldof: Bob’s Singing With Guitars
Band Aid: Rehearsal Of Chorus
Paul Young: Rehearsal: Paul Young
Simon Le Bon: Rehearsal: Simon Le Bon (Duran Duran)
Phil Collins: Rehearsal Of Drums: Phil Collins
Side 2
Boy George: Here Comes Boy George (Culture Club)
Band Aid: TV News
Boy George Interview: Boy George (Culture Club)
Band Aid Do They Know It’s Christmas? (Music Video – “Rough Cut”/ Original Conceptual Version 1)
Cast:
Vocals: Bono & Adam Clayton (U2) Boy George, Jon Moss (Culture Club) Pete Briquette, Simon Crowe, Johnnie Fingers and Bob Geldof (The Boomtown Rats), Phil Collins, Midge Ure & the late Chris Cross (Ultravox) Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodward (Bananarama), Tony Hadley, Gary Kemp, Martin Kemp, Steve Norman and John Keeble (Spandau Ballet) Simon LeBon, John Taylor, Nick Rhodes, Roger Taylor and Andy Taylor (Duran Duran), Glenn Gregory and Martyn Ware (Heaven 17), Marilyn, George Michael (WHAM!) Francis Rossi & the late Rick Parfitt (Status Quo), Sting. Paul Weller (The Style Council & The Jam), Paul Young, Robert ‘Kool’ Bell, James ‘JT’ Taylor and Dennis Dee Tee Thomas (Kool & The Gang) and Jody Watley (Shalamar) and Nigel Planer (actor The Young Ones) Instrumentalists: Phil Collins – drums, Sting and John Taylor – bass, Midge Ure – keyboards and programming
Bonus Material Accompaniment
Music Videos
- BAND AID: “Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ (Final Edit Version 2) 25th of November 1984 Featuring: Vocals: Bono & Adam Clayton (U2) Boy George, Jon Moss (Culture Club) Pete Briquette, Simon Crowe, Johnnie Fingers and Bob Geldof (The Boomtown Rats), Phil Collins, Midge Ure & the late Chris Cross (Ultravox) Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodward (Bananarama), Tony Hadley, Gary Kemp, Martin Kemp, Steve Norman and John Keeble (Spandau Ballet) Simon LeBon, John Taylor, Nick Rhodes, Roger Taylor and Andy Taylor (Duran Duran), Glenn Gregory and Martyn Ware (Heaven 17), Marilyn, George Michael (WHAM!) Francis Rossi & the late Rick Parfitt (Status Quo), Sting. Paul Weller (The Style Council & The Jam), Paul Young, Robert ‘Kool’ Bell, James ‘JT’ Taylor and Dennis Dee Tee Thomas (Kool & The Gang) and Jody Watley (Shalamar) and Nigel Planer (actor The Young Ones) Instrumentalists: Phil Collins – drums, Sting and John Taylor – bass, Midge Ure – keyboards and programming
- BAND AID 20: “Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ 14th of November 2004 Featuring: Organisers and producers: Midge Ure – organiser, Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Travis) – producer, Bob Geldof – producer, Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz) and Harry Sutcliffe – sound engineer. Instruments: Danny Goffey (Supergrass) – (drums), Thom Yorke – (piano) and Jonny Greenwood – (guitar) – (Radiohead), Paul McCartney (The Beatles) – bass guitar, Justin Hawkins and Dan Hawkins (The Darkness) – guitar and Phil Collins – drums (Genesis). Vocals: Tim Wheeler (Ash), Daniel Bedingfield, Natasha Bedingfield, Bono (U2), Busted, Chris Martin (Coldplay), Dido – performed separately from a studio in Melbourne, Dizzee Rascal – the only artist to add lyrics to the song, Ms Dynamite, Skye Edwards (Morcheeba), Estelle, Grant Nicholas (Feeder), Neil Hannon (The Divine Comedy). Justin Hawkins (The Darkness), Jamelia, Tom Chaplin (Keane), Tim Rice-Oxley (Keane), Beverley Knight, Lemar, Shaznay Lewis (formerly of All Saints), Katie Melua, Róisín Murphy (formerly of Moloko), Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol), Rachel Stevens, Joss Stone, Sugababes (Mutya, Keisha and Heidi), The Thrills, Turin Brakes, Robbie Williams – performed separately from a studio in Los Angeles, Will Young, and Fran Healy (Travis)
- BAND AID 30: “Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ 10th of November 2014 Featuring: Organisers and producers: Bob Geldof – organiser, Midge Ure – organiser, Paul Epworth – producer. Instruments: Roger Taylor (from Queen) – drums, keyboards, Milan Neil Amin-Smith (from Clean Bandit) – violin, Grace Chatto (from Clean Bandit) – cello. Vocals: Bono (from U2), Clean Bandit, Paloma Faith, Guy Garvey (from Elbow), Ellie Goulding, Angélique Kidjo, Chris Martin (from Coldplay), Sinéad O’Connor, One Direction, Olly Murs, Rita Ora, Emeli Sandé, Seal, Ed Sheeran, Bastille, Sam Smith, Underworld and Jessie Ware
- BAND AID 40: “Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ 25th of November 2024: A version combining elements of several versions of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” (the original, 20th and 30th anniversary versions), mixed and produced by Trevor Horn. The song’s 40th anniversary features: various musicians and vocalists from the contributing versions of the song over the last 40 years combined into a beautiful mix of all the versions both visually and audibly.
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