Customer Reviews

Do They Know Its Christmas

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I only wish they would do it again, Nobody in the world should be hungry!

I recently downloaded the two track single from the Band Aid 20 site, after finding out that same morning that the new version existed. I think the main problem with the new version is that half of the performers are not that well-known in the US and that the original was just great - it was catchy, very Christmassy, and ultimately uplifting.

The new version tries to mix different genres, from the standard Brit-pop pianos of Coldplay, Keane, and Travis to the eighties influenced guitar rock of The Darkness, to hip-hop and R&B. Less is more, and the consistency of the original version is what makes it a classic.

It is worth it when you think of the cause you are supporting, and that you are getting a classic piece of eighties memorabilia. Feed the World!

(Edited to add: the voice mistaken for Radiohead's Thom Yorke is Keane's Tom Chaplin. The videos were also recently included for download in the official website; you can purchase the bundle of the 1984 and 2004, or the 2004 on its own.)

Just keeping the balance here. I hope the Americans pull together to support the cause!! Booo to the grump that wrote the bad review. Sounds like he has issues with the modernization and reworking of the past. This song is top form. Excellent job all around ...most interesting to see/hear how the song has be reworked 20 years later. Chris Martin of Coldplay adds intensity... and is that Thom Yorke of Radiohead singing like an Angel?? Dido shows as well and Bono of U2 re-works his original howl.... a few other surprises along the way too! I wish they had an extended mix also...some of the parts (especially the quiet part in the middle) are so exquisite that you want them to go on forever. I have to say though, I love the original best, but the kids around here are loving the 'now' version over the original...go figure. A great cause to support as well. Buy one for yourself and another for a friend! Happy Season to all ...especially the grump who wrote the bitter review!! Cheers Bob! Great job.

Now if you ask me, and many aging pop stars with a philanthropic bent do now and again, Midge Urea and Bob Gandalf should have just re-released the 1984 version and saved us all the earaches. It was a nice thought, but it sounds like they didn't arrange much studio time to pull this one off. It lacks 100% of the emotion of the first version and the added rapping segment is completely disrupting to the whole thing. The piano intro is nice and it's too bad the entire things wasn't just the piano being played and Paul Hewson belting out his trademark line from 1984.

I'd give this one a miss. Junior done gave it five thumbs down when I played it the first time and we ain't played it since.