DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS? @40

Throughout the 1980s there were a number of charity singles released including You'll Never Walk Alone (The Crowd) for the Bradford City Stadium Fire, Let It Be (Ferry Aid) for the Herald Of Free Enterprise Disaster At Zeebrugge, Ferry Cross The Mersey (Gerry Marsden, Paul McCartney, Holly Johnson and The Christians) for the victims of the Hillsborough Disaster and Living Doll (Cliff Richard, The Young Ones and Hank Marvin) for Comic Relief. All of these went to number one in the UK Charts and raised much needed money for the various charities but none had the effect or sales of Band Aid's 1984 charity single Do They Know It's Christmas?

Released forty years ago, on 7 December 1984, and in celebration we look back at the recording, release and how it raised awareness and money for Famine in Ethiopia.

A BBC News report by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 about the famine crises in Ethiopia inspired Do They Know It's Christmas? The BBC were the first to document the famine who described it as, "... a biblical famine in the 20th century" and "... the closest thing to hell on Earth."

The report showed Claire Bertschinger, a nurse, having to chose which children would receive the limited amount of food available and those who were too sick to save.

The report shocked the UK and prompted the British public to donate to relief agencies like Save The Children. The disaster also affected Bob Geldof, of the Boomtown Rats, who had watched the report with his wife Paula Yates.

At the time Geldof said, "I really couldn't handle it, you know. I think it was that particular clip where it showed you this nurse and she had to chose 300 babies from a total of 10,000, and in effect those 300 were going to be given some sort of liquids that they had in the camp, and the rest of the 10,000, well, they were going to die."

He went on to say, "It was this sort of random decision between life and death that really got me. So it just affected me pretty badly, and I started to think, well I know a hell of a lot of people, I must be able to get something organised."

It all started because of Bob Geldof... The man bellowed and blustered at anyone and everyone he could get his hands on to make this thing work. He shouted at people so that his word could be turned into food for Ethiopia.

A few days after the BBC report, Yates was at the Tyne Tees studios in Newcastle presenting the music show The Tube and one of the groups appearing on the show was Ultravox. The bands frontman Midge Ure was chatting to Yates in the dressing room when she received a call from Geldof who asked to speak to Ure.

During the conversation Geldof said he wanted to do something to help end the suffering in Ethiopia and they agreed to meet for lunch. A few days later they met and the idea to make a charity record was conceived.

Midge Ure recalled the telephone call, "I was up in Newcastle recording The Tube when Bob Geldof called me. I did it because anybody in the music business can exploit their position to help a good cause like this."

The first job was to write and record the song and one of the biggest challenges to overcome was to write and record it in time for Christmas, a matter of just a few weeks away! 

Bob Geldof and Midge Ure chose to write an original song rather than record a cover version. The reasoning behind this was to avoid having to pay royalties which would reduce the amount of money raised.

Ure went away and over several days in his home studio composed a Christmas sounding melody on a portable keyboard and drum machine which, when played to Geldof, he remarked that it sounded more like a TV theme.

The next day they joined forces and worked on the song with Geldof playing acoustic guitar and adding lyrics that were based on a song Geldof had written for The Boomtown Rats, with the working title It's My World.

With a tape of Geldof playing guitar, Ure continued working on the backing track back at his home studio adding his own melody as a chorus. A sample of the drums from the 1983 Tears For Fears track The Hurting was used for the intro while both John Taylor and Paul Weller visited to add bass and lead guitar which both Weller and Ure felt did not fit and so was not used on the final recording.

Ure added a guide vocal and the only change he made to Geldof's new lyrics was on the line 'And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time.' Originally it was 'There won't be snow in Ethiopia...' but Ethiopia didn't fit due to the amount of syllables and he replaced it with Africa.

The next stage was to gather musicians to work on the project. Geldof called Sting and Simon Le Bon who both agreed to participate. A chance meeting with Gary Kemp in London resulted in both Gary, along with the rest of Spandau Ballet, Martin Kemp, John Keeble and Tony Hadley all agreeing to be involved.

With some of the biggest bands around offering their time it prompted Geldof to comment, "It suddenly hit me. I thought, Christ, we have got the real top boys here, all the big names in pop are suddenly ready and willing to do this. I knew then that we were off, and I just decided to go for all the rest of the faces and started to ring everyone up, asking them to do it."

It wasn't long before the list of people happy to help read like a who's who of the current pop music scene...  George Michael, Francis Rossi, Rick Parfitt, Boy George, Paul Weller, Paul Young, Phil Collins, Bono and Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodward of Bananarama.

It was not only the lead singers, as members of the various groups were not going to be left out and these included... Pete Briquette, Simon Crowe and Johnny Fingers (Boomtown Rats), Andy Taylor, John Taylor, Roger Taylor and Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran), Chris Cross (Ultravox) and Dennis Thomas, Robert 'Kool' Bell and James 'J.T' Taylor (Kool & The Gang). All of the artists offered their time free of charge.

Pop band The Thompson Twins were out of the country and unavailable but offered to donate part of the royalties from their single, Lay Your Hands On Me, to the charity.

Everyone knew that this record had to be a success. It went beyond their personal careers and personal views.

Apparently only three people refused to be involved and Geldof declined to mention who they were.

It wasn't just artists that Geldof approached and also contributing to the project were various UK music magazines including Smash Hits, Sounds, Melody Maker and Music Week, who offered advertising space to promote the single, Phonogram Records (Geldof's record label) who would release the single, and PolyGram who would deal with the distribution. Peter Blake, who created the iconic cover for The Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, would design the single's sleeve.

Geldof had approached Trevor Horn to produce the record and he was agreeable, but as an in-demand producer who had achieved three number one singles for Frankie Goes To Hollywood during the year, said he would need six weeks or more. This would mean missing the Christmas market and although he would go on to produce the 12-inch version it was Midge Ure who would gain the producer credit.

However, Horn did offer the use of his Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill for free for a 24-hour period on 25 November. I recently visited the area and the following photos I took show the studio building today.

Geldof and Ure arrived at the studio around 8am on the morning of Sunday 25 November and the press were already there to record the event. The session was scheduled to start at 10.30am and the press captured the artists as they arrived.

The Daily Mirror were given exclusive access to the studio and one of their first jobs was to capture a group photo, which was taken by staff photographer Brian Aris, and would appear in the next days issue creating publicity for the record.

With everybody assembled Ure played the back tracking and his guide vocal to the artists. The decision was made to record the ending of the song first and with every artists in a large group they sang the final few lines over and over again... 'Feed the world, let them know it's Christmas time again.'

Tony Hadley was then chosen to record his solo section first, not without some apprehension. He later said it was nerve-wracking having all his contemporaries standing around watching him.

One by one each artist laid down there own solo segments as Ure recorded their efforts and kept notes about which sections would be used in the final mix.

Both Simon Le Bon and Sting had recorded a vocal at Ure's house during the time spent working on the backing track. However, Le Bon wanted to re-record his part so as to be part of the moment. Meanwhile Sting added his words again to provide harmony vocals to his earlier recording.

Bono was at first reluctant to sing the line 'Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you' but Geldof managed to persuade him.

Despite having written the song both Geldof and Ure chose not to sing any solo parts although they did join in for the finale.

A the time a comment summed up the feeling about the record and what it was aiming to achieve... "Hopefully if the fans of the people who are here today and have played on the record go out an buy it, then it'll be number one, and for once we'll have a record there that's for a good cause."

Most of the backing track had been completed by Ure before the session but on the day of recording two additional musicians would feature. Phil Collins of Genesis played some excellent drumming on the recording while Duran Duran's John Taylor played bass guitar. Collins waited till most of the vocals had been recorded before laying his parts down. Ure was happy with the first take but Collins asked to do a second take which was used on the record.

The last person to add their vocal to the song was Boy George who was in New York and nearly didn't make it to the session. Geldof had called him the day before insisting he attend. George managed to take the last flight of the day on Concorde and turned up at Sarm West Studios around 6pm and went straight to the recording booth and added his lines to the song.

The planned B-side, Feed The World, used the instrumental track onto which Christmas messages from the artists who had been at the session, and those who were unable to attend, were added. David Bowie, Paul McCartney, Holly Johnson along with Stuart Adamson, Mark Brzezicki, Tony Butler and Bruce Watson, all members of Big Country, who were not able to attend the session recorded messages for inclusion.

Although Annie Lennox's name would appear on the sleeve and a message from her was meant to be included on the B-side it arrived too late to be used.

At the end of the day and after the recording session had finished. Geldof recorded his own statement which become the last message on Feed The World.

His spoken-word piece said, "This record was recorded on the 25th of November 1984. It's now 8am in the morning of the 26th. We've been here 24-hours and I think it's time we went home. So from me, Bob Geldof, and Midge, we'd say, 'Good morning to you all, and a million thanks to everyone on the record. Have a lovely Christmas.'"

While all this additional recording was taking place, Ure started working on mixing the track.

Comments from some of the artists show why they were more than happy to be involved in the project and these are just a few...

"I'm delighted to be here. When Bob rang to ask us to turn up we just dropped everything. It's a great idea and it shows, I hope, that we care. Just buy it, for everyone in Ethiopia." (Simon Le Bon)

"The fact that I did it speaks for itself. It's obvious why I did it." (Boy George)

"People always talk about helping out, but I am very happy that I was physically able to do something to help, over this disturbing problem." (John Moss)

"It's the sort of project that if you're asked to join you immediately say yes. I thought it was right, and I wanted to be involved in it." (Rick Parfitt)

"The reason for my participation in the project should be obvious. I have always tried to help out with worthwhile causes where and when in the past. I was very flattered to have been asked - and I didn't expect such a lively and prestigious turnout." (Phil Collins) 

The day after the session Geldof appeared on the BBC Radio One Breakfast Show hosted by Mike Read. During his appearance he promoted the record and stated that every penny raised would go to Famine in Ethiopia. Radio One also played the record every hour, much more than any other A-listed single would receive.

Within a week of the recording of Do They Know It's Christmas?, and before its official release date, it had racked up advance orders of more than 250,000 and within a few days the orders placed by the record shops had reached one million.

To meet this demand PolyGram, who were distributing the single, utilised all five of their pressing plants in Europe.

Do They Know It's Christmas? backed with Feed The World (Catalogue Number FEED 1) was released on 7 December, costing just £1.35,  and entered the UK charts at number one the following week. It sold more copies that week than the rest of chart put together, an outstanding achievement.

Trevor Horn produced a 12-inch single which had a running time of just over 6 minutes compared to the 7-inch single which ran to just under 4 minutes.

Actual sales reached over a million in the first week, and by the end of the year the single had shifted more than three million copies.

Wham's festive release, Last Christmas, was kept off the top spot by Do They Know It's Christmas? and they donated their royalties to the charity.

In the USA it was released on 10 December and sold almost two million within the first two weeks. However, due to differences in how the charts were compiled, it failed to reach number one and peaked at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The record did reach number one in more than ten countries worldwide including, Australia, Norway, Netherlands, Austria, Canada, Denmark and Ireland.

Despite the support and time given for free from everyone involved there was one issue that would infuriate Geldof following the release of the single. The British Government refused to waive the VAT charged on the sales of the single! It was only when he publicly stood up to Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister at the time, that the Government did a U-Turn and donated an amount to the charity, equal to what had been collected in tax.

Within a year, and far exceeding Geldof's expectations, the single raised more than £8 million. 

Re-released a year later, in November 1985, it reached #3 in a newly remixed version by Trevor Horn. It had an updated B-side, One Year On (Feed The World), which began and ended with a telephone message from Geldof and throughout the track, Ure talks about what had been bought with the money raised so far.

By 1989 worldwide sales were over 11 million and in the UK alone it had sold almost 4 million by 2017.

Most singles released around this time had an official video produced. However, due to time restrictions, a video was made using just the footage from the recording session. Normally a video wouldn't be shown on BBCs flagship music show, Top Of The Pops, until it had charted, meaning it could not be shown on  the 29 November episode. Geldof contacted Michael Grade, BBC 1 Controller, and persuaded him to run every programme due to be broadcast before that weeks TOTP to start five minutes earlier. This allowed the video to be broadcast before Top Of The Pops started.

The UK music press had mixed feelings about the song. NME wrote, "Millions of dead stars write and perform rotten record for the right reasons." Unfair and to be honest, typical of NME. Meanwhile Sounds felt the song was, "... far from brilliant but you can have fun playing Spot the Star."

They all seemed to be missing the point of the record. Melody Maker seemed to follow the familiar pattern when they reviewed the single saying, "Inevitable, after such massive publicity, the record itself is something of an anti-climax, even though Geldof's sense of universal melodrama is perfectly suited to this kind of epic musical manifesto. Midge Ure's large-screen production and the emotional vocal deliveries of the various celebrities matches the demonstrative sweep of Geldof's lyric, which veers occasionally toward an uncomfortably generalised sentimentality which threatens to turn righteous pleading into pompous indignation." They ended the review with, "On the other hand, I'm sure it's impossible to write flippantly about something as fundamentally dreadful as the Ethiopia famine."

There was also criticism from other quarters. Various sources criticised it's colonial western-centric viewpoint, condescending stereotypical descriptions of Africa and one publication even deemed the lyrics as racist and demeaning towards Ethiopians.

Even Bono was hit with criticism for his line, 'Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you.'

Over the years both Geldof and Ure have responded to the criticism. In his autobiography Ure wrote. "It is a song that has nothing to do with music. It was all about generating money. The song didn't matter, the song was secondary, almost irrelevant." Geldof, speaking in 2024, said, "This little pop song has kept hundreds of thousands if not millions of people alive." Responding to the criticism of the lyrics he went on to say, "The alleged 'colonial tropes' of the lyrics were in fact 'empirical facts', and that hunger remains endemic in Ethiopia, water is scarce and rain is increasingly unreliable due to climate change."

Despite the unfair criticism Do They Know It's Christmas? was an important record which achieved much more than anyone involved could ever have imagined. It helped save millions of lives and bought worldwide attention to what was happening in Ethiopia.

The following year Live Aid would raise even more money but that is a story for another day and one which I might cover in a future blog.

LINDA RONSTADT - MAD LOVE 1980

By 1980 Linda Ronstadt was enjoying herself and had plans to expand her talent into other areas. “I’m not going to do rock and roll forever,” she said at the time. Asher was looking at other possibilities too. He was considering Broadway as well as producing a rock musical starring Linda and although she seemed interested he remarked, “It’s all vague at this point.”

What wasn’t vague, at least to Linda, was the direction her next album would take. She would see in the new decade with a new look and attitude. She was ready to move on, to break from the past and predictability and was planning a number of surprises. The first people would see of this newly found desire to expand was when she appeared in public sporting a cropped ‘punk’ hairstyle.
 
By the mid-seventies many rock stars from the previous two decades, now in their late-thirties and forties, had little to say to the new generation of teenagers, many of whom were unemployed. Likewise many of the groups around at that time, Abba, The Bee Gees and Queen did not appeal to the vast number of youngsters who were looking for something different. The punk rock movement, spearheaded by bands such as The Sex Pistols, emerged to challenge these groups and would take a stranglehold on the UK music scene.

The music, which was raw, negative and occasionally full of obscene lyrics, was often shouted over melodies that had little or no tune. It also had its own associated fashion, safety pins through the ear and nose, chains, mohican hairstyles and outrageous clothes.

However, it was a fairly short-lived movement and many of the punk groups survived into the eighties by developing a more sophisticated style, groups like The Clash, The Jam, and the Stranglers. At this time its American version, new wave, lent a respectable aim to the movement allowing it to continue.

Linda’s new album would signify America’s partial acceptance of this new music form. If any more evidence was required that the album was also a means of appealing to the UK market and new wave followers they needed to look no further than the three Elvis Costello tracks she covered.

Art Fein, who worked for a variety of record companies, including Elektra/Asylum where he worked in the publicity department, remembered seeing Linda at a Clash concert taking notes before she started work on the album. She also took time out to check what was going on in the clubs in Los Angeles and New York. She caught shows by Pat Benatar and Debbie Harry, of Blondie, and made her mind up that this was the route she should take.

To recharge her batteries there had been a break of close to fifteen months between finishing her last album and starting the new one. Sessions for the album, which took place at Record One in LA, commenced in late-October 1979 and ran through till January the following year. Among those musicians appearing on the album were many who had collaborated with Linda in the past, Dan Dugmore, Mike Auldridge, Bill Payne, Russ Kunkel and her manager, Peter Asher.

Two members of the group The Cretones, Mark Goldenberg and Peter Bernstein, also appear on the album. Goldenberg, as well as the composer of three of the tracks, shares the electric guitar duties with Dugmore, while Bernstein plays acoustic guitar. Danny Kortchmar, who would tour with Linda, also doubled up on electric guitar although, like Bernstein, does not feature on many of the tracks.

Danny Kortchmar won fame, or notoriety, playing guitar for West Coast artists like James Taylor, Carole King and, of course, Linda Ronstadt. He also co-wrote songs with Jackson Browne and branched out into record production with his first credit being on an album with Carole King’s daughter, Louise Goffin, in 1979. “The producers I had worked with as a guitarist really did a lot to prepare me,” he explained in an interview. “Especially Peter Asher, Linda Ronstadt’s producer. Peter really encouraged all the musicians he worked with to think like producers, to play parts a producer would tell you to play. After working with him for so many years, I felt I was pretty qualified to produce.” One of his favourite places to work in was Record One, owned by Los Angeles producer, Val Garay, and home to many of Ronstadt’s sessions.

Providing backing vocals on the album were, Kenny Edwards, Andrew Gold, Waddy Wachtel, Nicolette Larson and Rosemary Butler.

Peter Asher also produced the sessions but it was Mark Goldenberg who was truly at the helm. His arrangements were heavily dominated by fuzzy guitars, organ, bass and drum while this time the vocal back-up is kept to a minimum. “I’m more excited about this album than about any other one I’ve done,” she said once the recording was over.

A single was issued in January 1980, How Do I Make You backed with Rambler Gambler, and became a top ten pop single in the United States. Rambler Gambler was not included on the album and sounds like it was recorded much earlier than the rest of the material.

With its country feel, it was no surprise that Rambler Gambler appeared on the country charts, albeit only reaching #42. The sessions were still underway when this single was issued and more than likely there was no other material from the sessions available when considering what tracks to use. This may be why they went back to what appears to be a much earlier recording.

Released in March 1980 Mad Love, Ronstadt's tenth album, went platinum within a couple of months and during its 36 week residency in the album charts it would peak at #3. In the UK, where they may have expected better things from the album, it failed miserably.

The track How Do I Make You was nominated in the ‘Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female’ at the Grammy Awards but was beaten by Pat Benatar with her track Crimes Of Passion. Success also came her way when she was a joint winner in the ‘Best Recording For Children’ category for her contribution to the album In Harmony/A Sesame Street Record.
 
The album artwork was far removed from previous efforts. Gone were the sexy, provocative cover photos. This time Kosh, who had designed many of her album sleeves, went for a shocking pink and black graphic with a photo of Linda with her new cropped hair style.

Mad Love, Cost Of Love and Justine were all written by Mark Goldenberg and had all appeared on the Cretones album Thin Red Line, released at almost the same time as Mad Love. All three are well-handled by Linda and feature excellent support from the band, especially Goldenberg’s guitar playing, Bill Payne on organ and Russ Kunkel on drums.

Linda once again turns to Elvis Costello for three tracks covering Party Girl, Girls Talk and Talking In The Dark. These were good performances although she seems to struggle more with these songs than she did on the Goldenberg tracks as well as her earlier recording of Costello’s Alison, which had appeared on her 1978 album Living In The USA.

With a great drum intro How Do I Make You is without doubt one of the highlights on the album and was written by Billy Steinberg. He was one of the most successful songwriters of the eighties and nineties and, along with co-writer Tom Kelly, had written five number one singles including Madonna’s Like A Virgin and Cyndi Lauper’s True Colours. As Rolling Stone would point out in their review Ronstadt sounds like she is trying to imitate Debbie Harry from Blondie.

Two tracks date back to the mid-sixties, a soulful cover of the Little Anthony and The Imperials hit Hurt So Bad and the Hollies I Can’t Let Go. Despite being vintage tracks they both fit perfectly on the album and this is down to her ‘new wave’ interpretation.

However, the outstanding track on the album is her reworking of Neil Young’s Look Out For My Love which is as good, if not better, than his original.

Many critics compared Linda’s efforts to the new wave energy of Pat Benatar who had achieved success in the US with a succession of hit singles, including Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Love Is A Battlefield and We Belong and three top five albums, Crimes Of Passion, Precious Time and Get Nervous.

Benatar trained as an opera singer and went on to become a major hitmaker in the early eighties finding success with both mainstream rock and powerful ballads that focussed on personal relationships and sexual politics.

Linda laid herself open for a lot of criticism for going down the ‘New Wave-Punk’ road. Many reviewers picked up on the fact that maybe this was the wrong sort of material for her to record. Stephen Holden, in his review in Rolling Stone wrote “Mad Love’s theme is passion – not the reflective, yearning romanticism that’s infused most of Ronstadt’s best work, but brutal, nervous, teenage sexuality,” and went on to say “No matter how tough she acts, she can’t help sounding pretty.” He also criticised the production, feeling that it was too mechanistic and that it would be hard to imagine the songs performed live because everything is so high-tech. Summing up, he reckoned the album wasn’t a major exhibition more a fascinating failure.

Rock Critic Richard Meltzer was more scathing and savaged the album in his review calling it “even more corrupt, gawky and anachronistic than such regional stalwarts of sixties-revisionist new wave as the Naughty Sweeties”, an LA band that played many of the local punk shows. He went on to say that it was the “nadir of retrograde, psuedo-punk rock.”

Producer Peter Asher pointed out, as printed in Goldmine magazine in 2003, that “it’s just that she likes good music and recognized how good punk was, and that isn’t the same thing as trying to jump on a bandwagon. I think it’s a genuine question of her excellent musical taste.”

Stereo Review, while echoing many of the comments in Rolling Stone, thought that, while sincere, Ronstadt probably wasn’t taking it that seriously although they felt it was “a well intended, spirited almost plucky little album.” Understanding that music styles come and go and new wave would soon be superseded for the next craze, along with Linda’s ability to turn her hand to many different styles, they ended their review with the comment, “Linda Ronstadt can go back to being Linda Ronstadt any time she wants to, and the rest of the new wave can’t.” How true that statement would become.
 
In March and April, to promote the album, Linda undertook a lengthy US Mad Love tour with Danny Kortchmar as special guest.

Backing her on the tour were, Kenny Edwards (guitar, banjo and backing vocals), Dan Dugmore (guitar and pedal steel guitar), Danny Kortchmar (guitar), Bob Glaub (bass), Bill Payne (keyboards), Russ Kunkel (drums), Peter Asher (percussion and backing vocals) and Wendy Waldman (backing vocals).

Opening on 22 March with a show at the Capital Center in Landover, Maryland the tour would find her playing concerts across America including dates in Raleigh, North Carolina, Lexington, Kentucky, Nashville, Tennessee, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Detroit, Michigan and St Paul, Minnesota.

There were sell-out shows in Pittsburgh, Detroit and St Paul with crowds of between 12-16,000. These and other concert dates on the tour made regular placings in Billboard’s ‘Boxscore’ chart that detailed top grossing shows. During the tour live promotional videos were filmed for both ‘How Do I Make You’ and ‘Hurt So Bad’.

In his review of her 3 April performance at the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Walter Carter, in the Tennessean, wrote: “Just the presence of Linda Ronstadt on the Municipal Auditorium stage Thursday night was enough to charm a sold-out audience into extended applause, and her singing through the 95-minute performance only heightened the sensation.” He had nothing but praise for the band, who had no trouble in switching between her new hard-edged material and her old country songs of the past few years. He recalled that people were throwing bouquets of flowers on stage, prompting Linda to laugh and comment “Does this mean I’m going to be a bride... I doubt it.” There were probably many disappointed males in the audience!

She was also taking time out to support presidential campaigns, not least that of her then current boyfriend Jerry Brown. In December 1979 she had played two benefit concerts, along with The Eagles and Chicago, in San Diego, to raise money for Brown.

During her Mad Love Tour, on 21 April, she played a show at the Five Seasons Center in Cedar Rapids, Idaho, in support of Gary Hart’s senatorial bid in Colorado. Reviewing that particular show The Cedar Rapids Gazette wrote, “Linda Ronstadt appears to be the new record holder for the most standing ovations given a performer in one 90 minute concert at the Five Seasons Center. She received too many to count.” 
 

 
Following the Harrisburg Three Mile Island nuclear incident in 1979, in which a faulty cooling system caused radioactive gases to be released into the air, she had taken part in a benefit on the steps of the State Capitol building in Pennsylvania on 29 March 1980.

On 24 April, at the Television Center Studios in Hollywood, the show was filmed for a special to be broadcast by Home Box Office (HBO), the American subscription TV service.

The special was considered by many fans to be a high point in her career and the electrifying performances of many of her current and past hits captured America's most popular female rock singer at the peak of her career.

Meanwhile, further singles were issued following the tour. Hurt So Bad reached #8 while I Can’t Let Go just failed to hit the top thirty. By mid-1980, Linda had racked up enough hits to release a second volume of hits which included two tracks from Mad Love.

Over the years the HBO Special has been made available, albeit unofficially, on various video, DVD and CD releases.

The first official release of any tracks from the show was in 2017 when the 40th Anniversary edition of her 1977 album Simple Dreams featured three bonus tracks, live recordings of It's So Easy, Blue Bayou and Poor Poor Pitiful Me.

It would be a further two years before Linda Ronstadt's first official live album would be released. Live In Hollywood, released by Rhino Records, was released in February 2019 and featured the following songs... I Can't Let Go, Willin', Just One Look, Faithless Love, Hurt So Bad, You're No Good, How Do I Make You, Back In The USA and Desperado along with the three tracks, previously available on the aforementioned Simple Dreams release, It's So Easy, Blue Bayou and Poor Poor Pitiful Me.

There were many great performances on the album with a six-minute version of You're No Good being one of the highlights. The song, written by Clint Ballard Jr., had been recorded by Linda back in 1974 for her album Heart Like A Wheel and was a song she had been closing her shows with back in 1973. It was band member Kenny Edwards who suggested she record it.

There were three tracks from the Mad Love album, I Can't Let Go, Hurt So Bad and How Do I Make You and the remaining tracks were from earlier in her career and some of her best known songs. From her 1973 Don't Cry Now album came Desperado, both Willin' and Faithless Love were originally released on Heart Like A Wheel in 1974 while Just One Look and Back In The USA were from 1979's Living In The USA album.

 

Reviews were positive with Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic writing, "These 12 tracks casually illustrate her facility with both soft rock and old-time rock & roll, and if the set list leans heavily on oldies, the combination of guts and polish makes her renditions memorable.

Hal Horowitz of American Songwriter praised her vocal delivery saying, "She's in terrific voice throughout with a few standout performances like the closing Desperado - a knockout, dramatic vocal accompanied only by Payne's piano - and a powerful take on Roy Orbison's Blue Bayou, has anyone done that song better?" 

Also concentrating on her vocals was Jim Harrington of Mercury News, "Her vocals are strong, clear and convincing as she moves through such winners as It's So Easy, Just One Look, and Poor Poor Pitiful Me. And the stunning version of Blue Bayou... wow. That's one for the time capsule."

There were many more great reviews but in his On The Records review Phil Bausch captured it perfectly in just a few words, "It's important that recordings like Live In Hollywood exist to remind the world Linda Ronstadt once possessed one of the greatest rock and pop voices of all time."

The physical CD, Live In Hollywood, was a welcome release for fans but only featured twelve of the twenty tracks performed during the HBO Special and it would be another five years before the whole concert would find a release, albeit in digital format only.

 
Released in October 2024, Live In Hollywood Deluxe, was only available as a digital download and marked the first time the complete performance had been available. It is unknown if there are any plans to release the whole concert on CD in the future but a physical copy would be welcome.

It has been reported that following the TV taping in 1980 plans were made to release her first live album but for years the master tapes were unavailable or lost. It was only a chance conversation between John Boylan, producer of the album, and an audio engineer from Warner Brothers Records that would result in the tapes being located.

The audio was specifically mastered for streaming and downloading to ensure the best possible quality for the listener. The whole album sounds excellent with Linda's powerful vocals to the fore while every instrument and backing vocal is clear and perfectly balanced. 

The eight previously unreleased songs included, four from the Mad Love album, Party Girl, Look Out For My Love, Mad Love and Cost Of Love along with Hank Williams classic, I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You), the Holland-Dozier-Holland composition Heat Wave, a 1963 hit for Martha and The Vandellas, which Linda recorded for her 1975 album Prisoner In Disguise and Silver Threads And Golden Needles, a song she had recorded twice previously, firstly for her 1969 solo debut Hand Sown... Home Grown and again in 1973 for Don't Cry Now. One song performed at the show and finally released was Lies, originally released in 1965 by The Knickerbockers, it was a song Linda had already recorded in the studio but would not release until 1982 on her Get Closer album.

Mad Love was a complete departure for Linda Ronstadt and while she would return to her county, country-rock and rock roots in the future she would also venture into new genres. Over the next few years her career would find her working with Nelson Riddle on a trio of albums featuring classic standards from the 1940s and 1950s and returning to her Mexican roots with albums of Mariachi and Spanish music.

HEATHROW - FINAL APPROACH

Over the years I have photographed many subjects and enjoy all aspects of photography including architecture, disused railways, astrophotography although my favourite is my work with the wonderful models I have been fortunate to know over the past ten years. This has included fashion, portrait, cosplay, swimwear and boudoir/lingerie photoshoots. I have been fortunate to have been published in several magazines and even had one of my images used as the cover on a local magazine. More of my work can be seen on my Instagram page @peterlewry and on my Purple Port profile... https://purpleport.com/portfolio/peterlewry/

Recently I discovered another subject to photograph...planes, and in particular capturing them taking off and landing at London Heathrow Airport. In this latest article I look at the history of the airport,  the history of plane spotting and photography along with my own experiences and examples of my work.

Heathrow Airport was called London Airport until 1966 and is now known as London Heathrow. Located 14 miles from Central London it is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system, the others being Gatwick, Luton, City, Stanstead and Southend.

It was founded in 1930 as a small airfield but in the years that followed the end of World War Two it developed into a much larger airport. Over the past seventy-five years it has expanded and today has two parallel east-west runways, four operational passenger terminals and is the main hub for both British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.

There have been many significant events at Heathrow over the years... The first non-stop flight to California sets a record for distance and time (1957), The Beatles are mobbed when they leave and arrive back from America (1964), Terminal 1 opens (1969), Concorde makes its first passenger flight (1976), London Underground link is established (1977), Heathrow Express rail service launched (1998), Airbus A380 makes its first landing (2006), Terminal 5 officially opened by Her Majesty The Queen (2008), Brand new Terminal 2: The Queen's Terminal opens (2014), Terminal 1 is closed permanently (2015) and Heathrow records its busiest year to date with more than 80 million passengers served (2018). 

There are many airlines operating at Heathrow including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Air France, United, Qatar, Emirates, Cathay Pacific, American Airlines and several more. Among the types of planes used by these companies are Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner's, Boeing 737's and 777's, Airbus A319's, 320's, 321's, 330's and the impressive A380.

Plane spotting is a hobby similar to that of train spotting with enthusiasts watching, photographing or detailing their movements... or even all three. People have been watching planes since aviation began although it wasn't until the Second World War that the term 'plane spotters' became a common term. It was during the war that civilians were encouraged to observe aircraft for public safety in the United Kingdom, something which was organised and encouraged by the Royal Observer Corps.

The activity led to the publication of a magazine, The Aeroplane Spotter, first published in January 1941 and, after 217 issued, ceased publication in July 1948. 

With an increased interest several groups and publications have formed over the years and the following years saw a steady increase in the hobby.

Although I had attended many military air shows throughout the 1980s, at bases including Biggin Hill, Mildenhall, Fairford, Middle Wallop, and watched the planes taking off and landing at the end of the runway at Gatwick Airport I'd never considered taking photographs seriously.

It was after seeing images on social media of planes flying low over the houses on their approach to London Heathrow that made me want to try my hand at similar photography. I spent some time researching suitable locations and the dates and times planes took off and landed in both directions, using the Heathrow Alternation Schedule which was available on the Heathrow site. There are two runways, 27L and 27R, and the direction of flights change every other week, although sometimes this is different, as I would find out during my first trip.

Research showed that Myrtle Avenue, a short walk from Hatton Cross Underground, was a popular stop for plane enthusiasts and photographers. It is located at the eastern end of the south runway 27L. At the end of the road is a large green field where those with similar interests congregate. At times there can be just 2 or 3 people while more often there will be well over 20 people, with their cameras, chairs and a good supply of food and drink.

In March 2024 I made my first trip and on arriving at Heathrow discovered the planes were only taking off in the direction of London rather than coming into land. This was due to the weather conditions and wind direction.

Although I was disappointed that I wouldn't be able to capture the planes approaching over the houses I did learn a lot about plane photography on this first visit. I was still able to capture some images which, for my first efforts, I was very pleased with. As they were taking off it was harder to get good images of the whole plane and most of the images I took that day showed more of the underside of the planes, but it was still a fun and interesting few hours.

It was amazing to see the variety of planes, airlines and the frequency which meant there was a plane flying over every 90 seconds. 

I had the chance to chat to a few other plane enthusiasts/photographers and learnt a lot from them, including a few tips on the times and dates that were best for photography and also suggesting that I use the Flightradar24 app. 

Once home I downloaded the Flightradar24 app and found it was invaluable for anyone interested in spotting planes. It is the best flight tracker for both IOS and Android on which you can track live air traffic around the world from a mobile device.

The app allows you to see flights around the world in real time, follow flights in 3D, search flights (by flight number, call sign, airline or route), find out which flights are nearby with AR View by pointing your device at the sky and see data from past flights. Most importantly for those wishing to photograph planes is the option to view airport departures and arrivals with flight status, delay stats, weather conditions and aircraft on the ground. This is also available by choosing a particular airport in the menu or tapping on the airport pin on the map. Although I only refer to it for flights at Heathrow it does cover every other airport in the world and has been an invaluable tool during my photography trips.

My next trip was a couple of weeks later and having checked my app before leaving home I knew that I would be able to capture images of the planes coming into land.

I captured the best photos I had taken so far as I had the opportunity to watch and photograph the planes as they came into land on Runway 27L.

It was quite a sight watching the planes flying low over the houses and trees and flying so low to where I was standing as they crossed overhead and approached the runway.

I stayed for almost three hours and among the airlines that I photographed were Qatar, Logan Air, Air France, Emirates, Singapore Airlines and even one operated by DHL. 

My favourite images from this trip were those of the Emirates and Singapore Airlines Airbus A380, an impressive plane, and worth the long wait. It was the final plane I captured before I headed back into Central London. 

My third visit was another opportunity to capture planes landing on Runway 27L and again I was really pleased with the images. It was during this visit that I captured the best, and my favourite, images of planes and the houses/trees which really showed how low they are when coming into land.

I also took this opportunity to get some close-ups of the undercarriage and engines. 

My last trip found me viewing the planes taking off again and with everything I had learnt during my previous visits meant that there was a marked improvement on the images I took during my first efforts.

The images I have included in this article are only a fraction of those I have taken during my four visits.

Until now I have only used Myrtle Avenue, and the immediate area, as my location but there are several other places which I plan on visiting in the future and will be making more photography trips to Heathrow. Keep an eye on my Instagram profile... @peterlewry for more images.