'Do They Know It's Christmas?' Gets Ultimate Mix For 40th Anniversary
(UMe) Bob Geldof, Midge Ure, and Trevor Horn have released the brand mew Band Aid Compilation, a brand new 2024 Ultimate Mix and accompanying video release commemorating 40 years of Band Aid.
The latest incarnation of 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' is set to be premiered simultaneously across UK breakfast time radio on November 25th, 2024, the 40th anniversary of the recording of the original song. 'Do They Know It's Christmas? - 2024 Ultimate Mix' is available to stream on all digital platforms or buy now digitally and physically on the Band Aid Compilation 1CD and 12" Vinyl here.
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" was recorded on three separate occasions, over three separate generations, Band Aid (1984), Band Aid 20 (2004) and Band Aid 30 (2014). What began life as a humble Christmas pop song went on to launch the greatest series of events in pop history. "Do They Know It's Christmas?" ultimately corralled the political structures of its time to its own focused ends by assembling a roll call of talent that, in effect, describes the arc of British rock 'n roll over these past 40 years. In celebration of this monumental "instrument of change," producer Trevor Horn has taken these recordings and, through extraordinary music production techniques, blended all the voices of those separate generations into one seamless whole.
In achieving this extraordinary musical and production feat, Trevor has not just re-imagined "the song that changed that world" but, much more importantly, has revivified its original emotional sense. To witness once again the great David Bowie introduce this rag-tag of spotty, pretty young pop stars as they ambled down a Notting Hill street or tumbled bleary out of cars that early Sunday morning in late October 1984. To hear the legendary Michael Buerk BBC News report that ignited the whole decades-long struggle. To understand without being hectored or lectured or beaten over the head exactly what was being done, why it was being done, and that something profound was about to begin.
Director Oliver Murray was enlisted to try and make visually tangible music that was so powerful on audio. He has achieved the impossible by visualizing Trevor's painstaking, superlative creation work on video. Murray came to prominence last year when he directed the emotional short film that accompanied The Beatles on their last No.1 single and was tasked with repeating his magical skills on the '2024 Ultimate Mix'. The video will be unveiled on November 25th, with broadcast details to be announced in the coming days.
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" is not just the sum of British rock music; it also accidentally became a bellwether of most of the British visual arts. Over the years, the Band Aid sleeve has been issued with original artwork from Peter Blake, Tracey Emin, Damian Hirst, and Mat Maitland.
Sir Peter Blake was initially asked to design a unique cover for the first Band Aid, creating another classic with a collage of standard Christmas card tropes set against the disgrace of a hungry child. This perfectly exemplified the central theme of the song itself - the cornucopia of our lucky, wealthy world and the sharing of those spoils with family over a time of togetherness against an unnecessary awful world of utter nothing, fear, and hunger. Sucking everyone into this maw of empathy, David Bailey, the iconic photographer, donated one of his classic photographs for Peter's montage.
Now at the age of 93, Peter was once again called to the Band Aid colors just one more time in celebration of this hugely historic song. And once again, using imagery from the past 40 years that sketches the Band Aid history, he has given us something utterly beautiful, instantly classic, and completely "on point". The sleeve itself is drenched with visual compassion, understanding, tolerance, and from this great, gentle old giant of British art - Humanity.
So here it is, then. All of the stuff of our years is in a small piece of plastic again. Or, if you prefer the lesser experience, a few bits of digital code that, whether spun or unraveled, tells the story not just of unbelievably great generational British talent but still stands as a rebuke to that period in which it was first heard. The 80's proclaimed that "greed is good." This song says it isn't. It says it's stupid. "There is no such thing as society" was famous at its time. Really? When Britain heard this collaborative effort, the entire country seemed to rise up and proclaim itself in the long, endless queues that stretched down the main streets and side alleys of the cities, towns, and villages of Britain to buy this tune and recognize that as the song says, and has repeated forever it seems, that "there's a world outside your window/And it's a world of dread and fear...Throw your arms around the World at Christmastime".
Let's do that again this year.
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