Posted November 4, 201410 yr http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-29894441 Peace record aims for Christmas number one Source: bbc.co.uk The cover of The Farm's Altogether Now is from the team behind the 2012 Hillsborough charity single. The 1990 hit was inspired by the unofficial truce on Christmas Day 1914, when British and German soldiers left the trenches to play football. Performers on the track include Suggs, Gabrielle and Holly Johnson. The song has been recorded by the Peace Collective, which also features The Farm's Peter Hooton, Mick Jones from The Clash and The Proclaimers. Other artists appearing are Guy Chambers, Jah Wobble, I Am Kloot, Gorgon City, former Wanted star Tom Parker and The Voice winner Jermain Jackman. Two years ago, the group - then called The Justice Collective - beat the X Factor winner James Arthur to the Christmas number one with a cover of He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother, raising awareness of the Hillsborough Tragedy.
November 4, 201410 yr So the Xmas chart is looking to have about 5 charity covers in it at this rate. Joy.
November 4, 201410 yr so we have the Paul McCartney track, the X Factor winner, the John Lewis ad, possibly Band Aid 30, and now this :drama: Too many cover versions in the chart at once for my liking, I'd love it if another original song could get Xmas #1 but it'll be one of these, sigh. In the past decade we've only had THREE xmas #1s that weren't cover versions (That's My Goal/Killing in the Name/Wherever You Are). And as 2005 is nearly a decade old it'll go down to two soon enough at this rate.
November 4, 201410 yr Severe overkill of these songs this year - I don't think all of them are going to do well (the Christmas top 5 will be excruciating if they do).
November 4, 201410 yr well at least we're not getting a relatively dead Xmas week like last year which only had Sam Bailey, the AC/DC and Altern-8 campaigns and the (awful) Big Reunion charity cover. I wonder what songs are gonna get campaigns this year, there'll probably be the 'get classic rock song to #1' campaign but as the Altern-8 song showed us just about anything can get its campaign
November 4, 201410 yr I know it's all for a good cause and this sort of thing isn't important in their minds when raising money etc. but is it too much effort for these charities to write an ORIGINAL song these days? :( I mean, c'mon, it worked for Military Wives...
November 4, 201410 yr I'm getting sick of these Charity singles trying to compete for Christmas #1. Every year it's either charity single or X Factor winner. So boring.
November 4, 201410 yr I'm getting sick of these Charity singles trying to compete for Christmas #1. Every year it's either charity single or X Factor winner. So boring. We need some sort of campaign to get something crazy and different to #1... like Rage Against The Machine perhaps *.*
November 4, 201410 yr We need some sort of campaign to get something crazy and different to #1... like Rage Against The Machine perhaps *.* Or Leona Lewis - One More Sleep. :blush:
November 4, 201410 yr In the past decade we've only had THREE xmas #1s that weren't cover versions (That's My Goal/Killing in the Name/Wherever You Are). And as 2005 is nearly a decade old it'll go down to two soon enough at this rate. And even those songs didn't just do well naturally! The last non charity/reality TV/cover song to get to Christmas #1 was 'Can We Fix It?'! :P But of course that wouldn't have done anywhere near as well if it wasn't for the novelty attachment, which would make 1998's 'Goodbye' by Spice Girls which was the last 'natural' number one. To be honest, looking at all Christmas #1s, most of them have been somewhat novelty, Christmassy or a cover though.
November 4, 201410 yr If "All Together Now" does chart, it'll be the 4th time that song has made the top 40. The Farm's original and a remix of it both made the top 10, and a cover by Everton F.C also made the top 40. It's probably one of the more surprising songs to have charted so many times. It's a great song, but I don't think it's one that's warranted to many charting versions.
November 4, 201410 yr An absolutely brilliant new classic christmas record selling by the bucketload. That's we need. Leona and Gabriella are the only real good efforts in a decade. When was the last great christmas number one? Mad World and Sound Of the Underground. 11 years ago....!
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