please don't take this incorrectly (i had already donated to a relief fund before the op), but i'm tired of overly produced, sincerity oozing aid clips made by people who have probably never made a personal donation to anything other than their pension fund in their life.

maybe i'm really am just another grumpy old fart, but i don't see, or rather sense any real sincerity among modern 'stars'. of course there's lots of noise and talk, but the vast majority seem to be very self-centred and acting as clothes hangers for various fashion items. i'll single out rap / hip-hop as probably the worst (in my eyes) for blatant blinging - probably a single chain would house a family of five for a year. as for the vast majority of female pop singers, there's very little to distinguish between them....

ok, rant off, this is probably not the place to air my prejudices, but my wife simply rolls her eyes at me ;-)

leslie

". . . aid clips made by people who have probably never made a personal donation to anything other than their pension fund in their life."

OK, but they all showed up because they wanted to and did it for free. They knew they were on camera, so they put on their "camera faces." What's wrong with that?

The dozens of superstars looked like they were exactly where they needed to be that day, with the exception of little Bieber, who seemed a bit bewildered by the whole thing . . .

And it was co-produced by Lionel Ritchie and Quincy Jones, two totally dedicated and highly recognized humanitarians.

I saw the brief "premiere" version on the Olympics, and then just played this version. I recorded the original version many years ago and have viewed it many times.

The first thing that hit me is that Quincy Jones is the only person who appears in both videos, an observation I just confirmed with a little research. I think this was partly by design, but it also points to how much the business has changed since 1985.

The second thing that hit me was how many of the solo artists seemed to need the assist of the vocal harmonizer. It reminded me of Spot's nifty snide comment a few months ago in this forum that without this technology, Kenny Rogers would have been forced to retire a decade ago.

Third, I never have liked trying to overlay rap with actual music. I've seen it at the Grammy's (the Paul McCartney "Yesterday" duet a few years ago comes to mind) and I never think it works. From what I can tell, rap's appeal, such as it is, comes from the almost complete lack of melody and harmony, with a total focus on rhythm and lyrics. This particular attempt also confirms my suspicion that most rappers actually can't sing a lick.

I was impressed by how good Streisand still sounds. She drives me nuts for many reasons, but I have never let that stand in my way of seeing (hearing) the obvious fact that she is one of the greatest singers of my lifetime.

Finally, it will be interesting to find out how much money this effort raises. The economics of the music industry are so shattered that I don't know exactly how the money gets generated. I just tried to find some figures, and I found out that the original version raised $10.8 million in the first four months (1985 dollars).

Third, I never have liked trying to overlay rap with actual music.......From what I can tell, rap's appeal, such as it is, comes from the almost complete lack of melody and harmony, with a total focus on rhythm and lyrics. This particular attempt also confirms my suspicion that most rappers actually can't sing a lick.

I absolutely agree!!!

Maybe it's just because I was a teenager in the 80s, but to me this new version sucks. I do appreciate the effort and the cause behind it, but they just trashed a beautiful song in so many different ways. The whole thing is a giant mess musically, with only a few decent moments, but for the most part just a random mess of people and styles.

I downloaded the original video at the same time I downloaded the new one so I could compare them better. The original shows a wide array of artists with different voices, but all of them are in perfect harmony and faithful to the style of the song. Many times simple things are not very appealing, but in the case of the original, its simplicity works because it's just a beautiful melody sung with beautiful voices, without any technological add-ons (or crap-ons) to deform their voices (or to enhance the bad ones).

When I started watching the new video I was put off almost right away, starting with the first performer, who I don't even know and don't care to. There are a few good voices in there, namely Jennifer Hudson, Josh Groban and Adam Levine come to mind, but for the most part it's a bunch of divas yelling and rappers pretending to do real music. And many of the decent artists there don't even sound their best.

If I had to compare the two versions to paintings, the first one would be a beautiful one, while the new one would be one of those abstract paintings where the painter just throws paint of several different colors in the canvas and calls it art.

The only point of comparison I find positive is that in the new video they included actual images of the suffering of the Haitians, which is a good idea since they're trying to raise money, while in the original video only the artists were featured.

Keep in mind that Creole and Rasta and Rap are the contemporary musical language of Haiti. Maybe that will bring it into perspective.

That Barbra Streisand killed it for me, she's a big phony, and with that "Humpty" shnozz too!

Thanks for letting us know the depth of your appreciation of music, personality and physiology.