''Greenpeace – The Album'' is a multi-artist

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

that was released in June 1985 to raise funds and awareness for the environmental organisation

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...

. It was compiled by the UK branch of the organisation and issued on Greenpeace Records with distribution by

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

. The album includes songs by British contemporary new wave artists such as

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depeche ...

Tears for Fears Tears for Fears are an English pop rock band formed in Bath, England, in 1981 by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith. Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, Tears for Fears were associated with the new wav ...

Eurythmics Eurythmics were a British pop duo consisting of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart. They were both previously in The Tourists, a band which broke up in 1980. The duo released their first studio album, '' In the Garden'', in 1981 to little succ ...

, Howard Jones, Madness and

Heaven 17 Heaven 17 are an English new wave and synth-pop band that formed in Sheffield in 1980. The band were a trio for most of their career, composed of Martyn Ware (keyboards) and Ian Craig Marsh (keyboards) (both previously of the Human League), an ...

, and others by rock or pop artists including

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights (song), Wuthering Heights", ...

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

and

the Pretenders Pretenders are an English–American rock band formed in March 1978. The original band consisted of founder and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete Fa ...

. The album was released in North America by

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

on 19 August 1985, over a month after the sinking of Greenpeace's flagship, the '' Rainbow Warrior''. The album cover contains a photo of the ship taken by Dutch freelance photographer

Fernando Pereira Fernando Pereira (10 May 1950 – 10 July 1985) was a freelance Portuguese-Dutch photographer, who drowned when French intelligence (DGSE) detonated a bomb and sank the ''Rainbow Warrior'', owned by the environmental organisation Greenpeace on ...

, who was killed in the sinking.Scott Benarde
"Brits Cut An Album To Aid Greenpeace"
''

Sun-Sentinel The ''Sun Sentinel'' (also known as the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', known until 2008 as the ''Sun-Sentinel'', and stylized on its masthead as ''SunSentinel'') is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as well as surrounding Br ...

'', 23 August 1985 (retrieved 30 November 2017).

Background

''Greenpeace – The Album'' was inspired by two similar multi-artist musical projects compiled in Denmark and

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. According to Greenpeace activist Tom Campbell, the UK project was conceived as a relatively minor undertaking, but "the thing snowballed, with more and more acts volunteering songs for the record." Explaining their support in a 1985 interview,

Suggs Graham McPherson (born 13 January 1961), known primarily by his stage name Suggs, is an English singer-songwriter, musician, radio personality and actor from Hastings, England. In a music career spanning 40 years, he came to prominence in the ...

and Carl Smyth of Madness said that they admired the activists' boldness in dealing directly with environmental problems around the world; Suggs said: "Greenpeace are ecologists but they do things. They don't have debates, they don't have marches, they just do things." The majority of the sixteen contributions to the album were previously released songs and, in some cases, had become chart hits. An exception was "Push and Shove" by Hazel O'Connor and Chris Thompson (English musician), Chris Thompson, which was recorded for the compilation and produced by Haydn Bendall, who also oversaw technical coordination for the album. Also exclusive to the 1985 release, George Harrison remixed his 1981 track "Save the World (George Harrison song), Save the World" and recorded a new vocal with the lyrics tailored more to Greenpeace's cause. The Pretenders' contribution, "Show Me", was a live version of their 1984 single, recorded in Detroit.

Video release and sequel

The album was followed by a home video compilation, titled ''Greenpeace: Non-Toxic Video Hits'', which included videos for many of the songs from the album. The release took place on 5 December 1985 in the UK and 16 April 1986 in the US. A second fundraising album, ''Greenpeace: Rainbow Warriors'', was released in the summer of 1989. Among its 31 tracks were further contributions from Peter Gabriel, the Pretenders and the Eurythmics.

Track listing

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenpeace - The Album 1985 compilation albums A&M Records albums