Comments on: Classic Albums, covering 3 decades of popular music

Classic Albums, covering 3 decades of popular music

filthy light thief — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 21:32:07 -0800

Classic Albums is a rock and pop documentary series, broadcast and on DVD, starting with The Making of Sgt. Pepper. There were 38 more albums covered, plus five more in the Netherlands...

They're not all online, but here's the list of available documentaries, in chronological order:

1967Cream - Disraeli Gears
1967 The Doors - The Doors
1968/1970 Grateful Dead - Anthem to Beauty (Anthem of the Sun and American Beauty)
1968 The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland
1969 The Band - The Band
1969 Shocking Blue - At home including Venus (Dutch; part 1, part 2, part 3)
1970 Black Sabbath - Paranoid
1970 John Lennon/The Plastic Ono Band - John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (part 1, part 2)
1972 Deep Purple - Machine Head
1972 Lou Reed - Transformer
1973 Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
1973 Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
1973 The Wailers - Catch a Fire (alt: Vimeo)
1974/1973 Frank Zappa - Apostrophe (') / Over-Nite Sensation
1975 Queen - A Night at the Opera
1976/1981 Rush - 2112 and Moving Pictures (including extras)
1976 Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life
1977 Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell
1977 Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks
1977 Steely Dan - Aja
1979 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Damn the Torpedoes (information and an extra video)
1980 Judas Priest - British Steel (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5; extras part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4)
1980 Motörhead - Ace of Spades
1981 Phil Collins - Face Value
1982 Duran Duran - Rio
1982 Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
1987 Def Leppard - Hysteria (documentary, extras)
1987 U2 - The Joshua Tree
1991 Metallica - Metallica
1991 Nirvana - Nevermind
1991 Primal Scream - Screamadelica (broadcast version, DVD bonus footage)
1996 Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt (part 1, part 2, part 3)

By: ReeMonster

ReeMonster — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 21:38:19 -0800

wonderful!

By: wallabear

wallabear — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 21:57:40 -0800

I've seen a few of these on Netflix. Great series. Thanks for the reminder to seek out more. The links vary in length from the full hour to five minutes or so. Just curious about that.

By: zoinks

zoinks — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 21:58:29 -0800

Just so folks know, at least some of these are available on Netflix streaming as well. I especially like the sequences of producers or engineers or musicians sitting at a mixing desk and bringing different elements of the songs in and out and getting to hear how it all fits together. I think there were sequences like this in each of the ones I've seen.

By: chococat

chococat — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 22:05:54 -0800

Loved this show. I've seen a bunch of them but man, this is a great list. Thanks for this; I was JUST sitting here thinking that I didn't want to go to bed yet and wishing there was a good music FPP to dig into...

By: mediated self

mediated self — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 22:12:15 -0800

The episode on Fleetwood Mac's Rumours is not listed in the FPP but it is available on Netflix. That episode was my introduction to this series and expanded my appreciation of one of my favorite rock albums (the band members were all breaking up with each other while they were recording the album!). Great post, BTW!

By: Charlemagne In Sweatpants

Charlemagne In Sweatpants — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 22:35:14 -0800

Great Australian Albums is similar and was worth it for the episode on The Triffids.

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 22:51:25 -0800

I have a feeling this tab's going to remain open in my browser for a long, long time.

By: Old Man McKay

Old Man McKay — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 23:20:43 -0800

mediated self beat me to it- Rumours is one of my favorites in this series! Great post- nice to know there are so many others I can watch.

By: philip-random

philip-random — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 00:27:29 -0800

when it's good, it's very good ... exactly the kind of thing I love, which is to get the process behind certain songs/albums I've come to love. I just wish they'd done it for more of my fave albums. Where's London Calling? Why Rio?

By: h00py

h00py — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 00:59:35 -0800

Such a brilliant series! I'll eventually get around to watching all of them but the first one I fired up was Motörhead. Phil and Lemmy and Eddie. So excellent!

By: h00py

h00py — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 01:06:51 -0800

Well, maybe not all but a lot.

By: bardic

bardic — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 01:09:32 -0800

"Where's London Calling? Why Rio?" I will fight you.

By: Ad hominem

Ad hominem — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 02:01:59 -0800

Unfortunately it seems like the Reasonable Doubt one has sync issues. I've watched the Aja one a couple times since they were added to Netflix but I never noticed Rumors was on there. I just had to watch it. I knew the gist of the story, but didn't know how specific the songs really were. I can't imagine being asked to play on a song your recent ex wife wrote about her new lover.

By: DiscountDeity

DiscountDeity — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 04:22:48 -0800

I love these things. I think Netflix also has episodes for Who's Next and Graceland.

By: Mr Ed

Mr Ed — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 04:39:04 -0800

I think this is the transcript of the Graceland one... Great post btw!

By: Devils Rancher

Devils Rancher — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 04:50:47 -0800

I've got both the Rumors and Aja episodes on DVD they fascinate me. I've spent just enough time in recording studios to understand what's happening, and to also be just dumbstruck-awed by how fucking talented and skilled those people are. I love studio-craft and consider it as much an art form as the playing/singing. The nuance you get when they break down Buckingham's guitar bits in a couple places is stunning in it's complexity when you realize how it got blended in to where these little parts were almost in audible individually, but at the same time, absolutely essential to the resolution of the song. And of course, watching Chuck Rainey & Bernard Pudie play those bits solo is just pure porn for me. I want all these.

By: readyfreddy

readyfreddy — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 05:23:12 -0800

When this show is good, it's GREAT. "I especially like the sequences of producers or engineers or musicians sitting at a mixing desk and bringing different elements of the songs in and out and getting to hear how it all fits together. I think there were sequences like this in each of the ones I've seen. posted by zoinks at 9:58 PM on March 1" And unfortunately, this is where the show falls short. The early episodes all did this. It was fascinating to heard Duran's Rio deconstructed. And that you can tell that Nick Rhodes isn't really a good player and relies on computers/arps (that means hope for me! yay! but Taylor kills on bass). The Pink Floyd episode was similarly awesome. But then other episodes are little more than short bios of footage you've seen a million times before. And no sitting at the desk deconstructing the songs. (i wish the whole show was just that)

By: smackfu

smackfu — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 05:48:56 -0800

They are on Netflix but they really highlight how hard it is to find stuff on there. These shows technically share nothing except a common cover design. They aren't listed as a series, they don't all have Greatest Albums in the title, only som have common directors. But they are great. Some are better than others. Some artists just aren't that into the technical side so it ends up just being a history of th band documentary rather than a breakdown of one album.

By: C.A.S.

C.A.S. — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 05:55:53 -0800

"Where's London Calling?" My fav quote of all time, from AVClub about REO Speedwagon's Hi Infidelity. According to the head of Epic, REO Speedwagon was giving out gold watches to label guys to get the promo effort at the time. "It wouldn't have bothered me so much if the REO album had been a real good album," Asher said. "But it just wasn't. The Clash had a super album, and it was not getting any support. And I was meeting with [the heads of Epic], and I said, 'I don't hear anything about The Clash.' And they said, 'Well, we're working this REO album, it's much more important.'"

By: photoslob

photoslob — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 06:16:02 -0800

The deconstruction of several of the songs on the TP and the Heartbreakers doc is absolutely amazing. Benmont Tench is a genius.

By: mosk

mosk — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 07:24:21 -0800

I've seen the Dead's "Anthem to Beauty" episode a few times and it really is "all that" - just a perfect deconstruction of their best creative period, at least from a songwriting and studio perspective. Looking forward to enjoying the rest of this series. Thanks!

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 07:56:56 -0800

The links vary in length from the full hour to five minutes or so. Just curious about that. Some links are to YouTube playlists, which still have the inline video icons [►], but will only display the first video in the series. Others are to complete videos on YouTube or Vimeo, while those links without inline video icons link to publicly accessable sites with streaming video.

By: philip-random

philip-random — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 09:35:20 -0800

"Where's London Calling?" Can't seem to find parts 1+3 ... but here's the middle of something.

By: juiceCake

juiceCake — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 15:52:50 -0800

I used to watch this years ago and was pleased to a lot of the episodes on Netflix. Wish it was still going and covering works both newer and older. Loved the Transformer and Dark Side of the Moon episodes in particular.

By: immlass

immlass — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 16:05:45 -0800

I'm so glad I checked this out because I see some things I need to watch on this list. Thank you!

By: Wulfhere

Wulfhere — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 16:41:18 -0800

The only one of these I have NOT loved has been the one on Metallica, and I'm not sure if that's the series' fault or the band's. The Iron Maiden ep is great, as is the one on Black Sabbath (favorite part: Ozzie didn't know what to sing for Iron Man, so he just duplicates the guitar riff.)

By: Purposeful Grimace

Purposeful Grimace — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 17:01:21 -0800

The perfect deconstruction is Steely Dan's "Aja" show. Bonus for having Bernard "Pretty" Purdie on it. And the absolute craftsmanship of their sound.

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 19:37:01 -0800

There's also VH1's Ultimate Albums series, with 19 episodes planned, but only 15 episodes were aired, and I don't think any are commercially available. There are a few online:

1975 Kiss - Alive! (YT playlist includes 3 other VH1 Kiss documentaries)
1980 AC/DC - Back in Black
1983 Def Leppard - Pyromania
1986 Bon Jovi - Slippery when Wet (first of 5 parts on Facebook; part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5)
1991 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik
1994 Green Day - Dookie
2000 Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
2001 Alicia Keys - Songs in A Minor (DailyMotion user uploads, with many more documentaries and clips on Keys)

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 10:24:32 -0800

These are very neat, just watched the American Beauty on on Netflix and added all the rest that I could find to my queue.

By: Bron

Bron — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 15:37:30 -0800

Seconding the Steely Dan "Aja" episode. Purdie's awesome, I'd never really heard of him before (though I've been hearing his work for years, apparently). Here's a clip from that episode feature Purdie, with Fagen telling the story of Purdie's 'two signs' toward the end.

By: wmoskowi

wmoskowi — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 20:50:36 -0800

The Wailers one is a real treat. Great interviews with the musicians, producers and engineers and early footage of Bob Marley & the Wailers. Thanks!

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 22:08:15 -0800

philip-random: "Where's London Calling?" Can't seem to find parts 1+3 ... but here's the middle of something . That's the middle of "Westway to the World," [full movie shown here] — a Grammy-award-winning documentary about the Clash.

By: WhitenoisE

WhitenoisE — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 03:35:30 -0800

Good series. Like the episodes on The Band and Yellow Brick Road best. Would have killed for episodes on The Queen is Dead or Exile on Main Street.