Some of you may have stumbled upon an episode or two of this amazing documentary series on a BBC-related channel or one of the VH1 channels. The Classic Albums documentary series is put out by the BBC, and it takes an important record from a certain group and analyzes it from all angles. The series does not pick a record without the full participation of the (still living) band members, their producers, studio engineers and managers. While the series does an excellent job covering the significance, influence and historical context of the recording, what really sets this series apart is the unfettered access to the actual creators of the record and the wonderful technical detail in each episode.
There are 32 episodes of the venerable series so far (I own every one of them on DVD, of course). The spectrum of artists covered is impressive, from early rock and soul artists like Elvis Presley and Stevie Wonder, to classic rock vets Cream, The Grateful Dead, The Who and Jimi Hendrix through the Sex Pistols, Nirvana and U2 to pop like Phil Collins and Duran Duran to metal like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden to rapper Jay-Z. Even if you are not a fan of the artist or record covered, the series is so captivating and well done that you still want to watch and learn about the record. The oddest entry I've come across is Simply Red's Stars, hardly a "classic album," but it is actually one of the more interesting episodes due to the candor of the band members. Much depends on the candor and intelligence of the artists involved. While you may not respect Phil Collins' music too much, he is a really bright and witty guy, therefore his episode for Face Value is one of the best of the series as he really breaks down the entire record for you in a thoughtful and interesting way.
As a songwriter and sometimes tinkerer with recording equipment, I love this aspect of the series. A hallmark of the series is the engineer from the original session sitting side by side with the artist(s), and discussing how the songs were recorded and constructed. They are often seated in front of a mixing board, where they will isolate parts of the song and reconstruct the song before your very eyes and ears, all the while discussing decisions that were made and why they were made. I've always been interested in the technical side of making music (one of my greatest memories is spending the full day in a real studio with my musical partner Dave and our producer Kyle recording our album that we made about a decade ago. I loved sitting in the mixing room with the engineer and creating the final mix of the songs. That was more fun for me, actually, than playing the tunes. So much of how a song turns out depends on what is done after the instruments are set aside.)
Another regular part of the series is that the artist(s) will sit down with their instruments and discuss the songwriting and playing of key tracks. For instance, in the Cream Disraeli Gears episode, Eric Clapton plays on his guitar and discusses how he came up with the riff from "Tales of Brave Ulysses," shows the viewer how it is done, then shows how the wah-wah pedal works within the song, and finally candidly admits that he stole the entire riff from The Lovin' Spoonful song "Summer in the City"!
ABOVE: This is a great example of the strengths of the 'Classic Albums' series. Above is an 8-minute clip from the Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols episode, where they break down the creation and impact of "Anarchy in the UK." You have insightful (and often funny) discussion from band members, producers and management. You've got great stories about the writing and recording of the song. The engineer sits down and breaks down the song, part by part, isolating each instrument in turn from the mixing board so you can get a better understanding of the song's construction. And finally there is discussion of their disasterous appearance on British TV with priceless archival footage. Even a seemingly spontaneous shouter like "Anarchy in the UK" actually has quite a bit of structure to it.
I highly recommend any episode in this series. For a list of all episodes, go here. Be careful, there are some pretenders out there. Some other series like the crappy "Classic Albums Under Review" try to piggyback on the success of "Classic Albums," but a sure way to tell whether you are watching the real deal is to look for the logo at the top of this post. It is on all of the DVDs and at the beginning of each episode.
No comments:
Post a Comment