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Classic Albums - Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life
: :The making of Stevie Wonder's 1976 double-album masterpiece Songs in the Key of Life--still his linchpin work--is entertainingly recounted in this Classic Albums documentary on the 20th anniversary of its release. Interviews with Wonder and the musicians and technicians involved revisit many now-classic songs like 'I Wish,' 'Sir Duke,' and 'Isn't She Lovely' (which includes a vocal appearance by Wonder's then-infant daughter, Aisha, who two decades later discusses her contribution). The record's lasting influence is brought up by producer Quincy Jones, keyboardist Herbie Hancock, and ...
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Classic Albums - Elvis Presley: Elvis Presley
: :'It was like the world went from black & white to Technicolor,' says Keith Richards of the emergence of Elvis Presley in the mid-'50s, and this look at the King's first official album (the legendary Sun Sessions weren't issued in album form until well after the fact) backs up that claim. The one-hour program (plus 40 minutes of bonus interview material on the DVD) combines performance footage (the early TV shows are not to be missed), photos, and more to limn Presley's early days, when ...
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Classic Albums - U2: The Joshua Tree
: :An outstanding entry in the Classic Albums video series, this hourlong documentary, produced in 1999, assembles the creators of U2's The Joshua Tree to comment about the musical magic that occurred a dozen years earlier in a home studio in Dublin. Merging past and present, coproducers Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, mixer Steve Lillywhite, and guitarist The Edge isolate separate tracks on the album's master tapes to illustrate how some of U2's greatest songs were layered with each individual's crucial contributions. Bono listens in while ...
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Classic Albums - Elton John: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
: :This installment of the Classic Albums series, in which rock stars talk about the creation of their albums, focuses on the making of what may have been Elton John's seminal record, Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road. John, lyricist Bernie Taupin, producer Gus Dudgeon, and the members of John's band discuss the writing and recording process of such hits as 'Benny and the Jets,' 'Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting,' and, of course, 'Candle in the Wind.' The drawback of this track-by-track deconstruction is that you only get ...
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Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon, Classic Album
: :The most phenomenal recording in rock & roll history is thoroughly examined in Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon. The Floyd's 1973 masterpiece remained on bestseller charts for nearly 14 years, and its enduring importance is honored here by all four members of Pink Floyd and key personnel (engineer Alan Parsons, mixing supervisor Chris Thomas, sleeve designer Storm Thorgerson, and others) who played essential roles in the landmark album's creation. Produced for the Classic Albums series that originally aired on VH-1, this thorough ...
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Classic Albums - Jimi Hendrix: Electric Ladyland
: :Can an effective episode of Classic Albums be produced when its subject's creator has been dead for more than a quarter century? Perhaps surprisingly, the answer is yes. With Experience members Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, additional musicians on the order of Steve Winwood and Dave Mason, manager Chas Chandler, and engineer Eddie Kramer telling much of the story, Jimi Hendrix still stands front and center in this hourlong examination of the making of his most ambitious release, the 1968 double LP Electric Ladyland. The ...
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Classic Albums - Steely Dan: Aja
: :This profile of Steely Dan's elegant 1977 masterpiece, Aja, is a feast for Dan fans, a thoughtful, satisfyingly detailed assessment of the album and its bejeweled fusion of jazz, R&B, rock, and pop. Better yet, the documentary's producers elicit atypically straightforward, revealing interviews from the group's stealthy principals, songwriters Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, who jettison enough of their signature sarcasm to touch on the autobiographical threads, cultural anomie, and serious musical ambition audible in their work. In that respect, the production rivals any extant ...
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Classic Albums - Bob Marley and the Wailers: Catch a Fire
: :In the late '60s, the notion that reggae would become more than just a novelty act would have been laughed at. To break into the mainstream, the movement needed a powerful voice of prophetic proportions. This voice emerged from the collective work of three pioneering friends from Jamaica, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, and Robert Nesta Marley, who sought to bring about an ideological revolution through deeply meditative, hypnotic, and spiritual music. Catch a Fire was the Wailers' and reggae's introduction to the world and turned ...
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Classic Albums - The Band: The Band
:Description:Initially associated with Bob Dylan, with whom they toured and recorded, the Band were soon to be acknowledged as a truly seminal group in their own right, truly The Band. Comprised of Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, and Robbie Robertson, the Band were signed to Capitol Records in 1968 and embarked on a recording career that witnessed eight U.S. Top 40 albums, including three million-sellers. The Band's eponymously titled 1969 album reached No. 9 on the Billboard chart, stayed 24 weeks in ...
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Classic Albums - Fleetwood Mac: Rumours
: :Oh, the heartache. Oh, the drug intake. And oh, the sales records they did break. It's all here in this 70-minute, 1997 chronicle of the making of one of pop music's biggest albums ever, Rumours. All five members of Fleetwood Mac's most successful incarnation are interviewed, and their comments are even more candid than the confessional songs ('Dreams,' 'Go Your Own Way' et al.) on the album itself; descriptions of the torturous process of making a record while John and Christine McVie's marriage and the ...
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