I’ve mentioned in a previous post (well, long time ago, in October 2005) the TV Series “Classic Albums”. The series were produced by Eagle Rock Entertainment. Although I’ve seen only a few chapters (the ones marked with an *), I could say that these are probably my favourite TV series ever. Like I said in the previous post, it gives you the opportunity of peeping behind the curtain of the creative process. Some memorable moments for me (related mainly with the musicians or the producers showing the studio tricks at the sound mixer):
- Lou Reed emphasizing in the mix the (superb) Bowie’s backing vocals in “Satellite of Love” and saying: “only David could reach that note with that purity” or something like that.
- Stevie Wonder reproducing the recording of “I Wish”: first playing Fender Rhodes and singing, second and third two different synthesizer parts harmonizing with the Rhodes (you can hear it at the beginning of the song), fourth Stevie himself playing a great drum section (!!!), fifth Nathan Watts adding the fine bass line, sixth the hot brass section and finally Stevie rendering the definitive vocals.
- Butch Vig showing the cracked voice of Cobain in “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Novoselic saying (approximately): “when I’ve heard the first mix of “Smells…” with that powerful sound coming out the speakers I’ve barely couldn’t believe that these were really us playing”.
- Paul Simon showing the tricks of the bass line in “You Can Call Me Al” (with fragments played backwards) and Joseph Shabalala explaining the difficult travel to reach the definitive take of “Homeless”.
- Brian May showing us the recreation of the sounds of a jazz big band with different guitar sounds in “Good Company”.
- Herbie Flowers playing the upright bass and the electric bass parts of “Walk on the Wild Side” and explaining that the main reason of playing two different basses was that the studio musicians at the time could earn double money that way.
Well, and a lot more. For people like me that really like the studio as the ultimate musical instrument these images are of great value. I don’t know the complete list but I’ve found some in the internet:
In alphabetical order:
- Ace of Spades MOTÖRHEAD
- Aja STEELY DAN
- Anthem to Beauty THE GRATEFUL DEAD
- The Band THE BAND
- Bat Out of Hell MEAT LOAF
- British Steel JUDAS PRIEST
- Catch a Fire BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS
- The Dark Side of the Moon PINK FLOYD
- Disraeli Gears CREAM*
- Electric Ladyland JIMI HENDRIX
- Elvis Presley ELVIS PRESLEY*
- Face Value PHIL COLLINS
- Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ELTON JOHN
- Graceland PAUL SIMON*
- Hysteria DEF LEPPARD
- The Joshua Tree U2*
- Machine Head DEEP PURPLE
- Metallica METALLICA
- Nevermind NIRVANA*
- Never Mind the Bollocks SEX PISTOLS
- A Night at the Opera * QUEEN
- The Number of the Beast IRON MAIDEN
- Rumours FLEETWOOD MAC
- Songs in the Key of Life STEVIE WONDER*
- Stars SIMPLY RED
- Transformer LOU REED*
- Who’s Next THE WHO
Henrik, hope you could include this list in AM. By the way, “Aja” and “Rumours”, some of your all time favorites!!
