Classic Albums

In this episode of the Classic Albums series, the surviving members of Def Leppard discuss the making of "Hysteria" as they sort through and explain the original multi-track tapes. In addition, some impromptu acoustic performances and musical demonstrations further dissect this classic album.

“Queen: The Making Of A Night At The Opera” tells the track-by track-story of the album through new interviews with Brian May, Roger Taylor and producer Roy Thomas Baker along with archive interviews with Freddie Mercury and contributions from photographer Mick Rock, Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry and Ian Hunter from Mott The Hoople amongst others. Illustrated by classic live footage, much of it from the Hyde Park free concert in 1976, and in-depth studio analysis. This film gives an intimate portrait of the making of a true classic album and is a worthy addition to our acclaimed and highly successful Classic Albums series.

Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon is both a masterpiece and a phenomenon. It is an iconic album with an instantly recognisable sleeve and music that has stood the test of time in the 30 years since its release. It is also one of the best selling albums in history. At the time of writing it has spent an astonishing 1380 weeks on the US Billboard Album Chart – that’s over 26 years! There couldn’t be a more appropriate album to add to Eagle Vision’s Classic Album series, especially in this the album’s 30th Anniversary year. As usual the main programme includes interviews with all the members of the band: Roger Waters, Rick Wright, Dave Gilmour and Nick Mason, plus the engineer, Alan Parsons, the designer, Storm Thorgerson, and other people involved in the recording and release of the album. The programme combines archive footage of Pink Floyd in concert, in the studio and in rehearsal, with video clips, interviews and original demos.

The latest addition to the acclaimed award winning Classic Albums series tells the story behind the making of two legendary albums from Rush. “2112” was the album that saw Rush break through to major chart success, going to No.1 in their native Canada and Top 75 in the USA where it would eventually be certified triple platinum. “Moving Pictures” opened them to a mass audience for the first time and remains the biggest selling album of their career. It also went to No.1 in Canada and went quadruple platinum there whilst hitting No.3 in both the UK and USA. Rush members Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart talk us through the making of the albums, together with original producer Terry Brown via interviews, demonstrations, archive videos and use of the original multi-track tapes.

The latest addition to the acclaimed award winning Classic Albums series tells the story behind the making of Peter Gabriel’s 1986 album “So”. It was Gabriel’s fifth solo album and the first one to have a title (the others all having just been called “Peter Gabriel”). The album spawned a number of hit singles on both sides of the Atlantic including “Sledgehammer”, “Big Time”, “Don’t Give Up” (a duet with Kate Bush) and “In Your Eyes” which drove “So” to multi-platinum sales, the No.1 spot in the UK and No.2 in the US. “So” was very much an album of the MTV generation and the distinctive videos for tracks like “Sledgehammer”, “Red Rain”, “Big Time” and “Don’t Give Up” were key factors in the album’s success. The programme features contributions from many of those involved in the making of the album and the videos including Peter Gabriel himself, co-producer Daniel Lanois, engineer Kevin Killen and musicians Jerry Marotta, Laurie Anderson, Tony Levin and Manu Katché amongst many.

“Wish You Were Here”, released in September 1975, was the follow up album to the globally successful “The Dark Side Of The Moon” and is cited by many fans, as well as band members Richard Wright and David Gilmour, as their favourite Pink Floyd album. On release it went straight to Number One in both the UK and the US and topped the charts in many other countries around the world. This programme tells the story of the making of this landmark release through new interviews with Roger Waters, David Gilmour and Nick Mason and archive interviews with the late Richard Wright. Also featured are sleeve designer Storm Thorgerson, guest vocalist Roy Harper, front cover “burning man” Ronnie Rondell and others involved in the creation of the album. In addition, original recording engineer Brian Humphries revisits the master tapes at Abbey Road Studios to illustrate aspects of the songs’ construction.