Classic Albums

This is the definitive story of the making The Band's self titled, an album that has truly earned its place in the pantheon of music history.

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.

There possibly isn’t an album in history that is as genre defining as Nirvana’s Nevermind. Released in 1991, it single-handedly was responsible for the birth of what became to be known as grunge and has gone on to sell millions. Nevermind was the second album from the Seattle trio and the first on the DGC label (it’s predecessor Bleech was released on the Sub Pop label). It was produced by Butch Vig (also the drummer for the band Garbage)and mixed by Andy Wallace. Nirvana’s surviving members Krist Novoselic (bass) and Dave Grohl (drums) talk candidly about their past, the recording of Nevermind and about Kurt Cobain and the legacy that he has left behind. Also featured are exclusive interviews with the likes of Garry Gersh(A&R DGC Records), Butch Vig, Jonathan Ponneman and Nils Bernstein(Sub Pop Records), Thurston Moore(Sonic Youth), Jack Endino and many more.

Brian Wilson discusses the Beach Boys' masterpiece.

“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.

“Mr Mojo Risin’” is the story of the making of the Doors’ last album with Jim Morrison “L.A. Woman”. 2011 is the 40th anniversary both of the album’s release and of the death of Jim Morrison and this programme goes into detail of how the album came about, its recording and what was happening to the band at the time. The story is told through new interviews with the three surviving Doors: Ray Manzarek, Robbie Krieger and John Densmore plus contributions from Jac Holzman, founder of their label Elektra Records, Bill Siddons, who was their manager, Bruce Botnick, engineer and co-producer of the album and others associated with the Doors at this time. The show includes archive footage of the Doors performing both live and in the studio, classic photographs and new musical demonstrations from the Doors.