Any new Classic Albums DVDs coming soon? (1 Viewer)

[Ron Reda]

I've recently discovered this series of "making of" documentaries and was curious as to whether or not they'll be putting out any more DVDs sometime soon because they are that well done.

If anyone's curious, they basically dissect a "classic album" and conduct interviews with the artist, supporting band members, the producer and/or engineer and assorted music critics/writers. The interviews run the gamut from "how did you get this particular sound/riff/style/etc.?" to thoughts about the cultural environment at the time the record came out and how the public received it to knob-turning geek stuff. Throughout, they intersperse the artist/band performing the tracks live today, archival footage and still photgraphs.

So far, I've seen Dark Side of the Moon (my favorite), Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (a close second), Aja, Joshua Tree and Face Value. There are many others, but these interested me the most. Also, most of them are available from Netflix.

 

[Brian Perry]

The one for Who's Next by The Who is pretty good as well.

 

[Ron Reda]

Cool. I actually avoided that one initially, but I think I'm going to watch as many as Netflix has because I just love the way they're made.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I *love* these discs. In fact, I just within the past week or two heard of some new ones on the way. I forget what albums were coming, though. Also, they may have changed the "Classic Albums" name to something else.

I have a bunch of them -- Electric Ladyland, Number of the Beast, British Steel, Metallica, etc. The Bat Out Of Hell and A Night At The Opera discs, along with Who's Next, are particularly great.

BTW, if you belong to BMG or YourMusic, they sell the 3-disc set of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, which includes the album on hybrid SACD and the Classic Albums DVD, dirt cheap.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Ah, found the home page of Eagle Rock Entertainment. With the latest releases, the collection includes:

• The Band: THE BAND
• Phil Collins: FACE VALUE
• Cream: DISRAELI GEARS
• Deep Purple: MACHINE HEAD
• Def Leppard: HYSTERIA
• Fleetwood Mac: RUMOURS
• The Grateful Dead: ANTHEM TO BEAUTY
• Jimi Hendrix: ELECTRIC LADYLAND
• Iron Maiden: THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST
• Elton John: GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD
• Judas Priest: BRITISH STEEL
• Bob Marley: CATCH A FIRE
• Meat Loaf: BAT OUT OF HELL
• Metallica: METALLICA
• Motörhead: ACE OF SPADES
• Nirvana: NEVERMIND
• Pink Floyd: THE MAKING OF THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON
• Elvis Presley: ELVIS PRESLEY
• Queen: THE MAKING OF A NIGHT AT THE OPERA
• Lou Reed: TRANSFORMER
• Sex Pistols: NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS
• Paul Simon: GRACELAND
• Simply Red: STARS
• Steely Dan: AJA
• U2: JOSHUA TREE
• The Who: WHO'S NEXT
• Frank Zappa: APOSTROPHE/OVERNIGHT SENSATION

They're so good that I'd watch the ones for albums I'm not even into.

Actually, I could've sworn I've seen one for Stevie Wonder's Songs In The Key Of Life. Hm.

 

[Ron Reda]

Yeah, that's what initially turned me onto this series, then I forgot about it for awhile & picked it back up with Dark Side.

 

[Ron Reda]

Cool, thanks! That website was a pain in the a** to find...I looked. I think the Zappa one is new and it's on Netflix. However, when looking for them on Netflix, you sometimes have to look up the individual artist instead of searching on "Classic Albums." I e-mailed them in an attempt to fix that, but we'll see.

Yeah, I agree about the bands I'm not even into. Being a guitar player and somewhat of a knob-turning geek, I really enjoy the pieces with the engineer. The scenes with Alan Parsons from the Dark Side one is killer.

Funny you should say that because I'm pretty sure I've seen the Hysteria one. I remember Phil Collen ripping off some of those incredible, buried in the mix riffs yet I don't have the disc nor does Netflix. Hmm...

 

[Colin Jacobson]

These are almost always enjoyable. I have reviews of a few on my site:

http://www.dvdmg.com/music.shtml

 

[Ron Reda]

Cool, thanks Colin!

Wow, what in-depth reviews. Wish mine were anywhere near that good...

One thing I wish that Eagle would do is provide seemless branching to link up the bonus footage to the main program.

 

[Sean A]

There was one for the Stevie Wonder album when the series was initially released on Rhino/Image DVD. Many of those titles listed above were on the Rhinos first. The Eagle Rock got the rights to the series, and re-released all but the Stevie Wonder one

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Interesting. I wonder why that is. I'll be sure to pick that one up if I see it again.

BTW, I noticed that they're selling some or all of them for $15 on the website, and shipping is free for, IIRC, orders over $50.

 

[ElevSkyMovie]

I've seen some of these at my WalMart for $9.72.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

That reminds me -- sometimes at Walmart, they charge $13 or so and throw in a CD. They were recently selling the Bat Out Of Hell edition packed with the new BOOH3 CD, plus a couple other combos.

 

[ElevSkyMovie]

Yes, I saw the dvd for "Hysteria" and it had some dvd sampler with it.

Last night I was there and saw the U2 dvd, as well as the one for "Who's Next".

 

[gene c]

VH1 is rotating a few of these on their schedule. A great series. So far "Aja" is the best of the bunch IMO. But all the ones I've seen are very good.

 

[buttmunker]

Some noticable absentees:

01: The Doors: THE DOORS
02: Janis Joplin: PEARL
03: The Eagles: HOTEL CALIFORNIA
04: Guns 'N Roses: APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION

 

[Sheldon C]

Yeah, and they picked the wrong Metallica album. I cringe when Kirk says, "It's our Dark Side of the Moon". I told my wife, "No, Dark Side of the Moon is Pink Floyd's Master of Puppets!"


BTW, no offense to Floyd fans. I love Dark Side too.

 

[Sheldon C]

Also, maybe I didn't see it but where the hell is Back in Black? If that's not a classic album nothing is.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

It's not a question of what's a "classic album" - it's what they can use for a good documentary. Dunno if they tried to do that one - which I'd put really, really far down on a list of "classic albums" anyway - but they may not have been able to get cooperation from AC/DC. That's important for the "Classic Album" series - they want inside comments and material...

 

[Sheldon C]

You would put it way down on the classic albums list? I don't get that at all. Even if you don't care for the music, how can you say that about an album that has significant radio airplay for the last 27 years on over half of it's songs and it's one of the highest selling albums of all time?

If you are saying that you wouldn't put it on your own list, ok, to each his own. But it sure as hell belongs on a list such as this. Personally I think it would make for a great episode. A seemingly irreplaceable lead singer dies and the band responds like that? Wow. I have heard that the music was already written and they were ready for Bon to come in to the studio and sing. I've wondered if that's true.