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Classic Albums is a music documentary series about pop, rock and heavy metal albums that are considered to be classics, masterpieces, magnum opuses or an artist or band's most distinctive outing. It has been broadcast since 1989 under production of Isis Productions, distributed by Eagle Entertainment and could be seen on TV channels as diverse as the BBC, ITV, Sky Arts and VH1. They are also available on DVD, where more additional material is available.

The documentaries are interesting for both other musicians and fans of the artists themselves because they interview both the band members, the producers and other people involved. Apart from that funny and intriguing anecdotes are told, the stories behind the creation of the album are revealed and multitracks are dissected so one can hear separate or different takes of certain tracks.

The episodes appear at irregular intervals.


Albums featured:

    open/close all folders 
     1989 TV Special 

    1992- 1999 
1992

1997

1999

    2001- 2008 

    2010- 2019 
2010

2011

2012

2013

2017

2018

2019

    2020-present 

The only artists to have had multiple albums profiled on the series are the Grateful Dead (two in one episode), Rush (two in one episode), the Doors (two in two episodes), Frank Zappa (three in two episodes), and the Who (three in three episodes).

    Dutch episodes 
The Dutch public television also made some special episodes about Dutch albums, which were included in their own regular broadcast of the other albums, but have never been released on DVD.


Tropes:

  • Album Title Drop: Naturally.
  • Concept Album: Several concept albums were subjects of the show, but not all episodes featured one.
  • A Day in the Limelight: For some of the record producers and studio engineers it is the first time that they are actually invited to talk about a record they helped create.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: Demo recordings will sometimes be analyzed, together with multitracks dissected into separate tracks so one can hear how they were mended together in the song everybody knows. For instance, in the Aja episode, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen of Steely Dan play some of the many solos that different session guitarists had recorded for "Peg" before Jay Graydon laid down the one that appears on the album.
  • Fanservice: A non-sexual example. To fans of the genres, albums and artists discussed these documentaries are a veritable welcome gift.
  • Hey, Let's Put on a Show: Some artists don't take the concept of the show that seriously. Motörhead had a lot of laughs when analyzing the songs and album cover from Ace Of Spades.
  • The Ken Burns Effect: The camera will zoom in on still pictures or details of the album covers.
  • Music Stories: A short history of the artist or band is often provided before in-depth discussion of the album.
  • New Sound Album: These albums tend to get the most attention in the show.
  • Pop Culture Urban Legends: In-universe. The artists often take time to debunk some false stories about the recording of certain songs.
  • The Power of Rock: The show is a must for all music fans.
  • Rearrange the Song: The record producers, studio engineers and the artist himself often take the original studio tracks from the album and let the audience listen to demo versions, outtakes, acoustic performances, the vocal parts only, guitar and bass part only, lead vocals only,...
  • Rockumentary: A docuseries about rock albums.
  • Set Behind the Scenes: The documentary makers tell how the sessions in creating the album happened, either by showing archive footage, interviewing the people involved, letting the artists play a few of the songs on their guitar and giving the listeners an example how the multitracks sound as separate tracks.
  • Small Reference Pools: Most of the albums are rock, heavy metal and/or pop. The only different genre so far was Catch a Fire by reggae icon Bob Marley & The Wailers.
  • Special Guest: All episodes will interview the famous rock stars and producers involved in making the album unless they are deceased. In that case, archive footage will be used.
  • Stock Footage: Archive footage is often used, but the episodes also contain a lot of new interviews.
  • Talking Heads: The series interview musicians, producers and other people involved in the process of creating the albums.
  • Unplugged Version: The artists will often demonstrate how a certain song was constructed by playing it acoustically or with some electronic accompaniment.
  • What Could Have Been: Discussed in-universe throughout the series, where various ideas related to the album and its material are left on the cutting room floor or substantially reworked for various reasons. For instance, the 2003 episode on The Dark Side of the Moon sees Roger Waters mention how "Us and Them" was first written for the Zabriskie Point soundtrack, only for the director to reject it for sounding too sad and Church-like.

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