The review written by rooprect says everything there is to say really.
This was a superb series in which albums aren't just given a bit of info and their tracks played over narration and clips put together by someone rehashing and churning out crap.
The artists are completely involved, interviewed and seem to take real enjoyment in explaining the album, taking apart the music, how it was created, constructed and picking out their best and most favourite little snippets which to the untrained ear you otherwise miss. It's a pretty long, laborious process to record and put any music together so once done it's like handing in a final paper you've spent two years on and kicking back a huge sigh of relief that it's done with.
It's the albums and artists you don't necessarily expect much from I found the most interesting and ended up completely immersed throughout.
Again it's been mentioned how Black Sabbath's Paranoid was put together using the most unlikely sources, sounds, instruments and their inspiration coming from the most random places but you find most of the classic albums and greatest musicians are filled with that stuff it's just not immediately obvious.
Def Leppard's "Hysteria" was great even though I'm not a huge fan of the band or album itself. I have always had mad appreciation for that drumbeat used in "Rocket" so hearing Joe Elliot talk about its inspiration sent me off down the rabbit hole and discovering another several artists and albums that just.. wow.
Paul Simon's "Graceland" is probably my favourite episode mostly because Paul Simon's excitement and enthusiasm is so contagious and the time, effort and detail he takes to explain everything from the mixing desk makes you really sense how keen he is to share the little things and what's hiding out. He' s like a kid at Christmas it's brilliant.
Someone else commented on the lack of female artists in this series as though they've been deliberately ignored or just not considered in the first place. Bearing in mind there are only 44 albums included in the entire series, there are countless classics you could add to the collection and have enough to keep it running for another 20yrs.
Trouble is to feature in the episode requires the consent and co-operation from the artists themselves and if they don't want to be interviewed or don't want to sit and pick apart their work in such detail I guess they won't feature. Fleetwood Mac discussing the making of Rumours was really interesting and the fact they managed to make it at all incredible but it's a wonder they will touch the story behind that album after decades of being asked and explaining the same old same old.
One of the most interesting, fascinating musicians and albums I'd love to have seen feature is Kate Bush's "Hounds of Love" particularly with more in-depth discussion about the B-side to the album (The Ninth Wave) because even now after all these years, I keep hearing something new and discovering something different now and then that makes me go "Oh my God... that's superb"
Again despite being on of music's all time most successful musicians with groundbreaking and "classic" albums, she's a fiercely private person that doesn't do interviews so won't have featured.
I grew up in a family of musicians and can sing, play piano and harp and as a kid my brothers were playing in bands and had me listening to everything from Slayer, Iron Maiden, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles to Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone. I learned to drum on an old beer covered Marshall amp to the theme from "Warriors" but even with older brothers in their teens, hair down to their knees and metal fans in the 80's, there was no such thing as a genre that was good, bad or I should like more than any other. It shaped my appreciation for all music and in particular the little things and devil in the detail.
If you're a musician, sound engineer / music nerd or just an average Joe fan of a particular album, there's still likely to be something you'll like.
If you're Kate Bush reading this - come on lady get your act together. You're a few episodes that need sorting but an indepth special for "Ninth Wave" is long overdue and there's things I want to know woman...
