I just finished watching 2 great music TV programs, so I thought I'd pass on links\thoughts\review etc. Both are British, and both were found on UKNova. If you want to download them you'll have to register, but I'll post the links for any who are already registered there.
Two Tone Britain
This show followed the Two Tone record label and the rise of British Ska Revival and New Wave bands in the late 70s and early 80s. I've never actually seen or read a thorough history of this musical movement, so I was thrilled just to find it in the first place. I'm used to watching crappy MTV musical genre pieces where they interview a few idiotic music journalists, and if you're lucky, a few musicians - this show on the other hand, completely blew me away! It had an incredibly thorough explination of the social situation Britain was in during the late 70s and early 80s (fall of punk, skinheads, general turmoil etc.), they interviewed key musician from the scene, and they actually explained Ska Revival and New Wave's influence and importance to music today. :shock:
If you're a fan of Madness, The Specials, English Beat etc. definetly check it out. Even if you haven't heard of any of those bands or don't know anything about Ska Revival or New Wave, it is still definetly worth watching. It is definetly one of the best musical genre themed TV programs I've ever seen.
Link to its torrent.
Howard Goodall's Twentieth Century Greats - Lennon and McCartney
There is definetly not a shortage of TV programs about the Beatles, and there will probably never be; however, this is definetly
the best show I have ever seen about the Beatles. The host - who apparently is a composer - does not describe the Beatles' work through the normal "they were very good musicians and they were very popular, bla bla bla...." explination, but instead deconstructs the way they composed their songs right down to the basics. The keys, chords, modes, and progressions that Lennon and McCartney used are thoroughly explained with enough basic information and advanced musical theory to keep both non-musicans and musicans interested. As a musician, I absolutely loved the more technical stuff, but there was enough basic information to keep someone who doesn't care what a Dorian mode is interested.
However, what I absolutely loved about the show was that they actually understood the Beatles talent and popularity. The Beatles were by far the most popular band when they were around, but their popularity also coincided with them being the most musically skilled and experimental band of that time period. This has never really happened since, and may never happen again - these days we get barely talented people like Britney Spears topping the charts. :? Anyways, most music journalists can not explain why the Beatles were so incredibly experimental and so incredibly popular - those two things generally don't go together. I won't give away how the show goes about explaining the Beatles talent and popularity; however, in my opinion, they get it completely right. This is definetly
the most accurate and thorough explination of the Beatles I have ever seen on TV.
Link to its torrent.
This may have sounded a bit like an infomercial for the two shows, but they are seriously two of the greatest music TV shows I have ever seen.
If you're a music fanatic and have some spare time, definetly download them.