soundbreaking product reviews

Music documentaries are unpredictable - you never know what you are going to encounter when you start watching one, especially when it spans several episodes. For this reason, I ensured that I had some uninterrupted time to watch the first two episodes back to back as it is usually clear by then whether or not the series is going to work. And it did - it held my interest from the start, so much so that I stayed up late so I could watch the third episode as well!

One of the features that I thought worked really well was the introduction to each episode. Because this is a series that highlights the developing technologies that underpin recorded music, each episode starts with a different variant on the theme of movement, whether it be human (walking, dancing, demonstrating things going wrong, or just modelling costumes for the stage); machinery in action; or the view of the road from the window of a moving car. In the background, music and voiceovers or other sound clips supply the explanatory information. The overall impression is one of vitality, urgency, colour, and excitement. After the introduction, each episode moves into the same title sequence which is characterised by screenshots in triptych through a series of transitions, overlaid with the credits and a scrolling horizontal line to emulate the way sound blips occasionally appeared in the early days of movie-making.

The content of each episode is based around a theme, so rather than featuring clips in decade sequence, there is a juxtaposition of old and new - often with interesting comparisons being made between artists of different eras. I was never bored because the performance clips are integrated with background commentaries and interviews, some archival and some current, which adds to the interest value. It was particularly fascinating to see an interview with an older artist and then see the same person performing 30 or 40 years ago, and know just where they had fitted in to musical history.

Some of the highlights for me were the vintage recordings of Bessie Smith, and the later comparison with Amy Winehouse singing in amazingly similar vein. Elvis Presley's first performance is incredibly bad, but subsequent footage demonstrates just how much better his appeal is once he settles in to the genre that suited his talents. Psychedelic colour mixes and shots of summer beaches are used to introduce the music of the Beatles and the Beach Boys, but then the storyline moves right back to the days of Les Paul and Mary Ford. Not a comparison that would ever have occurred to me - but in context it is correct: the subject is multi-tracking, something that would not be possible without the relevant technologies.

The most important piece of trivia in the entire series is the fact that in 1976 the loudest band ever recorded achieved an eardrum-shattering 125 decibels. This was the contribution of The Who! I nearly went to turn the volume down on my DVD player before I was assured that this volume was not going to be reproduced! And the most poignant section has to be John Lennon set against a scrolling background of various scenes in his life as the soundtrack of "A Day In The Life" accompanies the collage.

For music fans, this is a must see - whatever style of music is your preference, there is something here for everyone. I plan to watch it again because there was so much to experience I am sure there will be a few things I have missed. Hopefully there will be a second series to come as musical tastes and technologies continue to develop.