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Classic Tracks: MICHAEL JACKSON 'Black Or White'

Producers: Michael Jackson, Bill Bottrell; Engineer: Bill Bottrell

The 18-month gestation period behind Michael Jackson's Dangerous album and its lead single 'Black Or White' saw '80s studio perfectionism taken to extremes — and despite their success, the experience helped to convince co-writer, engineer and co-producer Bill Bottrell that there had to be another way to make records!

Classic Tracks: The Moody Blues ‘Nights In White Satin’

Producer: Tony Clarke • Engineer: Derek Varnals

Thunderous reverbs, haunting vocals and Mellotron galore: we tell the story of recording the Moody Blues’ symphonic rock masterpiece, ‘Nights In White Satin’.

Classic Tracks: John Lennon ‘Whatever Gets You Thru The Night’

Producer: John Lennon • Engineers: Roy Cicala, Shelly Yakus

Engineer Roy Cicala worked on all of John Lennon’s albums from Imagine onwards, and in ‘Whatever Gets You Thru The Night’, recorded the only solo number one hit single of Lennon’s lifetime.

Classic Tracks: Van Morrison ‘Moondance’

Producer: Van Morrison • Engineers: Shelly Yakus, Elliot Scheiner

On his second solo album, Van Morrison took the production reins for the first time. Manning the desk was engineer Shelly Yakus, who tells the story of recording Moondance.

Classic Tracks: Heavy Zebra ‘Karla’

Producer: Heavy Zebra • Engineer: Kevin Byrne

Blighted by drug abuse and mental illness, Heavy Zebra never fulfilled their early promise. Nevertheless, the deranged majesty of their 1972 single ‘Karla’ makes it a bona fide classic track.

Classic Tracks: The Flamingos ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’

Producers: George Goldner, Terry Johnson • Engineer: Allen Weintraub

This is the story of how an inspired rearrangement of an old song created a track that, 50 years on, remains a genuine and enduring classic.

Classic Tracks: Rick Astley ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’

Producers: Stock, Aitken and Waterman

Producers Stock, Aitken and Waterman developed a massively successful formula for making pop records — and the story of Rick Astley’s 1987 smash hit, ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’, is a perfect guide to the SAW assembly line...

Status Quo: 'Rockin' All Over The World'

Classic Tracks

In 1977 Status Quo brought in producer Pip Williams to help them clean up their act. The result was a hit album and a best-selling single — 'Rockin' All Over The World'.

Classic Tracks

The Pogues 'Fairytale Of New York'

A Christmas song was an unexpected move from a group like the Pogues, but the story of heartbreak and pain that is 'Fairytale Of New York' eventually became the band's biggest commercial success.

Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force: 'Planet Rock'

Classic Tracks

For mixing Kraftwerk's synthetic beats and simple melodies with New York rap, 'Planet Rock' can be credited with creating an entirely new genre: hip-hop. This is how it happened...

Classic Tracks: Paul Simon 'You Can Call Me Al'

Producer: Paul Simon • Engineer: Roy Halee

Paul Simon's Graceland album combined a huge mixture of musical styles and was recorded in studios all over the world. The man responsible for putting it all together, both sonically and physically, was Simon's long-time engineer Roy Halee. This is how he did it...