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Private Notes
To mark the 75th anniversary of Elvis Presley's birth in 2011, a host of performances by artists covering the King's classic songs culled from the BBC archives.
Some of Britain's biggest stars were introduced to rock n roll as teenagers via their idol Elvis, and Cliff Richard, Paul McCartney, Tom Jones and John Cale all pay their tribute. The original songwriters of some of Elvis's greatest hits perform their own versions of classic tracks, including Carl Perkins singing Blue Suede Shoes and Mac Davis doing In the Ghetto.
Other artists paying homage from across five decades include the Deep River Boys, the Stylistics, Boy George, Alison Moyet, the Pet Shop Boys and Robbie Williams. There will be jumpsuits, pelvic thrusts, brilliant tunes ... and Glen Campbell's Elvis impersonation.
Presenting the best and most eclectic performances on the BBC from the world's best known artists performing their interpretations of classic tracks from The Great American Songbook.
In chronological order, this programme takes us through a myriad of BBC studio performances, from Dame Shirley Bassey in 1966 performing The Lady is A Tramp, to Bryan Ferry in 1974 on Twiggy's BBC primetime show performing Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, to Captain Sensible on Top of the Pops in 1982 with his number one hit version of Happy Talk, through to Kirsty MacColl singing Miss Otis Regrets in 1994 to Jamie Cullum with his version of I Get a Kick Out Of You on Parkinson in 2004 and bang up to date with Brit winner Florence from Florence and the Machine performing My Baby Just Cares for Me with Jools Holland on his Annual Hootenanny at the end of 2009.
The Great American Songbook can best be described as the music and popular songs of the famous and prolific American composers of the 1920s and onwards. Composers such as Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Hoagy Carmichael to name but a few... songwriters who wrote the tunes of Broadway theatre and Hollywood musicals that earned enduring popularity before the dawning of rock 'n' roll.
These famous songwriters have penned songs which have entered the general consciousness and which are now best described as standards - tunes which every musician and singer aspires to include in their repertoire.
Peter Bogdanovich's epic portrait of one of America's great heartland rock 'n' roll bands.
Hailing from Gainesville, Florida, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers got together in the mid-70s, moved to California and released their self-titled debut album in 1976. The album was a hit in the UK where its concise, rock 'n' roll traditionalism sat well with the emerging punk and new wave scenes.
The film uses extensive interviews with the band and friends like Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks and Rick Rubin to chart their stubborn, independent-minded and often highly-successful journey towards the present day - breaking up occasionally, stopping off with the Travelling Wilburys, various Petty solo outings and periods backing the likes of Dylan, but fundamentally sticking together as one of America's greatest live and recording rock 'n' roll bands.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released Mojo, their first album together in eight years, in June 2010.
This is the story of the band, the city and the album that gave birth to the UK electronic pop movement in late 70s Sheffield.
Against a backdrop of economic decline, art students Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh experimented with early synthesisers to create sounds which would inspire a new generation of pop music with their first band The Human League. When this fractured, Ian and Martyn recruited singer and old friend Glenn Gregory to form Heaven 17. Penthouse and Pavement, their first album, was released in 1980 and was a landmark in UK pop history, combining electronica with pop hooks.
Due to technological constraints the band were unable to perform the album live, but to celebrate its 30th anniversary the film also charts the band's troubled attempts to perform the album entirely live for the very first time.
Documentary which looks at how rock 'n' roll has had to deal with the unthinkable - namely growing up and growing old, from its roots in the 50s as a music made by young people for young people to the 21st-century phenomena of the revival and the comeback.
Despite the mantra of 'live fast, die young', Britain's first rock 'n' roll generations are now enjoying old age. What was once about youth and taking risks is now about longevity, survival, nostalgia and refusing to grow up, give up or shut up. But what happens when the music refuses to die and its performers refuse to leave the stage? What happens when rock's youthful rebelliousness is delivered wrapped in wrinkles?
Featuring Lemmy, Iggy Pop, Peter Noone, Rick Wakeman, Paul Jones, Richard Thompson, Suggs, Eric Burdon, Bruce Welch, Robert Wyatt, Gary Brooker, Joe Brown, Chris Dreja of The Yardbirds, Alison Moyet, Robyn Hitchcock, writers Rosie Boycott and Nick Kent and producer Joe Boyd.
To celebrate BBC Wales's 50th anniversary, this is another chance to see Tom Jones - a living pop legend and international superstar. After over half a century at the top of the entertainment industry, everyone thinks they know the singing icon Sir Tom Jones, but only those closest to the boy from Ponty know the real story. Still recording, touring and performing, Wales's great export shows no sign of stopping. With contributions from Jools Holland and James Dean Bradfield.
Documentary exploring Elton John's childhood, apprenticeship in the British music business, sudden stardom in the US at the dawn of the 70s, and his musical heyday. Plus the backstory to the new album reuniting him with Leon Russell, his American mentor. Features extensive exclusive interviews with Elton, plus colleagues and collaborators including Bernie Taupin, Leon Russell and more.
Continuing the critically acclaimed Britannia music series for BBC Four, this documentary tells the story of the emergence and evolution of the British music festival through the mavericks, dreamers and dropouts who have produced, enjoyed and sometimes fought for them over the last 50 years.
The film traces the ebb and flow of British festival culture from jazz beginnings at Beaulieu in the late 50s through to the Isle of Wight festivals at the end of the 60s, early Glastonbury and one-off commercial festivals like 1972's Bickershaw, the free festivals of the 70s and 80s and on through the extended rave at Castlemorton in 1992 to the contemporary resurgence in festivals like Glastonbury, Isle of Wight and Reading in the last decade.
Sam Bridger's film explores the central tension between the people's desire to come together, dance to the music and build temporary communities and the desire of the state, the councils and the locals to police these often unruly gatherings.
At the heart of the documentary is an ongoing argument about British freedom and shifts in the political, musical and cultural landscape set to a wonderful soundtrack of 50 years of great popular music which takes in trad jazz, Traffic, Roy Harper, the Grateful Dead, Hawkwind, Orbital and much more.
Featuring rare archive and interviews with Michael Eavis, Richard Thompson, Acker Bilk, Terry Reid, the Levellers, Billy Bragg, John Giddings, Melvin Benn, Roy Harper, Nik Turner, Peter Jenner, Orbital, amongst others.
