Scott Freiman didn’t initially set out to become a renowned lecturer and an acclaimed expert on the Beatles.
A classically trained pianist, Freiman initially discovered rock ’n’ roll when his uncle gifted him a copy of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band when he was 10. Many years after experiencing Pepper, widely believed to be the Beatles’ magnum opus, and the other albums in the Beatles’ canon, Freiman discovered his ability to hold an audience in thrall with his knowledge of how songs and albums are constructed.
“I had a professional studio in my house designed by John Storyk, the guy who did Jimi Hendrix’s studio,” he says via phone from his Sleepy Hollow, NY home, where he’s at work on a new book about the Beatles. “I had many musician friends in Manhattan, and I was trying to figure out a way to get them to come up to Westchester County to see my studio. So I enticed them with a lecture about the Beatles. I ended up giving a talk in my living room for about 40 guests, and ten minutes in, people asked when I would be doing it again.”
Thus was born Deconstructing the Music, a series of live, multimedia educational lectures about the creative process of some of the greatest popular music ever made. Before long, Freiman was lecturing at corporate retreats and conferences, arthouse theaters, cultural arts centers and libraries all over the country. From there, Freiman transformed his passion for music, and his track by track, deep dive music analysis, into a full series of lectures, 11 films, and a TV show, Deconstructing the Beatles, now playing on PBS stations across the country (including Cleveland’s own WVIZ), with a second season to premiere in March of 2026.
“The Deconstructing the Music series came out of my passion for the creative process,” he says. “I love creating the presentations, and music fans from around the world, and of every generation, really enjoy these deep dives into how musicians create life-changing art.”
Scott’s live multimedia lectures are also inspiring businesses and attendees at prominent national and international conferences. He has given presentations using the music of the Beatles to help shape creativity and collaboration for business at conferences such as Imagine Solutions and for companies such as Google, Facebook, and Pixar Animation Studios.
About two years ago, Freiman had the idea to expand beyond the Beatles, and thought Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon would be a perfect album to “deconstruct.”
”There’s a lot of great material out there on Pink Floyd,” he says. “There is research, as well as rare audio and video, that reveal a lot about how this remarkable album was created. The album itself tells a great story that I found myself wanting to share. I created Deconstructing The Dark Side of the Moon, which has attracted music fans of all ages who enjoy diving deep into an album, and coming out of that with a new appreciation for the musicians and production teams who created it.”
While The Dark Side of the Moon’s history has been well-documented (even the Wikipedia entry about the album is highly detailed), Freiman brings something new to the table. Using rare audio and video, as well as technology — everything from ProTools to AI — Freiman highlights many aspects of the music as it was being created in the studio.
“First of all, I talk about how the album was inspired, and how a song evolves,” he says. “For example, we have demos from [singer] Roger Waters and early live takes of the tracks that would ultimately end up on The Dark Side of the Moon. Each song is a story of musical evolution, and the listener gets to have eyes and ears on the production process as the songs are being created.”
At the time of its recording in the early 1970s, producer Alan Parsons famously went to great lengths to create an album that sounded different from everything else that came before.
“Alan Parsons was responsible for the sound of this recording,” Frieman says of the engineer’s role. “At the very end, as the band was having trouble mixing the album because there were so many tracks and everyone had opinions about how they should be mixed, they brought in Chris Thomas (who also worked on the Beatles’ White Album), and he helped the band bring it to fruition. The work of Parsons and Thomas is why the album’s sound holds up so well.”
Prior to Dark Side’s release, Pink Floyd had struggled to deliver a huge hit album. It had, however, experimented with the album form, and was moving toward something more esoteric.
“Dark Side of the Moon is a concept album that explores themes of life, death, time, and the human experience. All of these tracks fused seamlessly together create a cohesive, immersive, extraordinary experience, unlike any album that came before it,” Freiman remarks. “If you dive into the lyrics, you can find a lot of meaning there.”
The album came out at the time when hi-fi stereos were first being marketed to the masses, and audiophiles gravitated to it. A half century later, the album continues to be an impressive work that has held up over time. Freiman’s live, multimedia presentation carries within it the ability to welcome in listeners who were born decades after the album’s creation, and audiences who find inspiration in the music that has been passed down from parents to their children and grandchildren.
“I’ve been seeing a lot of college-aged students and younger adults coming to my live shows,” says Freiman. “A lot of younger musicians cite Pink Floyd as an influence. Anyone who listens to Radiohead or Tame Impala or Flaming Lips or Porcupine Tree can go back in time to learn about the musicians of the past who inspired these contemporary artists. I think that’s what draws a lot of people to learn about these landmark albums. The music still inspires, and I love to tell these stories for anyone who is curious about what went on in the studio as it was being created.”
Scott Freiman’s live multimedia lecture, “Deconstructing Dark Side of the Moon,” takes place at 8 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 16, at the Hanna Theater.
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