Albums and songs recorded in unusual environments and/or using unorthodox methods

U2's Unforgettable Fire was recorded in a castle.

http://www.popsike.com/pix/20090427/110382568460.jpg

I like the idea that if von ribbentrop had asked a fortune teller to show him the future of the 1000 year reich he would been offered an apparition of Can recording an album at schloss nörvenich.

not that experimental rock music represents the pinnacle of anti-fascism, but it still would have really pissed him off that it was in an old castle, even if it was a bit of a tarted up Barratt house by ancient Teutonic standards.

Andy Johns on recording Led Zeppelin IV @ Headley Grange and getting the drum sound on 'When the Levee Breaks'.

http://www.musicradar.com/news/drums/andy-johns-on-the-secrets-behind-the-led-zeppelin-iv-sessions-586533

Quite a few classic records were done with the Rolling Stones remote. From what I understand, running the remote truck business was what Ian Stewart did when the Stones were not on the road.

Deep Purple's Machine Head including "Smoke on the Water" was recorded at a casino in Montreaux that was closed for the season. Read a take on how it was done and they used an axis on two long hallways in the hotel to get the drum sound on that record.

I seem to recall the Grifters took a 4-track into a parking garage stairwell to record some overdubs on one of their early records.

Ben Vaughn Rambler 65 was recorded inside his 1965 Rambler American.

Jackson Browne Running on Empty - Three songs recorded in hotel rooms, one on a moving tour bus.

Living Colour, "Nothingness:"

“Corey sang into this satellite dish outside the studio (Long View Farm)–it was bent over instead of facing the sky. He said, `I wanna sing this outside’–it was 4 a.m.! Ron Saint Germain and I were walking past this dish and heard this crazy echo. So there’s no vocal overdub on that song, it’s one song with different microphones on a continuous vocal performance. An unbelievable experience, with Doug right under there makin’ it swing.

The Libertines - Anthems for Doomed Youth: After finally deciding to pick up where they left off 11 years after their demise, the boys headed to Thailand to record their comeback in isolated paradise - but quickly discovered their studio was built on an old snake-pit. Peter Dogherty told NME, I said to the guy there:"Do you have anti-venom for the snakes?' He said: 'Anti-venom?' I said: 'Yeah, anti-venom for snake bites." "No, if snake bites you, you die." "Ok, what about going to hospital?" "No! You die!"

xpost with more detail

Einsturzende Neubaten - Stahlmusik: The ridiculously experimental band recorded their LP in a small pillar of the Stadtautobahn Bridge in Berlin. According to the band's record company, Einsturzende Neubaten - Stahlmusik: The ridiculously experimental band recorded their LP in a small pillar of the Stadtautobahn Bridge in Berlin. According to the band's record company, "the inner core of the pillar could only be accessed through a crawl space, and candles were lit to monitor oxygen levels. Instrumentation was basic. A crude guitar and amp setup meant the tall singer, Blixa Bargeld, could play and sing if he bent almost double, while percussionist N.U. Unruh pounded two large bricks on oil drums on the walls of the autobahn." Holy moly.

Obviously a couple of famous albums at least partially recorded in prisons. And that guy last year recorded an entire album in an Apple store.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAxHlLK3Oyk

And inspired by that, Jakob Kirkegaard's Four Rooms, which was recorded in various (abandoned) places around Chernobyl

Stockhausen, Helikopter-Streichquartett

dunno how unusual it really is but I always liked the way Richard Bishop described the making of Tangier Sessions. improvised self-recordings in a quiet, dark apartment above the busy streets of the namesake city with only a very-old-but-brand-new-to-him guitar by his side. i suppose it's probably the myth talking, but i feel like i can feel the warm air hanging around when i listen thru headphones.

From the Neubauten documentary Liebeslieder

The watertower.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw_6dRjIDX8

The Stadtautobahn Bridge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm52NT4wnKE

Sleep No More by the Comsat Angels:

Frontman Stephen Fellows described how they achieved a resonant sound on a couple of the tracks: "Pete Wilson suggested taking the drums out of the studio – on the fourth floor at Polydor – and putting them near the lift-shaft (elevator shaft) by the stairs. We then put microphones on the three floors above and below... Obviously we were only able to do this sort of thing in the evening when the offices were closed!"

Especially if we're talking studio technique, for "People Are People" Depeche Mode pumped the bass drum down from the studio (Hansa?) to a giant set of PA speakers, cranked them up, then recorded the speakers.

Similarly, on a smaller scale, I remember reading that Adrian Sherwood would blast beats and drums through a pair of cheap headphones and then mic the headphones.

Esquivel to thread - on Latin-esque, reportedly he achieved extreme channel separation by placing two orchestras in different studios a block apart and then mixed the result live.

... i did not know that about Juan Garcia ... that crazy bastard. I'd put him at the table of the five historical figures you'd like to have diner with.

Sunn O))) Black One - Per Wikipedia: "The band supposedly also went so far as to lock the claustrophobic Malefic in a casket to record the vocals on "Báthory Erzsébet."

Let It Be, surely...

Warren Defever of His Name is Alive/Stars on ESP has recorded a lot of music on a 1930s Webster Wire recorder

Gong's "Magick Brother/Mystic Sister" was supposedly recorded on the sound channel of a movie camera - don't ask me how that works - and it does sound pretty rough tbh.

Laura Cannell recorded her latest album by herself in a lighthouse within the space of a few hours.

C-Murder's Truest Shit I Ever Said was recorded from prison during visiting hours with a handheld recorder

Garlo - Vent de Guitares

54 guitars placed on the summit of the highest sand dune in Europe. The magical song of hundreds of strings vibrating only under the wind's touch. Immense sound bands crossed by harmonic waves, and by eddys of frequencies... This is Vent de Guitares, a geo-acoustic creation, a work of land art where the ephemeral act and the climatic uncertainty generate a timeless music.

https://www.discogs.com/Garlo-Vent-De-Guitares/release/1575820

Amateur Doubles (Graham Lambkin) was recorded inside of a moving Honda Civic, supposedly.

My Morning Jacket recorded the vocals for their early albums in a disused grain silo

Mayhem recorded albums while the band was busy murdering each other

That's also true of Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors", but with sex.

They were busy murdering sex?

No, murdering each other with sex.

ciccone youth's cover of addicted to love was recorded in a karaoke booth iirc

along similar lines, neil young's album a letetr home was recorded in an old voice-o-graph vinyl recording booth

Mercury Rev recorded their first few records on 35mm tape.

The Fall recorded Hex Enduction Hour in an Icelandic igloo-like studio with lava walls and in a "disused cinema".

Women's first record was partially recorded in an outdoor culvert and a crawlspace, and recorded in parts on boomboxes.

The Feelies Crazy Rhythms recorded the guitars by plugging them directly into the board.

are albums recorded on a 4-track another category? nebraska by springsteen and roman candle by elliott smith, for example. bee thousand too i think

I.S.O. featuring Yoshihide Otomo, Sachiko M & Yoshimitsu Ichiraku was recorded live at Sesshu-tei Garden, Yamaguchi, Japan. It's very light beautiful electroacoustic ambient with the sounds of the garden, birds and such.
https://c7.staticflickr.com/6/5527/31342328782_94e749480a_o.jpg

ctrlf sulk no results what the fuck?