Albums Recorded in One Session?

Anyone know any? I don't, but just got the idea while thinking about planning to record a school Jazz band rehearsal......
Can you think of some of the possible magic/disasters that could have been created?

 

A few of Bob Dylan's early albums were done in a day.

I also believe Alex Chilton's "Set," was done in a day.

 

I think direct to disc jazz albums are often done at one session.
The most obvious one session album would be Please Please Me by The Beatles.

 

Please Please Me by The Beatles, of course.

Though the two singles recorded previously were included on the LP, the ten remaining tracks, specifically recorded for The Beatles' debut album, were recorded in one day: February 11, 1963.

 

One amazing example is John Mayall's 'The blues Alone' album from 1967, which he did in one day. He plays all the instruments, save from a couple of tracks on which Keef Hartley drums.

 

thousands of jazz albums. sometimes 2 in one day!

 

Technically, ten songs of the fourteen released on the finished album were done in a day. "Love Me Do," "P.S. I Love You," "Please Please Me" & "Ask Me Why," were already released as singles.

 

I think some of the early Iron Maiden albums were.

 

The Rutles, of course!!! From their story: "Their first album, Please Rut Me, was made in twenty minutes. Their second took even longer."

 

Jamming With Edward by a few members of The Rolling Stones - Mick Jagger, Charlie and Bill - plus Nicky Hopkins and Ry Cooder. It was recorded in a few hours.... the band was waiting for Keith to show up (and he never did) so instead of wasting the time, they started the tapes rolling.

IIRC, the liner notes by Mick say something to the effect of "I hope you spend longer listening to this than we did making it."

 

I don't know if this counts, but Benny Goodman and his Orchestra (under the pseudonym The Rhythm Makers) recorded 50 songs (in one take) in one day for NBC Thesaurus transcriptions on June 6, 1935. Half of these were issued on a SH-mastered CD titled "Good to Go".

 

Genesis - From Genesis To Revelation (minus the strings that Jonathan King chose to add later).

 

hasn't it been said that willie nelson records an album a day sometimes?

 

Black Sabbath's first album, IIRC.

 

As previously mentioned, tons of jazz albums. I remember a friend who was a producer in the '60's telling me that a lot of jazz records that sound like they had to be recorded in the middle of the night were actually cut in the morning or afternoon, since the musicians had evening gigs.

Black Flag's Nervous Breakdown (probably a lot of other punk albums as well, out of budget considerations).

The Velvet Underground's White Light/White Heat (although that may be apocryphal); they cut all of the songs for their first album in one session as well, although they later redid three of them for the LP.

The Fall's Live At The Witch Trials (not a live album)

 

"Harlem Street Singer" - Blind Gary Davis (8/24/60)

 

Another Side of Bob Dylan was supposedly recorded in a single session.

 

What about Rock For Light by Bad Brains?
http://wc08.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=10:kifwxql5ldhe

The songs flow seamlessly into each other. Maybe I'm manufacturing this tale, or maybe I've bought into a legend, but... .... IIRC Bad Brains were one of those bands who had honed their skills together in months of nightly performances, so they were able to take their club set into the studio and run through their songs nonstop.

Sounds too good to be true but this is an amazingly tight band raging through punk and then spinning the listeners heads around by dropping into medium tempo reggae across but one simple slap of a drumstick.

I guess I don't really want to know if this is not true. The transitions are so flawless it sounds like they had to cut at least 2 tracks at a time, or maybe a whole LP side.

 

Not an album, but Don Reno recorded the "Home Sweet Home"/"Green Mountain Hop" single at WBT Radio in Charlotte NC in one 12 hour session. What is amazing is that although attributed to Don Reno, Red Smiley and The Tennessee Cut-Ups; the two songs were multitracked by Don Reno alone. He sang bass, baritone and tenor (on Home Sweet Home, Green Mountain Hop is an instrumental) and played banjo, guitar, fiddle, drums and stand-up bass. He was also the recording engineer. There was no one else at the station but a DJ. The single was released a few days later to upstage a release of Home Sweet Home by a lesser known artist that was getting a lot of air time.

The recordings are flawless!

 

You might be thinking of "Black Dots"; that one was a single session.

 

Lil' Ed & the Blues Imperials - Roughhousin'.

Tom

 

Then 28.6% of it wasn't recorded in that one session.

And Martin did some overdubs later, if I recall correctly.

JcS

 

No I wasn't thinking of another title but you have offered an explanation as to why I felt so sure they had done Rock For Light in one session. I might have read about Black Dots and transfered that memory over the last decade to my first Bad Brains LP that had impressed me so. Thanks. I'm only a little let down.

 

A Love Supreme, IIRC.

Tons of jazz titles, actually.