Legendary CARIBOU RANCH Recording Studio

I've never posted my own work here but I did a project about Caribou Ranch that might interest some people here, especially with the upcoming reissue of Pacific Ocean Blue. Jim Guercio opened the ranch to me, a photographer and a videographer for the first time since the fire closed the studio. You can read it all here:

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/special-reports/the-legend-of-caribou/

Moderators, if this is inappropriate let me know and I"ll delete.

 

very

 

Very cool indeed!

 

Wow! What A story! And, Stevie Wonder actually drove and took pictures!

I always said Carobou recordings sounded great!

 

Great stuff!

 

If this thread is inappropriate then we've been invaded by Martians. What a great story...thanks!

 

Great link, Mark

I hope you don't mind - I posted a couple of shots of the Caribou control room here:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?p=3193491#post3193491

 

Wonderful!

Thanks!

 

Inappropriate? Are you kidding? That is great stuff!

 

Just didn't want to toot my own horn here, but I thought people might like to see it. Be sure to check the videos, lots of vintage photos in there.

Two corrections before someone points them out. After this went to press we found out 1. Pacific Ocean Blue's March release date got pushed to May, and 2. The photo of Elton and Lennon may not be from Caribou, despite the assurances we were given that it was.

Thanks for your interest.

 

BTW, Amy Grant recorded her "Age To Age," first Christmas album, "Straight Ahead," and "Unguarded" albums at Caribou Ranch.

 

Yes, and she's included in the slideshow and timeline. "Unguarded" was the last thing recorded there before the fire.

 

Great tribute to a great place. I loved it.

 

Here's the wikipedia entry of the ranch: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribou_Ranch

 

Thanks for the great article Mark. Glad to know your on the forum. I had just finished the article and unknowingly posted and opened a new thread about your article. I thought it had a lot of fresh material that was of interest to many people on this forum.

As a local it has always been a pleasure to read Mark Brown's articles. His writing is of the highest standard in rock journalism.

Cheers
Clay

 

Great! This place should at least open for a limited time each year as a museum, if not a studio again. Thanks Mark, Javier, Laressa, Lesley and Joe .

 

http://www.co.boulder.co.us/openspace/recreating/public_parks/caribou_ranch.htm

 

So,it was 'just' a fire in the control room,but the actual studio still stands?--Every reference I've heard about this was the entire ranch burned to the ground. Very glad to hear/see this isn't the case.

 

You are right. Just the control room.

 

Does any one know for sure if Caribou Ranch had a vault where some of the master and session tapes of some of the recording artists who recorded there were kept or stored?
I've heard some rumours that those tapes got burned during the fire.
Is there some truth in it or is it purely mythical?

 

Yes -- as noted above, the fire was fairly devastating in a structural sense but contained to the control room. Instruments, equipment and mixing boards were all saved. The part of the studio where the musicians actually recorded was untouched except for some smoke damage. If you watch the videos, you will see the "Bridge Over Troubled Water" piano -- a Steinway used on recordings by Bessie Smith, the piano you hear on the 1st take of Like a Rolling Stone, and, obviously, the song that gives the piano its name.

I did tour the tape vaults and saw everything there. All safe and sound, all amazing, and it has been digitally backed up.

 

Thanks a lot Mark for a quick and informative response. This is great news for many fans of the 70's music! Your answer to my question has just debunked the myth that some of the Chicago session tapes were destroyed in Caribou Ranch Studio. It's nice to know that the tapes are all safe and has benn backed up digitally.
As a side note, it was actually Larry Knetchtel of Bread who played that piano intro of Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water."

 

For the Chicago reissues they did have to send some of the tapes to L.A. to be baked... if you look at the time frame you'll understand why.

 

Are you talking about future Chicago reissues or the unpopular Rhino remasters?

 

Hopefully, both.

There's another whole story behind all that.