Legendary CARIBOU RANCH Recording Studio

In out-of-the-way places "Piano Man" was a huge first single. I didn't live in Denver/Boulder at the time, but I did live in Anchorage, Alaska, and radio there played "Piano Man" constantly -- so much so that my junior high school english teacher spoke about it in class. In Anchorage we'd have lined up for the Starland Vocal Band, so Billy Joel would have sold arenas. Had there been any.

Given that, people lined around the block to see him in a 300-seat club in Boulder and 277-seat club in Denver is hardly far-fetched to me, especially having heard the eyewitness accounts.

 

The Denver PBS station did a special on Caribou after our project ran in the Rocky Mountain News, and got such a great response that they're now streaming it online. James Guercio's first TV appearance in decades, along with studio manager John Carsello and myself. You might enjoy it, they open up and tell some good stories:

http://www.kbdi.org/on_demand/video_player.cfm?video=8

 

Great job Mark. A lot of interesting back stories from Guercio (and John and you) about the Ranch. You cover much in an hour -from the jazz greats (Weather Report, Cannonball etc.) to Chicago and from Bing to Elvis to Lennon.

A nice addition to your project in the Rocky Mountain News. Thanks for the fine work and for sharing it.

 

Great interview special Mark

 

james guercios' vision of building a successful studio in the unspoiled rocky mountains vs la or new york has proven to be correct imo.

oddly (and sadly) enough, the closing of the studio in the 80s quickly gave way to the (imo at least) artificial sounding-digital age of popular music.

was caribou ranch studio a place where hip-hop artists would want to record? probably not but who knows,maybe they would enjoy the ranch.

would modern country artists enjoy caribou today? i would guess a big yes.

nothing has replaced caribou ranch in the realm of popular music.

 

I did save all of the Caribou Ranch related stuff from the Rocky Mountain News website.

 

I would love to hear any Caribou stories related to Earth, Wind, & Fire's Open Our Eyes album!

The Billy Joel with Elton's Band story was very interesting. Would love to hear the songs they recorded together one day!

 

To preserve it before the paper shuts down?

 

Yep.

 

This is a bump because there is news that the Rocky Mountain News research, videos, etc. will be posted on a website at caribouranch.com as soon as the RMN site closes down.

 

I still have the backup stuff to this very day from the RMN site.

 

BTW, the Rocky Mountain News domain will expire on May 21, 2010.

 

I just saw this. Incredible story.

 

Thanks, Brad, for holding onto all of that data. Still awaiting the day to put it up at caribouranch.com.

In the meantime, Jim Guercio invited a news crew up to Caribou Ranch this week to do a small special on it. For those of you in Denver it will air tomorrow, Sunday, July 12 at 10 p.m. mountain time on KDVR Fox 31. For those of you not in the area I'll find out if they're putting it on their website afterward. You can live-stream it through the station's website when it airs, apparently:

http://www.kdvr.com/

And for those who missed it, here's an hour-long PBS special we did last year with Jim Guercio about Caribou Ranch.

https://www.kbdi.org/on_demand/video_player.cfm?video=8

 

I hope to be able to watch this - thanks so much for your work. I would live to get all this information and photos in hard copy or print i.e. a book, monograph, etc.

 

Thanks for the link, Mark. I am enjoying it greatly.

 

That's what we're working on, but in this economy getting a book and documentary funded is a real challenge. The filmed interviews we've done in the past year are really excellent (especially the guys from Return to Forever, who were gracious, generous, interesting and fun), along with the eye-popping historical footage we've uncovered. I'm glad some of you are as interested in this project as I am.

 

Lots of memories and tons of information!
Thank you Mark for sharing with us the link to the excellent Caribou Ranch interview with the legendary record producer James William Guercio.
I enjoyed every second of it!

 

Some of the artists who have recorded at Caribou:

America
Blood, Sweat and Tears
Badfinger
The Beach Boys
Jeff Beck
Mike Brewer
David Cassidy
Chicago
Phil Collins
Chick Corea
Deep Purple
Rick Derringer
Al Di Meola
Dio
Earth, Wind & Fire
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Sheena Easton
Dan Fogelberg
Peter Frampton
Gerard
Jerry Goodman
Jan Hammer
Amy Grant
Michael Jackson
Waylon Jennings
Billy Joel
Elton John
Carole King
Kris Kristofferson
Robert Lamm
John Lennon (contributed to Elton John recording sessions)
Jerry Lee Lewis
Pat McJimsey, I Dig Girls album
Jac Murphy
Michael Martin Murphy
Stevie Nicks
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Tony Orlando
Ozark Mountain Daredevils
Tom Petty
Eddie Rabbitt
Rainbow Canyon
Bruce Roberts
Sailor
David Sancious
Tom Scott and the L.A. Express
Billy Joe Shaver
Shooting Star (band)
Sons of Champlin
Souther Hillman Furay Band
Rod Stewart
Stephen Stills
Supertramp
Ali Thomson
Len Trout
U2
James Vincent
Joe Walsh
War
Tony Williams
Carl Wilson
Dennis Wilson
Frank Zappa

 

What is the highlighting about AudiophilePhil? BTW, as mentioned earlier in the thread, the 4 albums that Amy Grant recorded at Caribou Ranch are "Age To Age," "A Christmas Album," "Straight Ahead," and "Unguarded" which do contain a lot of her most celebrated work early in her career.

 

I did it ('highlighting') for myself. Thos are the artists that I have in my vinyl collection, their Caribou Ranch recordings of course.

 

I still love this album cover, shot at the ranch



And this


and this



and this



and this

 

forgot one

 

Thanks Mark for posting the Caribou Ranch album covers.

I think this photo of the original lineup found inside the album Chicago VII (1974) was also taken from the Caribou Ranch.

 

Hi Mark, would you please update us on this project?

Is it close to completion?