1 Day Albums

[Al Rogers]

I'm always amazed when I read about an entire album that was recorded in a single day. Thought it would be interesting to put together a list. Here are 3 that I know of to get this started:

Please Please Me - The Beatles
Gunfighter Ballads - Marty Robbins
The Armadillo Album - Leo Kottke

I'm sure there are others. Please add the ones you know about.

-Al

[mbrebes]

That reminds me of when I used to have mexican bands come into my studio. They would do all basic tracks and overdubs for an album in one day, then come back and have me mix the complete album in 2-3 hours. They didn't want to waste a penny.

[Al Rogers]

I recorded a flamenco group like that one time. Flew a stereo mic above the stage in a club and recorded an evening of music and dance straight to DAT. They recouped the expense and made a profit from selling their CDs at gigs.

Here's another 1 day album:

A Meeting at the River - Ry Cooder and V.M. Bhatt

I'll open this up a little. One day is pretty limiting. Let's say 1 day to 2 weeks. That let's me include:

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere - Neil Young and Crazy Horse
Mudcrutch - by the band Mudcrutch (Tom Petty and friends)

-Al

[Mike O]

I believe a large percentage of ECM releases were tracked in a day. Sorry, doesn't add many specific titles to the list.....

[Pasta4lnch]

wasn't the first Zepplin album recorded in one night? on a four track


i can see maybe tracking in one day - but I imagine mixing would be really hard. my ears wear after a while. i hate tracking even one song and then mixing it the same day, let alone a whole album . . .

best I ever did was tracking drums on 10 songs in one day - and the drummer was tighter than a . . . well you get it . . .

[chrispick]

I think I read that "Outlandos D'Amour," The Police's debut album, was recorded in a day. Not so uncommon, I imagine, for punk bands of that day.

[Jake]

I'm not sure if these were all recorded within 24 hours, but if not they were close:

Stan Getz/Joao Gilberto -- Getz/Gilberto
Nick Drake -- Pink Moon
Otis Redding -- Otis Blue

Pretty hard to top any of these three IMO. I'm guessing that there are plenty of classic Blues/Jazz/Punk records that were recorded in a day that I don't know off the top of my head.

[valver]

Black Sabbath's 1st LP "Black Sabbath", me seems to recall

[Phillystylec]

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - Jacksonville City Nights was recorded in 3 days or so I think.

[Outlaw Hans]

Kristoffersons new album "This old Road". Sounds like it though. But that is ol' kris' charm.

[Gone 6 days now]

I don't think i could stand a band for a full day, some people have amazing self restraint...just not me

[Mumblesound]

Not really the same thing, but along the same lines.. sort of:
Frank Black's more recent stuff was done live to 2 track.

Crazy.

[mopppish]

:: milkcrate ::
There's a total of, I believe, 23 sessions that they've done.
Most (but not all) are album length.

[Al Rogers]

Lead Me On - Kelly Joe Phelps

It was recorded in his living room in a single day.

[ScumBum]

Sometimes It takes almost a whole day just to set up the drums with mics and tuning.

Please Please me , is one of my all time favorite albums too .

Any band that can pull off a one day album is inspiration for me .

[Chucho]

'Kind of Blue' - 2 half days.
biggest selling jazz album of all time.

[Al Rogers]

Originally Posted by Chucho

'Kind of Blue' - 2 half days.
biggest selling jazz album of all time.

...and Miles Davis wrote the arrangements on a napkin while he was having lunch.

Great album! What a band!

[Xian00]

This is exactly what I plan to do for my next recording in a few months. I am renting a room at this amazing farm in upstate NY, bringing all my gear and recording live with a band. I am going for a more rustic sound, however. I've recorded several tracks live at my project studio and have been very pleased with the results using very minimal overdubs.

[Crash]

Originally Posted by valver

Black Sabbath's 1st LP "Black Sabbath", me seems to recall

...close, they had the luxury of doing it in 2 days.

Black Sabbath - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Al Rogers]

November 23, 1936 Robert Johnson began recording at the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio, Texas. 3 days later he had completed recordings of 16 songs plus alternate takes.

[kafka]

Originally Posted by Al Rogers

November 23, 1936 Robert Johnson began recording at the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio, Texas. 3 days later he had completed recordings of 16 songs plus alternate takes.

OK, you win. Two recording sessions for his entire career, and we're still talking about it 72 years later.

[Han]

A month ago I recorded a 14 song album with a jazzband in 3:40 hr.

[Al Rogers]

Nah Kafka... it's not a competition. I started this thread purely for entertainment. It's thought provoking though to realize that some of the most influential recordings in music history were made in a day or at most 2-3 days.

-Al

[Chris Williams]

Trout mask replica by captain beefheart was recorded in a few hours iirc :)

[greatgreatriver]

bill evans monica zetterlund waltz for debby

YouTube - Monica Zetterlund with Bill Evans Trio "Waltz for Debby"

[jagalactic]

Originally Posted by Chucho

'Kind of Blue' - 2 half days.
biggest selling jazz album of all time.

Most classic jazz albums were recorded in one or two sessions. The jazz discography project web site (Jazz Discography Project) has session info for a lot of classic jazz recordings. Some others I'd put in the same transcendental quality zone as Kind of Blue:

* Soul Station - Hank Mobley - 1 session
* Sunday at the Village Vanguard - Bill Evans - 1 day of a gig (live may be a special case, though...)
* Them Dirty Blues - Cannonball Adderley - 2 sessions
* Blue Train by John Coltrane - 1 session
* Stan Getz and Bill Evans - 2 sessions...

In an entirely different genre, I recall reading that Joe Jackson's first album (Look Sharp) was recorded in less than a week. I still love that album.

Oh, and if it's smooth, it ain't jazz :-)

John

[Audio Hombre]

Originally Posted by chrispick

I think I read that "Outlandos D'Amour," The Police's debut album, was recorded in a day. Not so uncommon, I imagine, for punk bands of that day.

really? i knew it was cheap by label standards of the day, like $16k, but didn't know it was one day. if it was, where did they spend all the money? surely not in the studio, which i heard was more or less just a demo studio at that.

[vernier]

Albums recorded in a few days should be note worthy, which would be alot of albums.
'

[Mark Gifford]

Bring The Family - John Hiatt

4 days, and it doesn't get much better than that, IMHO.

MG

[Marjan]

Originally Posted by Mike O

I believe a large percentage of ECM releases were tracked in a day.

The greater the musicianship, the quicker.