Another music landmark gone

[Botch]

A friend of mine in Colorado posted this on Facebook:

Well, it's a heartbreaking day.
For the musicians on my friends list, I needn't say more than 'Caribou'.
Guercio sold the ranch last July - to a Wal-Mart spawn, no less (who has since removed a good chunk of all things 'studio goodness', as I understand) - and tomorrow a ton of furniture and some pieces of musical gear go on the auction block.
One of the things I had hoped to do, after moving here, was to finally visit Caribou. As a musician and a recording engineer-type, it was my 'Mecca'. Despite having a few friends who had access, we never got around to doing so. Today, I got the closest I'll ever get to being able to do so, and that was to see some of these things in auction preview. One in particular was the piano used to record my favorite Elton John album "Captain Fantastic", as well as many of the songs from the albums that Chicago did there. Among the bonus discoveries, today, was the Fender Rhodes used in Chicago's "If You Leave Me Now" and the never-fail-to-energize-you opening keyboard riff that defines Earth, Wind, and Fires' "Shining Star", as well as the piano that was brought in specifically for Chick Corea's "Return To Forever". Also, a bass guitar Terry Kath used when he wasn't playing guitar in Chicago, and a Hammond B3 that appeared on too many songs to list.
The piano, though - a 1910 Steinway - was my number one 'hope to see'. The sound of that piano is forever burned into my brain, by millions of record spins.
Stunning memorabilia all around. The furniture (and the history surrounding some of it) was jaw-dropping.
The marches of time and progress are unavoidable, but not always what's best for the soul or some aspects of humanity. This would be one of those times.

A follow-on poster said that that piano was also used on Bridge over Troubled Water....

 

[Botch]

 

[Botch]

Chicago recorded under Guercio from II through, I believe, XI (their twelth album, Hot Streets, was produced by Steven Foster, would have to look up after that).

I was wrong about that. Hot Streets was their comeback after Kath's death; Foster came along around number XVII or so.

 

[Botch]

Okay, I'm having a conversation with myself, but damn I'm so interesting! bscene-birdiedoublered:

Somewhere between gradeschool and Jr. High, I became a huge fan of Chicago. I found a used 45 (ask your parents) at a Musicland (ask your parents), the "B" side (ask your parents) was "Free". I devoured that record.
My Jr. High jazz band instructor passed us a chart for "Free", and we tried it out. The brass part gets pretty tangled up at about 1:15:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTLVKeo90iA[/youtube]

...but I sorta played through it, first time through. The instructor's eyes were bugged out, he thought I was an incredible sight-reader (he soon figured out otherwise). We never tried the chart again. Great memories! :music-rockout:

 

[AndySTL]

So where was this studio?

 

[Botch]

Somewhere in the foothills of Colorado, near Denvoid. There's a lot of photos of Chicago members dressed very warmly out there.

I just did a Googlez Search, here's a cool doc:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY_uZNQ-Zjo[/youtube]

So, add John Lennon, James Gang/Joe Walsh, America and the Beach Boys to the list.

 

[PaulyT]

Okay, I'm having a conversation with myself, but damn I'm so interesting! bscene-birdiedoublered:

No worries, I'm following with interest - never heard about any of this.

 

[garypf]

Crap. No one appreciates music anymore. Damn Pro Tools.

 

[heeman]

Thanks Botch, very interesting!

:music-rockout: :music-rockout: