Other accounts than Jethro Tull's that Château d'Hérouville was such a HORRENDOUS place to record?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by ParloFax, Dec 22, 2015.

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  1. ParloFax

    ParloFax Senior Member Thread Starter

    ... in the early 70s? I can hardly believe what I'm reading about it in the "A Passion Play" deluxe version book! Including the "amenities" and staying accommodations... Several other big acts have recorded there in the late 60s/early 70s... What is really that bad?
     
  2. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    It must not have been too bad considering all the great albums that were recorded there, but according to Ritchie Blackmore and David Bowie, it is seriously haunted! :laugh:
     
  3. tmwlng

    tmwlng Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denmark
    Elton John recorded three albums there (Honky Chateau, Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road) and from the interviews I've heard about it from his angle it was just a cozy place in the middle of nowhere, and the band and the crew and their families lived there while they were recording. But two of these albums were recorded in spring or summer, Honky Chateau being recorded in January. Perhaps it could turn into a spooky place if the weather's crap. That happens to places sometimes.
     
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  4. ParloFax

    ParloFax Senior Member Thread Starter

    Ian Anderson and/or Martin Barre (can't remember at the moment) tell of a horrible bearded matron who served them meat of dubious animal origin, which made everyone in turn sick to his gut, and bottles of red wine with fruit flies in 'em... Their sleeping quarters was a dormitory with the linen unchanged since the previous group/crew's last visit... And studio equipment which broke down all the time...

    Sounds like a joke!
     
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  5. Tristero

    Tristero In possession of the future tense

    Location:
    MI
    Yeah, I think some of that old "spook" haunts the recordings that Bowie produced for Low. I'm not one to believe in the supernatural like this, but it does rather feel like he was exorcising some ghosts there.
     
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  6. davmar77

    davmar77 I'd rather be drummin'...

    Location:
    clifton park,ny
    Grateful Dead 6-21-71 Chateau d'Herouville Herouville France

     
  7. driverdrummer

    driverdrummer Forum Resident

    Location:
    Irmo, SC
    Jethro Tull-Left/Right is a weird song recorded at Chateau!!
     
  8. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    I'm thinking some slight exaggeration may have been taken with that recollection!
     
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  9. audiotom

    audiotom I can not hear a single sound as you scream

    Location:
    New Orleans La USA
    anything is better than Jamaica

    Tull would go on to record Minstrel in Monaco - nice
    Elton - Caribou ranch in the secluded Colorado Rocky Mountains
     
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  10. richard a

    richard a Forum Resident

    Location:
    borley, essex, uk
    Bowie and some of his team had bad food poisoning from the poor catering at the Chateau when they were recording Low.
     
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  11. ParloFax

    ParloFax Senior Member Thread Starter

    I love that song!
     
  12. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Uriah Heep recorded Sweet Freedom there in 1973. Liner notes say "the studio was plagued with problems. Machinery was constantly failing. In fact, Heep were not the only band to record here and encounter problems, as Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull will testify.....Heep obviously managed to get the better of the ghosts (probably by deafening them!)...."

    Then Hensley recounts how American crew set off fireworks on 4th of July, Kerslake wrecking a rental car on a fishing trip, swimming, playing ping pong and shooting rifles.....so, doesn't sound TOO awful.
     
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  13. audiotom

    audiotom I can not hear a single sound as you scream

    Location:
    New Orleans La USA
    the Classic Albums video of EJ's GBYBR portrays the Chateau as a great place
    they had breakfast together each morning
    walked out in the garden
    etc
     
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  14. pbuzby

    pbuzby Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    IIRC, Tull also mentioned having problems due to food some of them ate in Bombay before they went to the Chateau.
     
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  15. ParloFax

    ParloFax Senior Member Thread Starter

    Martin Barre also told (audio interview in "Thick As A Brick" 25th ann. edition) of a huge matron with blood spattered on her apron, serving them at some daily route stop, during the TaaB recording or rehearsals; I wonder if he didn't get the situations mixed up... Either that of they're a bit masochistic... I mean when there are so many places to eat and you're doing at least not so bad...
     
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  16. robcar

    robcar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    I've read quotes over the years from Bernie Taupin, Elton, and Davey Johnstone indicating that the creature comforts were rather spartan at the Chateau and that it did have a gloomy, occasionally creepy vibe.

    It's gradually falling into ruin these days and, while Paris is only about 40 minutes' drive away, the village where the chateau is located is extremely small and in a rural area. The place certainly doesn't look very inviting nowadays.
     
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  17. konut

    konut Prodigious Member. Thank you.

    Location:
    Whatcom County, WA
    They would have had more fun if they had recorded at the Chateau d'Hooterville.
     
  18. tootull

    tootull Looking through a glass onion

    Location:
    Canada
  19. ParloFax

    ParloFax Senior Member Thread Starter

    Thanks! They paint quite a different picture than Tull's...

    This Château revival story is such a coincidence! The same week I unknowlingly decided to hit the national library to finally get my hands on "A Passion Play" deluxe after all this time...
     
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