10 Albums Recorded In Bizarre Locations
8. Inside - Paul Horn
We journey back a few decades for this one, and into the world of pioneering jazz/new age composer, flautist and saxophonist Paul Horn. Born in New York City, Horn was something of a child prodigy, playing piano from the age of four and clarinet soon after. A graduate of both the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Manhattan School of Music, Horn earned five prestigious Grammy nominations over a career which saw him play alongside Chico Hamilton, Nat King Cole and Duke Ellington.
Horn's 1969 live album, the appropriately-titled, Inside, initially released via Epic Records, makes this list thanks to having been recorded in the interior of one of the most famous buildings in the world, the Taj Mahal, in Agra, Utter Pradesh, India. Constructed over 16 years, beginning in 1648 AD, the Taj Mahal stands as one of the most recognizable and beautiful of man-made edifices – a moving monument commissioned by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to commemorate his deceased wife.
As you might expect, Horn's recordings are highly atmospheric and full of mystery. He returned in 1989, on the album's twentieth anniversary, to record a sequel: Inside The Taj Mahal II.