5 Rock Albums That Were Recorded on a Boat

Working out of a makeshift studio is a rite of passage for most bands. Sometimes the conventional studio isn’t an option or creative prerogative. Johnny Cash famously recorded two albums live from penitentiaries: At Folsom Prison in 1968 and At San Quentin in 1969. The Rolling Stones recorded their 1972 album Exile on Main Street in a less-than-palatial, unfinished basement underneath the Villa Nellcôte in Versailles, France. Jackson Browne recorded Running On Empty from tour buses, hotel rooms, backstage, and rehearsal spaces while on tour, emphasizing life on the road.

For Nine Inch Nails‘ The Downward Spiral (1994), Trent Reznor uprooted to a stranger locale, the Benedict Canyon, California home where actress Sharon Tate and four others were murdered by members of the Charles Manson Family. In 2004, the Black Keys also set up shop inside an abandoned General Tire factory in Akron, Ohio to record their third album, partly named Rubber Factory. 

Aside from the more land-based recording sites, some bands opted to record on the open sea instead. Here’s a look at three bands and artists who recorded and mixed albums aboard a boat.

1. Wings, London Town (1978)

When Wings started falling apart in the late ’70s, Paul McCartney took the band to Watermelon Bay on the north coast of St John in the Virgin Islands for some rest, relaxation—and recording. The band recorded their sixth album, London Town aboard a makeshift studio on the yacht called the Fair Carol, which had a 24-track machine installed.

“We hired a charter boat that people use for holidays,” said Paul McCartney in a 1977 interview with Melody Maker. “The captain went spare when he saw all the instruments. We remodeled his boat for him, which he wasn’t too keen on. We converted his lounge into a studio and we turned another deck into a sound control room, and it was fantastic. We had a recording boat and two others we stayed on.”

During the London Town sessions, three boats were technically used since the band had a team of 20 people and plenty of equipment. The Fair Carol was the recording studio, while a second boat, Samala, was used for eating and sleeping, and the third, El Toro, served as a respite for the McCartneys.

McCartney joked that the band didn’t face any issues with outside elements, but had many late-night parties. “We didn’t have any problems with saltwater in the machines or sharks attacking us,” joked McCartney. “At night, there was much merriment, leaping from top decks into uncharted waters and stuff. I had a couple too many one night and nearly broke something jumping from one boat to another—but then you always break yourself up on holiday. The studio worked out incredibly well and on the very first day, we got a track down. There was a nice free feeling. We’d swim in the day and record at night.”

Working on water paid off for Wings. The album peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and the single “With a Little Luck” went to No. 1. Michael Jackson even covered the London Town track “Girlfriend” for his 1979 album Off the Wall.

2—4. Pink Floyd: A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987); The Division Bell (1994); and The Endless River (2014)

When David Gilmour came across a houseboat advertised in an issue of Country Life magazine while waiting in the dentist’s office in 1986, he had to have it. “I just happened to find this beautiful boat that was built as a houseboat and was very cheap, so I bought it,” recalled Gilmour in 2016. “And then only afterward did I think I could maybe use it to record. The control room is a 30-foot by 20-foot room. It’s a very comfortable working environment—three bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, a big lounge. It’s 90 feet long.”

Originally built in 1911 for British slapstick comedian and theater impresario Fred Karno, Gilmour called the vessel, moored on the River Thames in Hampton Court, London, Astoria, and converted it into a studio. “I’ve spent half my life in airless recording studios with no windows, no light, and we get here and it’s beautiful,” said Gilmour of why he created a floating studio.

On board, he recorded and produced large portions of Pink Floyd’s final three albums, A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987), The Division Bell (1994), and The Endless River (2014) with remaining Floyd bandmates Dave Mason and Richard Wright. The Astoria was also used to mix the band’s 1995 live album Pulse and its accompanying film.

5. David Gilmour, On an Island (2006)

In 2005, Gilmour also started recording his third solo album On an Island, his first solo album in 22 years (since About Face), featuring Wright, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Phil Manzanera, Jools Holland, and others. The album topped the UK chart marking his first No. 1 outside of Pink Floyd, and peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200; the single “Smile,” also went to No. 1 in the UK.

Years later, Gilmour also recorded and mixed parts of his 2015 solo album Rattle That Lock, aboard the Astoria, along with his 2007 video Remember that Night, Live in Gdańsk from 2008, and his 2024 release Luck & Strange.

Photo: Paul McCartney (l) and Linda McCartney with members of Wings in Venice, Italy, 1976. (Patrice PICOT/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)