A country house at West Hythe · West Hythe, near Hythe, Kent
The new band rehearsed for several months at a country house in West Hythe, Kent.
The house is not named in the sources, so nothing is mapped. The photograph is the village.
West Hythe · Soho · Caribou · West Los Angeles · Paris · 1969 to 1979
Supertramp
Named after a tramp’s memoir, they kept leaving town to make their records. Then the biggest one was made in Los Angeles, by a man sleeping in a camper at the kerb.
Kent · 1969 to 1972
A millionaire’s money.
A house in the country.
Rick Davies had played in a band called the Joint, backed by a Dutch millionaire, Stanley August Miesegaes; in 1969 Miesegaes gave up on the Joint and offered Davies the chance to form a band of his own.
Daddy
The band’s first name, in 1969.
The band was founded in London in 1969; the first album came out in 1970 and Indelibly Stamped in 1971. Miesegaes withdrew his money in October 1972.
Where this comes from
Five records · five turnings · 1969 to 1979
Every record, the same question.
Town or country?
- 1969The first band
- 1973Crime of the Century
- 1976Even in the Quietest Moments
- 1978Breakfast in America
- 1979Paris
1969 · The first band
- 0 of 0 out of town
- 0 of 0 right
1969, The first band: which way did they go? Point the fingerpost.
Point the fingerpost to see where the road went in 1969.
The Dorset–Somerset line, Soho and Battersea · 1973 and 1974
Months on a farm.
Then three London studios.
It came out on 25 October 1974 and reached number four in Britain in March 1975; Dreamer reached number thirteen the same month.
Southcombe · Near Thorncombe, on the Dorset–Somerset border
Southcombe was a cottage where the band, with family, friends and crew, lived and worked on their third album, Crime of the Century.
They spent the rest of 1973 and much of 1974 there.
Accounts differ on the county: the band history says Somerset; Martin Melhuish’s Supertramp Book places Southcombe Farm at Thorncombe, a seventeenth-century farm in west Dorset.
A private farm: named, never mapped or shown. The photograph is Fore Street in Thorncombe.
Where this comes from
Trident Studios · 17 St Anne’s Court, Soho, London
A&M put the band in the studio with Ken Scott and told them to take as long as they wanted.
Hodgson says the band learned at Trident how to make records that sound good.
Crime of the Century was recorded from February to June 1974 at Trident, Ramport and Scorpio Sound, all in London.
Seen from the alley between Wardour Street and Dean Street; the building is a working voice-over studio, not open to visitors.
Where this comes from
The brothers Norman and Barry Sheffield founded Trident; a blue plaque marks David Bowie’s recordings here, and today’s occupier does voice-over and ADR work.
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Ramport Studios · 115 Thessaly Road, Battersea, London
This was The Who’s own studio, where they recorded Quadrophenia and Who Are You.
It was one of the three London studios used for Crime of the Century in 1974.
A Wandsworth green plaque, nominated by Brian Barnes, was unveiled here in November 2017.
Look for the green plaque from the pavement on Thessaly Road; the building is not open to visitors.
Where this comes from
Malibu, Topanga Canyon and Colorado · 1976
A living-room demo, a canyon dinner.
A 12-string in a lift shaft.
- 2 rented houses in Malibu
- 17 miles west of Boulder
- 4 cabins for band and crew
- 8×8 ft freight lift for one guitar
Two rented houses in Malibu · Malibu, California
After taking July and August 1976 off, the band settled at a two-house property in Malibu rented by their manager, Dave Margereson.
The house on the hill was their base for about two months of rehearsals and demos.
Hodgson first played Give a Little Bit to the band here; they demoed it in the living room on his Sony tape deck, with one Shure SM57.
Private houses, not identified in the source: never mapped or shown. The photograph is the coast highway.
Where this comes from
Inn of the Seventh Ray · 128 Old Topanga Canyon Road, Topanga
On the evening of 28 October 1976 the engineer Peter Henderson drove up Topanga Canyon to meet Hodgson and the sound engineer Russell Pope here.
Within two days, Pope recalled, they had decided he was right for the record.
It has been a restaurant since 1975, with a garden and tables by the creek under old sycamores.
A restaurant: dinner nightly from about 5.30pm, brunch at weekends; book ahead. The photograph is the canyon road up to it.
Where this comes from
Inn of the Seventh Ray
Dinner at the Inn of the Seventh Ray
128 Old Topanga Canyon Road, Topanga · Dinner Mon–Fri 5.30–9pm, weekends 5.15–9.30pm
Where Hodgson and Pope met their engineer in October 1976: a restaurant by the creek in Topanga Canyon. Book ahead.
Book a table
Caribou Ranch · County Road 126, near Nederland, Colorado
The band wanted out of Los Angeles and its traffic; Margereson wanted somewhere isolated, as for Crime of the Century; Hodgson wanted somewhere to think only about music.
Jim Guercio built the ranch studio in 1972 on an old Arabian horse ranch near Nederland, 17 miles west of Boulder, in a barn rebuilt over three floors.
Band and crew ate in the lodge’s mess hall and slept in four cabins; recording began on 3 November 1976 and overdubs ran until 21 December.
The open space is day-use only and closed from 1 April to 30 June every year; no dogs or bikes. The studio site is private land nearby.
Where this comes from
Hodgson’s 12-string on Give a Little Bit was recorded in the shaft of an eight-by-eight-foot freight lift.
The studio stood on private property near today’s open space; it closed after a fire destroyed its control room in March 1985.
Boulder County Parks and Open Space
Walk Caribou Ranch Open Space
County Road 126, Nederland, Colorado · Closed 1 April – 30 June each year
Two short trails on land next to the old studio ranch: the Blue Bird Loop and the DeLonde Trail. Day use; no dogs or bikes.
Plan a walkWest Los Angeles · 1978 and 1979
The city record.
A camper at the kerb.
The Village · 1616 Butler Avenue, West Los Angeles
For Breakfast in America at the Village, Henderson recorded Hodgson through a valve U47, which he thought far better than the FET 47 used at Caribou.
Hodgson parked a camper outside the studio for the last two months of work on the album.
A working studio: seen from Butler Avenue, not open to visitors.
Where this comes from
The album came out in March 1979 and sold 18 million copies worldwide; The Logical Song was a top ten hit.
The Village has worked in every decade since it opened; Jim Morrison recorded poetry here in 1970.
Paris 19e · 29 November 1979
Show 108.
In an old slaughterhouse.
Paris was recorded at the Pavillon de Paris on 29 November 1979, in front of about 8,000 people; by then the tour had reached 108 shows.
The building had housed a slaughterhouse, so Parisians called it Les Abattoirs. The live Dreamer reached number 15 in America, and the album went gold in America and Britain.
Where this comes from
The Pavillon de Paris, La Villette · La Villette, by the Porte de Pantin, Paris 19e
The Pavillon, near the Porte de Pantin, held about 10,000 and was the city’s largest indoor music arena from September 1975 until it closed in 1980.
La Villette is a park today; the Grande Halle stages dance in November 2026.
The Pavillon closed in 1980. La Villette is now a park; the Grande Halle, pictured, stages dance and theatre. Métro Porte de Pantin.
Where this comes from
Where it is now
5 places you can visit, in London, California, Colorado and Paris. The West Hythe house, the Southcombe farm and the Malibu houses are private, so they are named but not on the map; the Village is a working studio, seen from Butler Avenue and left off the map.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
Building reference · Public access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Seen from the alley between Wardour Street and Dean Street; the building is a working voice-over studio, not open to visitors.
Site reference · Public access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Look for the green plaque from the pavement on Thessaly Road; the building is not open to visitors.
The old Trident building, 17 St Anne’s Court, Soho, in 2023. AbstractLakx · CC BY-SA 4.0 17 St Anne’s Court, Soho, London
Trident Studios
A&M put the band in the studio with Ken Scott and told them to take as long as they wanted.
Seen from the alley between Wardour Street and Dean Street; the building is a working voice-over studio, not open to visitors.
Where this comes from
Thessaly Road, Battersea, in 2024: the street of The Who’s Ramport studio. David Howard · CC BY-SA 2.0 115 Thessaly Road, Battersea, London
Ramport Studios
This was The Who’s own studio, where they recorded Quadrophenia and Who Are You.
Look for the green plaque from the pavement on Thessaly Road; the building is not open to visitors.
Where this comes from
Stay
Sleep in Boulder.
A historic hotel in Boulder, 17 miles from Caribou.
Hotel Boulderado
Hotel Boulderado, Boulder
Downtown Boulder, Colorado
A historic hotel off Pearl Street in downtown Boulder, 17 miles east of the ranch, with three places to eat. Pictured: Caribou Ranch Open Space.
Check roomsGo there
Eat, walk, look.
Dinner in Topanga Canyon, the trails at Caribou, London music walks.
Inn of the Seventh Ray
Dinner at the Inn of the Seventh Ray
128 Old Topanga Canyon Road, Topanga · Dinner Mon–Fri 5.30–9pm, weekends 5.15–9.30pm
Where Hodgson and Pope met their engineer in October 1976: a restaurant by the creek in Topanga Canyon. Book ahead.
Book a tableBoulder County Parks and Open Space
Walk Caribou Ranch Open Space
County Road 126, Nederland, Colorado · Closed 1 April – 30 June each year
Two short trails on land next to the old studio ranch: the Blue Bird Loop and the DeLonde Trail. Day use; no dogs or bikes.
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At La Villette.
Dance in the Grande Halle, in the park where the Pavillon stood.
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Take it home
A book and two records.
The 1908 book behind the name; Crime of the Century and Paris on vinyl.
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The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp
W. H. Davies
The 1908 book the band took its name from.
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Crime of the Century
Supertramp · LP, A&M AMLS 68258, 1974
The album worked up at Southcombe and recorded at Trident, Ramport and Scorpio Sound.
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Paris
Supertramp · 2LP, A&M AMLM 66702, 1980
Recorded at the Pavillon de Paris on 29 November 1979.
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Find a copyDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Where this comes from
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
9 of 9 places · 11 of 11 Moments
A country house at West Hythe
West Hythe, near Hythe, Kent
A house in the country
Funded by Miesegaes, the new band rehearses for months at a country house in West Hythe.
Supertramp
The band takes its name from W. H. Davies’s The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp.
Southcombe
Near Thorncombe, on the Dorset–Somerset border
Southcombe
Band, families and crew move into a farm cottage to write and work up Crime of the Century.
Trident Studios
17 St Anne’s Court, Soho, London
Crime of the Century
Recorded with Ken Scott at Trident, Ramport and Scorpio Sound.
Ramport Studios
115 Thessaly Road, Battersea, London
At The Who’s studio
Part of the album is recorded at Ramport, Battersea.
Two rented houses in Malibu
Malibu, California
The house on the hill
Two months of rehearsals and living-room demos; Give a Little Bit is played to the band for the first time.
Inn of the Seventh Ray
128 Old Topanga Canyon Road, Topanga
Dinner in the canyon
Hodgson and Pope meet Peter Henderson, the engineer for the next record.
Caribou Ranch
County Road 126, near Nederland, Colorado
Up to the ranch
Out of Los Angeles to a Colorado ranch to make Even in the Quietest Moments.
A guitar in a lift shaft
Hodgson’s 12-string is recorded in the freight-lift hoistway.
The Village
1616 Butler Avenue, West Los Angeles
Breakfast in America
Made in West Los Angeles, with Hodgson living in a camper at the kerb for the last two months.
The Pavillon de Paris, La Villette
La Villette, by the Porte de Pantin, Paris 19e
Paris
The 29 November show in an old slaughterhouse becomes the live album Paris.