Well that's not true, just run thru some famous bands in your head - many don't fit
― Creature Catcher (Live) (morrisp), Thursday, 16 June 2022 19:30 (one year ago) link
yeah like eg Neil Young’s debut doesn’t really fit the parameters as laid out imo
― OG Bob Sacamano (will), Thursday, 16 June 2022 19:32 (one year ago) link
REM Murmur possibly?
― OG Bob Sacamano (will), Thursday, 16 June 2022 19:35 (one year ago) link
is there not already a thread on artists who arrived fully formed and then fell off a bit? this is a very similar scenario
― maf you one two (maffew12), Thursday, 16 June 2022 19:36 (one year ago) link
dizzee - boy in da corner
― oscar bravo, Thursday, 16 June 2022 19:38 (one year ago) link
Big Pink doesn’t seem to really, either. Phenomenon? Def. Their best? Arguably. But (for me) it’s hard to separate it from s/t.
― OG Bob Sacamano (will), Thursday, 16 June 2022 19:39 (one year ago) link
― maf you one two (maffew12), Thursday, June 16, 2022 12:36 PM (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
i think of this more like "if the artist hadn't made anything after their debut it would still be regarded with mystery and wonder (as it is today)"
SAW I totally works for this, SAW II is very enmeshed in what i think of as the established rdj sound by that point
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 16 June 2022 19:43 (one year ago) link
i think i also agree with murmur
― maf you one two (maffew12), Thursday, June 16, 2022 2:36 PM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
idk about that, like I wouldn't say Pink Floyd arrived fully formed with Piper, nor did they "fall off" exactly...I mean sure their next 5 or so weren't as good, but last I checked Floyd made some pretty classic albums after that. and yet Piper is just sorta off on its own little island with its own contingent of very dedicated fanatics who think their popular albums are "boring"
― frogbs, Thursday, 16 June 2022 19:45 (one year ago) link
i think the implication here is that the follow-up work isn't necessarily worse and may in some cases be better but the singularity of the debut is never followed up on
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 16 June 2022 19:47 (one year ago) link
i think bands that had sudden lineup shifts after the debut are like maybe too-easy answers for this question, much as piper is still kind of a perfect answer
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 16 June 2022 19:48 (one year ago) link
an interesting counterexample to this is artists whose first two albums seem of a piece, in conversation with each other, thus disqualifying them from this thread, but i can already name a few examples, like... underworld, the doors
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 16 June 2022 19:49 (one year ago) link
Elvis’ Sun Sessions would be a great one if it had actually been an album at the time
― OG Bob Sacamano (will), Thursday, 16 June 2022 19:50 (one year ago) link
illmatic
― in places all over the world, real stuff be happening (voodoo chili), Thursday, 16 June 2022 19:52 (one year ago) link
xxp actually Underworld did come to mind because dubnobass (and all that 93-94 stuff) feels like it's written in such a unique language, while STITI I think fits a lot more snugly into the progressive electronica that was becoming popular back then. but dubnobass isn't actually their debut and in fact a lot of its uniqueness has to do with them transitioning from one type of band to a very different one. yet still having some remnants of their old style. there ain't anything like it
― frogbs, Thursday, 16 June 2022 19:54 (one year ago) link
"Aerosmith"
― maf you one two (maffew12), Thursday, 16 June 2022 19:58 (one year ago) link
― frogbs, Thursday, June 16, 2022 12:54 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
lol i knew you would disagree with me here. i feel you though. "ME" especially
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 16 June 2022 20:00 (one year ago) link
with frog on Dubnobass... Second Toughest is more of a piece with what came after to my ears. But yeah they didn't change their name so.. lol whatever
― maf you one two (maffew12), Thursday, 16 June 2022 20:01 (one year ago) link
honorable mention a la trout mask replica then
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 16 June 2022 20:06 (one year ago) link
How about Funkadelic and Osmium?
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 16 June 2022 20:06 (one year ago) link
uhh which "first two albums are in conversation" example can i use in underworld's place uhhhh oh the band!!!
DEVO may qualify to be part of this rather exclusive gang ?
― mark e, Thursday, June 16, 2022 1:52 PM (fifty seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink
was thinking of mentioning them for the Hardcore Devo stuff, which ticks a lot of these boxes. had Devo never gotten a deal and the Hardcore tapes were just "discovered" some decades later I imagine it would've been a big "holy shit everyone needs to hear this right now" sorta phenomenon
― frogbs,
yeah, i get that re the pre album material, however, this thread was all about the DEBUT album.
so, the earlier stuff is not relevant re DEVO ;)
― mark e, Thursday, 16 June 2022 20:07 (one year ago) link
Mellow GoldMovement
― maf you one two (maffew12), Thursday, 16 June 2022 20:07 (one year ago) link
first Springsteen would fit if not for the secondhmmmm
― maf you one two (maffew12), Thursday, 16 June 2022 20:08 (one year ago) link
Maxinquaye by Tricky feels like it fits here
― Duane Barry, Thursday, 16 June 2022 20:21 (one year ago) link
Interesting. I see their first three albums (plus the Chronic Town EP) as being very much of a piece.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 16 June 2022 20:24 (one year ago) link
i think that's legit to some degree but idk for me there is something perceptibly different between murmur and reckoning, like two different photographs of the same band but the band is more in focus in the second one
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 16 June 2022 20:27 (one year ago) link
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, June 16, 2022 3:06 PM (twenty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
Cluster seem like they might fit there
― frogbs, Thursday, 16 June 2022 20:35 (one year ago) link
As great/singular as Murmur is, I have always thought of Chronic Town as even more exemplary of – "imagine if they had recorded only this and then disappeared, how legendary it would be..."
― Creature Catcher (Live) (morrisp), Thursday, 16 June 2022 20:50 (one year ago) link
I scrolled down here from the OP ready to post that R.E.M. somehow have two of these, between Chronic Town and Murmur!
― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 16 June 2022 20:53 (one year ago) link
otm
― Jimmy Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne Mary-Anne (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 June 2022 20:56 (one year ago) link
Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville ?
― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 16 June 2022 20:56 (one year ago) link
Chicago (Transit Authority)
― Master of Treacle, Thursday, 16 June 2022 21:00 (one year ago) link
Not an album and not different enough from what came next but maybe worth mentioning Spiral Scratch.
― Jimmy Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne Mary-Anne (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 June 2022 21:00 (one year ago) link
The Go! Team - Thunder Lightning Strike
― MarkoP, Thursday, 16 June 2022 21:06 (one year ago) link
Every single debut album by a famous band will be in this thread― imago, Thursday, June 16, 2022 2:26 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink
― imago, Thursday, June 16, 2022 2:26 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink
I was about to say "that's silly, think about a band like REM where Murmur is so fully of a piece with (at least the next 5-6 years of) what follows," but a mere nine minutes later
REM Murmur possibly?― OG Bob Sacamano (will), Thursday, June 16, 2022 2:35 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink
― OG Bob Sacamano (will), Thursday, June 16, 2022 2:35 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 16 June 2022 21:07 (one year ago) link
As a result, if they're good, these albums sometimes don't even really feel like a part of their catalogue as a whole, and often people discovering them have no interest in the rest of their work.
I mean surely none of you would say this of Murmur!
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 16 June 2022 21:08 (one year ago) link
Actually maybe Jagged Little Pill is this! It really is a thing a young person did not even really knowing the magnitude of what she was doing and the adult Morrissette never really made records that had the thing JLP had.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 16 June 2022 21:10 (one year ago) link
The B-52s
It brought John Lennon out of retirement.
― Hideous Lump, Thursday, 16 June 2022 21:17 (one year ago) link
illmatic is the best hip-hop example i could come up with that doesn't involve the addition or departure of a group member. maybe if kmd's mr. hood is considered mf doom's "debut album"
― in places all over the world, real stuff be happening (voodoo chili), Thursday, 16 June 2022 21:18 (one year ago) link
even then it involves the loss of subroc
― MarkoP,
as much as i love them, the debut sounded like every other Go Team album ..
― mark e, Thursday, 16 June 2022 21:21 (one year ago) link
Motley Crue - too fast for love?
― brimstead, Thursday, 16 June 2022 21:25 (one year ago) link
I want to say the first Joanna Newsom album.
Subsequent albums are all singular in their own right, but Milk-Eyed Mender has that quality of an immensely inspired debut.
― jmm, Thursday, 16 June 2022 21:25 (one year ago) link
Is professionalism an element here? In other words, the artist is too young/raw/naive/disconnected from the industry/etc. to know what they are doing is different. After the debut, they become more proficient/richer/connected/etc. and lose something in the process, though maybe gaining other things.
― Cabernet Frank (PBKR), Thursday, 16 June 2022 21:37 (one year ago) link
My Generation is beloved by many who have no use for anything else the Who did. After the debut, it was mini-operas and concept albums; no more James Brown covers, and no more feedback.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 16 June 2022 21:41 (one year ago) link
The Streets first album fits... now that i think of the people often don't care to try other work criteria
― maf you one two (maffew12), Thursday, 16 June 2022 21:52 (one year ago) link
(similarly Dizzee, as mentioned)I'm starting to think of this as a kind of Mercury/Polaris/whatever prize syndrome
― maf you one two (maffew12), Thursday, 16 June 2022 21:53 (one year ago) link
how much does artist intent matter? Kind of takes Illmatic out of it
― maf you one two (maffew12), Thursday, 16 June 2022 21:57 (one year ago) link
i'm sure he intended to make good albums after illmatic
― in places all over the world, real stuff be happening (voodoo chili), Thursday, 16 June 2022 22:05 (one year ago) link
I remember seeing it on the shelves at Best Buy in my early CD-buying days in '97.Prior to the 1997 Datapanik box, in 1989 Rough Trade put out CD reissues of everything from Dub Housing through Song Of The Bailing Man, including the two live albums (360 Degrees Of Simulated Stereo and One Man Drives While The Other Man Screams). The cover art on these reissues emulated then-current Apple Macintosh desktop screens. I don’t know why The Modern Dance wasn’t part of this reissue program, and Terminal Tower was licensed to Twin/Tone (and impossible to find on CD).
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Sunday, 19 June 2022 21:37 (one year ago) link
don't worry, pretty sure i'm the only one confused
(You're not.)
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Sunday, 19 June 2022 22:54 (one year ago) link
Not a debut but Confusion is Sex seemed to have its own reputation separated from the rest of Sonic Youth discography
It is a debut album tbf.
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Sunday, 19 June 2022 22:55 (one year ago) link
s/t was a mini lp until it was lengthened with bonus tracks. It was released by Branca's label then the same German one that put out Confusion IS Sex . & the Kill Your Idols e.p.
― Stevolende, Sunday, 19 June 2022 23:12 (one year ago) link
I was just trying to work out if that meant it was widely available. I got the Kill YOur idols e.p. then Confusion is Sex in Rough Trade after seeing the Venue show. So not sure if that meant they had things the rest of the country did or not.
― Stevolende, Sunday, 19 June 2022 23:15 (one year ago) link
I thought the <25 min-long s/t was always considered an EP but the usually credible Mustang site does say "[ t ]hough considered an EP by some, the band have always referred to it as the first album".
http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/lp/ep1.html
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Sunday, 19 June 2022 23:36 (one year ago) link
Little Dragon
Gorillaz
Both predict how they would form their signature sound but are very moody and different from their subsequent albums.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 21 June 2022 11:07 (one year ago) link
I might have understood the prompt erroneously.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 21 June 2022 11:09 (one year ago) link
I wasn't sure if anybody had said Meat Puppets s/t before me but it does seem to create its own thang which may have been picked up on people afterwards but is moved away from by the band. II seems a lot more clearly produced and overtly countryesque. The jazz/psych/grunge thing which had them being compared to ballroom scene bands when it was reviewed in the British press was not something they stayed with in the studio at least. maybe they were just continually morphing thanks to acid and things. I guess that SF comparison is there for a lot more of their music but the amateurish improvisatory grunge thing gives way to them showing they have chops if they need them far more clearly and they soon get a lot more rockish, like 4 lps or so later or something. I guss the thing is doing their own thing and also doing it to country classics first heard from the Sons of the Pioneers etc, doing similar things to tracks from South pacific for hardcore Dead Kennedys audiences is also a really god trick. Not sure what timespan those 2 were over though. Assume the grungier bits might be understood by hardcore crowds but the anti genericism might not be.
― Stevolende, Tuesday, 21 June 2022 11:28 (one year ago) link
The first 3 puppets records were like 3 different bands, none of which they ultimately continued as IMO. Traces of all three remained but their long haul persona was basically Huevos. (Of course they still play tracks from II and UotS). Actually with the addition of keyboard dude they are in a major new shift to their sound currently Anyway Pups
― covidsbundlertanze op. 6 (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 21 June 2022 13:19 (one year ago) link
I remember seeing it on the shelves at Best Buy in my early CD-buying days in '97.
heh -- I BOUGHT the first two Pere Ubus at Best Buy in summer '98.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 21 June 2022 13:34 (one year ago) link