Bands whose most iconic record is their first one, but which is also stylistically an outlier in their catalog

I like a lot of Patti Smith, and Horses isn't even my favourite work of hers, but it does feel like a bit of an outlier to me. The next two albums are much more straightforward rock albums to my ears.

I like Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac but it seems crazy to say that this is their most iconic work.

Comus probably counts here, despite not having the most extensive discography.

Steely Dan: I encounter "Reelin' In The Years" & "Do It Again" on the airwaves more than any of their other songs. Pretty stark stylistic divergence from the rest of their catalog, also David Palmer sings quite a bit on that one.

STEELY DAN! BINGOOOOO! I GOT A BINGO

The Cardiacs probably.

:D

basically the only artists who belong itt are ones whose debut albums have more RYM ratings and different primary genre tags than all subsequent albums. there's this little thing called SCIENCE but most of you guys probably haven't heard of it http://i.somethingawful.com/forumsystem/emoticons/emot-colbert.gif

I feel you, imago.

ok, Spiderman of the Rings - Dan Deacon's first real album (there are a handful of EPs and two collections of college assignments and experiments that preceded it), it's the only time he was ever the full on "Mongoloid man-child" (Polish flyer description), spazzy neon freak dude image that people still associate with him. Ever since Bromst, he's made a concerted effort to emphasize his academic background and considerable abilities as a composer and arranger. the party rager dude in "The Crystal Cat" video was his schtick until he got famous and "Drinking Out of Cups" went viral. When the pernicious rumor that he was locked in a closet tripping on acid in that video was going around, I think it really annoyed him, and beginning with Bromst, he started playing with ensembles and recording much more intricate work: player piano, strings, massive productions. Yet he still plays "The Crystal Cat" at every fucking show.

LJ, you may find that it's easier to get your point across if you explicitly call us 'sheeple' and perhaps use the phrase 'wake up' at least once or twice.

lol screw u unreg

meant with affection obv

Nothin but luv itt, bruv.

imago bringing the spirit of ilx past alive. i miss those halcyon days when i could like get seriously mad about somebody implying that devo's second album is a massive departure from their first.

I just don't want us sleepwalking into yet another fermentation of our silage

MGMT!

^accurate

yeah that one seems correct

you can sit on my side of the classroom J Sam

Fleetwood Mac? Fuck off. Just fuck off.

― imago, Thursday, March 2, 2017 7:55 PM (twenty-six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

How 'bout you fuck off?

There's viola on "Lady Godiva's Operation" and "Here She Comes Now".

i'd definitely agree on Ride.

xxp:

j/k, ofc :P

You're a Rumours Isn't Obviously Their Most Iconic Album By A Zillion Miles truther too? Did they use Dragonfly in enough M&S ads to tilt your brain, send you wacko? What's happened, Turrican? Who's in there?

xxp and i guess Lush if you count GALA as an album 'proper'.

I just don't want us sleepwalking into yet another fermentation of our silage

― imago

welp, i tell you what, i may be a city boy now, but i grew up just down the way from Space Farms, and i still remember what they said to me. they said to me, "ain't nobody never caused their silage to ferment by making specious claims about the amount of viola on _white light/white heat_". well, ol' clem down at space farms, he was a good feller but he didn't always say exactly what he meant to say. but in this case, thinking back on it... i think ol' clem was wiser than i gave him credit for at the time.

haha

ABC?

Wait, it's Albatross, not Dragonfly. Not memorable, not iconic

i'd definitely agree on Ride.

― piscesx, Thursday, March 2, 2017 3:25 PM (forty seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Can you clarify? Are they really that stylistically different?

Oh yeah, I really like "Stephanie Says", although it wasn't on an official album, in my semi-defence.

yeah i mean the post Nowhere albums are nothing like the debut. the debut and the EPs sound alike but they got very clean and slick after IMO.

Wild Beasts.

I guess production aside the formula doesn't seem all that different, and it's not like I'm a stranger to the early 90s Creation records sound. I thought this thread was more for bands that more significantly changed their whole approach.

xp

Lana Del Rey (Born To Die has an uptempo Pop/Hip Hop mentality that gradually got downplayed in subsequent releases)

team imago

I don't think you could describe "Pink Flag" as a straightforward punk record tbf.

OK more straightforward...

what with Futureheads, MGMT and others, I feel that mid-00's indie might be quite a fertile zone for this. Don't say Arcade Fire or other similar shit though ffs, all their albums are the same dirge

how is the futureheads 1st album that much different than the 2nd one? (other than having better songs)

Isn't Fleetwood Mac's first lp the s/t one with garbage cans in an alley on the cover and isn't it a pretty straight Chicago Blues lp. Then Play On has things concurrent to Albatross which was a non lp single and has other originals on.
I could never get into that first lp really, probably has some pretty stellar guitar on but too straight for me.

Beastie Boys (taking 'most iconic' to mean 'biggest selling')

Violent Femmes
Weezer

https://goo.gl/photos/EZBwdTWpvjPbAM6fA

Lana Del Rey is a good shout. I miss that Lana.

Could make an argument about Van Morrison & Astral Weeks. Have to overlook the Bang Records "Blowin' Your Mind!" thing.

"want a danish?" is van morrison at his most iconic as far as _i'm_ concerned.

Swans, maybe? People tend to think of stuff like Filth as their iconic era, although they dropped that style pretty quickly.

The Knife

Even if that were true, which I'm not sure of, was Cop really a radical departure? xp

No, but both Filth and Cop are outliers in their catalogue as a whole.

Oh, I read the thread as being about iconic individual records.