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

yea wtf close thread

VU was always weird and droney. Zappa's "Freak Out" had that extended "Who could imagine?" bit with the silly voices. The Doors, as noted above, spread the same batch of songs across their first 3 albums.

pretty much all of these suggestions are weak. i don't have any good ones though - imo this isn't really a thing at all.

I feel like Immolation fits this because even though most hardcore DM fans find their whole catalog to be amazing, the 'famous' album of theirs that everybody, including non-diehards knows is Dawn of Possession, which is a good album but doesn't really sound like any of their other albums as it's more of a traditional death metal album.

there's also Pearl Jam's Ten which, again, the non-diehards all rave over this one and it's the most polished, commercial sounding cut of their history, which they never really replicated (a good thing).

Bathory. First album is totally iconic and invented Black metal (even the cover is iconic).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathory_(album)#/media/File:Bathory_album.jpg

But the band quickly merged off and invented Viking Metal. Although the change was not immediate, gradually happening over the first handful of releases, the first one remains a quality that the band abandoned, yet there are many who still point to it as it's finest hour.

http://www.bathory.nu/00discography/bathory.jpg

Ignoring the pre-album years, Black Flag's Damaged. Though in retrospect My War doesn't feel like the departure it did at the time.

― juggulo for the complete klvtz (bendy), Thursday, March 2, 2017 6:07 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is a good one

not the iconic Bathory album (maybe the iconic album art) and also not radically different from the other pre-viking stuff.

xp

impvho interpol's subsequent output is different enough from the 1st album that they qualify

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

Their first album still feels unique to me...short, Zoloish phrases, cool a capella bits, big early XTC influence. Nothing about their subsequent albums made me want to hear them again.

Yeah Bathory is not really a good example, they did two more black metal records (more successful than the debut too) before going folk/viking.

Thinking of Robert Miles, there must be more dance producers that had initial succes with a novelty/commercial sound but then quickly moved on. Kevin Saunderson maybe (the Inner City debut was his first album, no?), Erick Morillo (Reel 2 Real), etc.

i'm afraid that is Rong xxp

Snoop, Doggystyle

p much none of his other albums were g-funk (Doggfather was more 80s bounce) and even though many of them are lauded, none of them have the wallop of that one

VU was always weird and droney... i don't have any good ones though - imo this isn't really a thing at all.

Admittedly, I don't know the iconic albums in the OP so I'm not sure how radical the difference needs to be for the first album to be an outlier. It seems that it would be pretty unusual for a popular music artist to make a tremendously successful first album and then immediately abandon the formula and skillset that led to success, unless they were brilliant and accomplished enough to be able to come up with another iconic record. That said, I don't really think of post-Cale VU as weird and droney, except maybe for "Murder Mystery". I was wrong about the viola but I think Nico's presence alone makes the first VU a bit of an outlier in their catalogue and pretty distinct from WL/WH. All relative, though.

Does Buzzcocks' "Spiral Scratch" count?

how is the futureheads 1st album that much different than the 2nd one? (other than having better songs)
Their first album still feels unique to me...short, Zoloish phrases, cool a capella bits, big early XTC influence. Nothing about their subsequent albums made me want to hear them again.

― frogbs, Friday, March 3, 2017 7:54 AM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think News & Tributes is pretty underrated and whether you like it or not is not the point, listen to this and say it's a "radical departure" from the XTC influenced modern indie they did on the first album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M8sqFuLidw

honestly this is the rare thread where I'm not sure I buy any example that's been given

(though bathory i will take your word for)

good call on Snoop

xp

Snoop is probably the only good answer so far.

No, Moby Grape def otm too

Eurythmics In The Garden probably fails to be iconic. But I find it sublime and the input of Can/Blondie members and Conny Plank make it pretty different to more mainstream later stuff.

D.A.F's Die Kleinen Und Die Bosen is probably not iconic either nor their first lp but is pretty fantastic so more people should be aware of it. It's just teh first lp on Rough Trade innit?

Clock DVA's Thirst was the first vinyl lp cut by that version of teh band but I think has some preceding cassette releases. Later band is pretty different.

Gun Club's Fire of Love? less psychedelic than later stuff more straightforward though there is jazz and other otherness in the ramalama. The one lp loved by psychobillies and the one most lauded I think. I've always preferred Miami myself.

do any of the vanilla fudge's subsequent records really sound like their first? i don't really care for the vanilla fudge so i can't really say myself.

well I thought of all the rap ones I posted at least the Pharcyde would get some nods of agreement

maybe "black noise" by fm? nash the slash quit right after it, and even when he rejoined their sound had gotten a _lot_ more radio friendly...

The Fiery Furnacese, like many of the bands/artists mentioned itt, have no release that could even charitably be considered "iconic".

― “Remember,” he says, “Noddy Holder is a gangster.” (contenderizer), Friday, 3 March 2017 01:21 (sixteen hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

blueberry boat is the best album of the last twenty years

As a Lilys super fan, I maintain Lilys is also a perfect answer here.

blueberry boat is the best album of the last twenty years

― an uptempo Pop/Hip Hop mentality (imago), Friday, March 3, 2017 12:25 PM (forty-eight seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

too proggy

No, Moby Grape def otm too

I don't think they changed too much stylistically on the 2nd album, it just wasn't as good and was a bit over-produced.

I kinda refuse to believe that the Lilys most iconic album is the one that's been out of print for ages, resulting in me never having heard it. To me their most iconic release is the one that actually got widespread distro - Better Can't Make Your Life Better

As far as I can tell, everyone seems to want to remember Lilys as a shoegaze classic first and a band that went on to do other things (indie rock phase, Kinks phase, etc) second, despite the overall availability of the LPs. I could be wrong but the first record seems to have made the biggest lasting impression over the other phases the band went through.

if you're going to call _in the presence of nothing_ the most iconic lilys album might as well go all the way and call _loveless_ the most iconic lilys album.

psssh they were better at capturing the spirit of the Isn't Anything composition style than most of the other imitators at the time that were merely infatuated with the guitar effects on Loveless.

That's why they're mistaken for having no original ideas on that record, because they actually ~understood~ the magic MBV had beyond "Oh I get it! Be loud and bend the strings! It's so easy!"

All that being said, Eccsame the Photon Band is my favorite. I wish it got more credit for being as unique as everyone accuses the debut of NOT being.

does Suicidal Tendencies s/t count?

Eels sorta counts. First album they are a brit-award winning alt-rock trio, then immediately becomes a mr e solo act.

Suicidal Tendencies is a pretty good example, IMO

That's why they're mistaken for having no original ideas on that record, because they actually ~understood~ the magic MBV had beyond "Oh I get it! Be loud and bend the strings! It's so easy!"

― Evan

that doesn't make them not copycats, that just makes them good copycats. _eccsame_ is what really highlights that.

Not many hardcore bands made iconic albums, but Black Flag and Suicidal Tendencies did. A lot did follow the pattern of putting out one LP of loud fast stuff, then changing around 1985 to slow and sludgy, or metallic thrash, or psychedelic. TSOL, JFA, Die Kreutzen, DRI, Corrosion of Conformity might all apply, though I can't recall how many HC albums each made, and they're not exactly iconic bands.

True, I just feel they should get more credit for showing songwriting skill that actually makes them respectable equals more than just a cheap knock off. Kind of like how there are lots of John Fahey imitators but there are also those that are able to successfully capture the spirit beyond the surface similarities.

xp

i kind of think of that record in terms of... safe as milk. safe as milk is a great album, right now the second-best-known captain beefheart record (hell it might even surpass _trout mask replica_ one day). but it's not an original record; it's just a really great white blues record. having said that, i wouldn't go so far as to call captain beefheart a "respectable equal" of howlin' wolf on the basis of _safe as milk_. knockoffs will always trail behind originals in my book.

xpost: I'm not a huge fan of In The Presence of Nothing, but it's definitely the record that put lilys on the map, without question. "Better" had the hit in England, but in the US it was a bust, and nothing else they did ever made a splash. Love them, not a huge fan of their first album, but it's definitely an outlier that was iconic for the band. So good choice.

I don't think they changed too much stylistically on the 2nd album, it just wasn't as good and was a bit over-produced.

― Return of the Flustered Bootle Native (Tom D.), Friday, March 3, 2017 12:28 PM (thirty-six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I thought it was a pretty big shift; out went the 3-guitar attack and five-part harmonies, in came sped-up vocals, throwaway novelties, ornate horn and string arrangements, backwards tapes, and Arthur Godfrey introducing a sleepy Skip Spence singing over a swing orchestra.

That said, I don't really think of post-Cale VU as weird and droney, except maybe for "Murder Mystery".

"What Goes On", man

Suicide.

Nas may be the best answer on here so far.

Kate Bush, The Kick Inside.

JAMC strikes me as a good answer. Feelies too.

I didn't think The Kick Inside was more iconic than The Dreaming or Hounds of Love, although I guess "Wuthering Heights" is a pretty iconic song.

Oasis