Debut albums which became their own phenomenon outside the rest of their catalogue

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, 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

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

honorable mention a la trout mask replica then

How about Funkadelic and Osmium?

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 ;)

Mellow Gold

Movement

first Springsteen would fit if not for the second

hmmmm

Maxinquaye by Tricky feels like it fits here

i think i also agree with murmur

Interesting. I see their first three albums (plus the Chronic Town EP) as being very much of a piece.

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

uhh which "first two albums are in conversation" example can i use in underworld's place uhhhh oh the band!!!

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, June 16, 2022 3:06 PM (twenty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Cluster seem like they might fit there

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..."

I scrolled down here from the OP ready to post that R.E.M. somehow have two of these, between Chronic Town and Murmur!

otm

Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville ?

Chicago (Transit Authority)

Not an album and not different enough from what came next but maybe worth mentioning Spiral Scratch.

The Go! Team - Thunder Lightning Strike

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

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

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!

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.

The B-52s

It brought John Lennon out of retirement.

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"

even then it involves the loss of subroc

The Go! Team - Thunder Lightning Strike

― MarkoP,

as much as i love them, the debut sounded like every other Go Team album ..

Motley Crue - too fast for love?

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.

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.

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.

The Streets first album fits... now that i think of the people often don't care to try other work criteria

(similarly Dizzee, as mentioned)

I'm starting to think of this as a kind of Mercury/Polaris/whatever prize syndrome

how much does artist intent matter? Kind of takes Illmatic out of it

i'm sure he intended to make good albums after illmatic

sorry couldn't resist the joke

Crass - Feeding of the 5000

Pearl Jam - Ten

Huge album that made them instant superstars, three massive hits, a right place-right time generation defining band that looked set to continue on U2-level multi-album superstardom…but i’m instead they immediately settled a couple levels below for a fairly lucrative but relatively boring career making solid but unremarkable records that nobody except the die-hard fans remembers, no hits, no adventures.

Bad Brains s/t ("the yellow tape"). Napalmed the entire hardcore punk scene, massively influential, and super raw in a way they never were again (Rock For Light, from the following year, is super polished by comparison - produced by Ric Ocasek!).

Sinead O'Connor - The Lion and the Cobra (an album that to me sounds like the first album of the 90s, over two years too early)

i always thought of r.e.m.’s document as the early first album of the 90s, but i guess that’s for another thread

oooh Hosono House might be one of these. very special album with a sound that's weirdly hard to pin down, it's not one of his Top 5 (IMO) but it has a weirdly devoted following online. it somehow has more ratings on RYM than all his other albums (Pacific notwithstanding)

Crazy Rhythms fits the model as I understand it--fully realized, out of left field, the band gradually became somewhat more recognizable in sound and songwriting approach....

Maybe Blue Lines fits.

The Milk-Eyed Mender
Bergtatt
Samba esquema novo
Incunabula - Amber taken together
Distant Plastic Trees - The Wayward Bus taken together

Still tempted to mention Björk's Debut

Not a debut but Goodbye and Hello is so unique
Not a debut but Astral Weeks
Not a debut but Confusion is Sex seemed to have its own reputation separated from the rest of Sonic Youth discography

Murmur absolutely counts here, it has a hallowed reputation among all their albums that makes it somewhat separate to other REM albums, not matter how excellent or celebrated. That's not an argument anyone seriously tries to make about, say, Bad Moon Rising or Movement. There's a mystique to the album that's impossible to replicate second time round. I think the artwork makes a difference as well - those kudzu vines! Lots of albums that might qualify have incredibly evocative album covers.

This got me thinking about Music Has The Right To Children, which has a similar position in the BoC canon despite Geogaddi being arguably the better record.

All three of the big early 90s Bristol albums qualify. Blue Lines because, while Massive Attack made excellent albums later on, they absolutely nailed the aesthetic first time. It's also the only one with Shara Nelson on it, which helps. Maxinquaye and Dummy are just bottled lightning.

There are loads of rap albums that qualify - it's impossible to make a statement along the lines of Reasonable Doubt, or Illmatic, or Boy In Da Corner, once an artist has already secured a level of success/wealth/fame.

Whereas I never got the sense that Debut held a particularly exalted or unique status in the Bjork canon relative to what followed, ditto The Kick Inside. Horses, on the other hand. I also found myself wondering whether the first Velvet Underground album is the first appearance of this phenomenon.

I feel like the four main VU albums are sort of equally loved?

The Velvet Underground & Nico is a phenomenon above and beyond not just the other VU albums but also virtually everything that any of its members did afterwards.

Yes, that album is first among equals, even if people might prefer listening to one of the others.

We were discussing Meatloaf on another thread, and Bat Out of Hell ticks some of the boxes. Per Moka:

This is weird as fuck, starts as a rock n roll parody song, goes into some stevie wonder interlude then into opera country rock thing and ends up sounding like the B52s. It’s also 8 minutes long? What the hell. Was this a hit?

I have heard some of his later hits (I have never heard Bat Out of Hell II, which I assume was some attempt to replicate the buzz of the original) but I think this debut stands apart from the rest of his discography, and many people who own the album haven't heard/are not much interested in anything else he did?

Pearl Jam having "no hits" after Ten is a headscratcher, but I get the point in that they settled down quickly to a "huge" versus "top 5 biggest bands in the world" scale.... and the booming arena sound of the debut definitely sets it way apart from everything else.

Jagged Little Pill was her third album, believe it or not!