if Jagged Little Pill counts, then Off the Wall!
― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, 17 June 2022 14:23 (one year ago) link
Crazy Rhythms for sure
― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, 17 June 2022 14:25 (one year ago) link
i had my doubts about this thread but it has lured MATT DC back to posting after getting on for a year, so uh well done, thread
anyway to actually make a contribution instead of a snarky quip, i humbly present The Beta Band's self-titled 'debut' (ignoring the more-popular album's worth of material they'd already put out), an album so singular, weird and unlike anything else that the band themselves trashed it when it came out. many others prefer their other work, and that's fair, but the self-titled is in a world of its own
going a bit more obscure, The Ruins Of Beverast's debut Unlock The Shrine is a self-professed album of 'pure psychosis', it is absolutely lethal and while TROB went on to even better things, the debut is single-mindedly vicious, evoking untold medieval murder with even the hint of a grin on its face
and then there's Ulver, who perfected folk-BM in their teens with Bergtatt and then went on to do (lots of) other things
― imago, Friday, 17 June 2022 14:29 (one year ago) link
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass has to be one of the biggest ones of these, if solo albums count as debuts.
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 17 June 2022 14:31 (one year ago) link
oh!!
andrew wk obviously lmao
― imago, Friday, 17 June 2022 14:43 (one year ago) link
ahhh yeah good call, you can only be that spectacularly dumb once
― frogbs, Friday, 17 June 2022 14:46 (one year ago) link
fuck i just remembered ATMP is also a third album!
Andrew WK a solid pick
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 17 June 2022 14:46 (one year ago) link
there was some great stuff on the followups, especially The Wolf, but the party energy part, which drove the phenomenon, felt more forced and those songs were less joyously crafted.
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 17 June 2022 14:47 (one year ago) link
Gris Gris / Dr John
― fetter, Friday, 17 June 2022 14:50 (one year ago) link
...since it seems a lot of these are actually third albums, does Up On The Sun count?
― m0stly clean (Slowsquatch), Friday, 17 June 2022 15:05 (one year ago) link
yeah I like all of AWK's main albums but there's definitely something about IGW, it's the sort of album that would've worked perfectly as a one-off
― frogbs, Friday, 17 June 2022 15:08 (one year ago) link
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, 17 June 2022 15:13 (one year ago) link
I feel like the most interesting examples of this are where subsequent albums somewhat dwarf the debut, but where that in turn lends something to the magic of the debut. That's kind of what Piper is.
― jmm, Friday, 17 June 2022 15:28 (one year ago) link
― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, June 17, 2022 7:23 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink
no way
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 17 June 2022 15:43 (one year ago) link
jmm, absolutely. This is more interesting for bands with big careers and many albums people like... but where the debut still feels like it sits apart, in the listen and in the legend. Versus the probably more numerous people who take several albums to arrive at that magic spot, the fair number of "phenomenon" debuts where the "rest of their catalog" might as well not exist for most listeners, etc.
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 17 June 2022 15:50 (one year ago) link
Thriller is more a piece with Bad than Off the Wall, no? OTW smashes everything after for what that's worth
― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, 17 June 2022 15:51 (one year ago) link
But why is it different other than that it was made in 79 instead of 82?
― Cabernet Frank (PBKR), Friday, 17 June 2022 15:52 (one year ago) link
In other words, why is outside the rest of the catalog?
― Cabernet Frank (PBKR), Friday, 17 June 2022 15:53 (one year ago) link
― jmm, Friday, June 17, 2022 10:28 AM (twenty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
yeah that's why I think Piper is the best example of this out there, I can't believe I didn't mention it in the OP
Brian Eno's Here Come the Warm Jets sorta fits along those lines, it's a great album but what really makes it interesting is that Eno fled pretty far from this sound
― frogbs, Friday, 17 June 2022 15:54 (one year ago) link
it's much more a disco record than anything afterxp
― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, 17 June 2022 15:54 (one year ago) link
Because it was made in 79!
If Thriller were made in 79 it would have been a disco record too.
― Cabernet Frank (PBKR), Friday, 17 June 2022 15:55 (one year ago) link
xxp What.. what about Tiger Mountain
― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, 17 June 2022 15:56 (one year ago) link
oh i see.. if there's a criteria about being out of step with the zeitgeist i missed it!this is a pretty fun one to chew on in any case
― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, 17 June 2022 15:57 (one year ago) link
Actually, after rereading the initial post, you might be more right than I am.
― Cabernet Frank (PBKR), Friday, 17 June 2022 15:58 (one year ago) link
lol
― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, 17 June 2022 15:58 (one year ago) link
i am seeing now how you read "own phenomenon"
― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, 17 June 2022 15:59 (one year ago) link
― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, June 17, 2022 10:56 AM (nineteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
definitely similar but Warm Jets has this real unhinged quality to it, if that was the only Eno album you knew you'd be pretty surprised at how the rest of his career went. whereas Tiger Mountain cements him as a more serious art-rock guy prone to those kind of diversions.
― frogbs, Friday, 17 June 2022 16:18 (one year ago) link
i gotcha but Tiger Mountain really takes the edge off of saying Warm Jets is such an outlier in a body of work like thatfwiw I don't think Alanis or Jacko should fit... but at the same time it feels silly to disqualify "Debut" because of the record Bjork made as a child. I don't think it fits more because "Post" exists.
― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, 17 June 2022 16:27 (one year ago) link
I almost would have said Warm Jets but it seemed like a bit of a troll even though I know it has its champions who think he never did anything else as good. Some days I'm among them ;-)
No takers for the first Mercury Rev, then? I'm sure it's in a very similar sitation, it kind of has a part II in Boces but it's still pretty singuler in their catalog, they defintiely haven't pinned down what they're going to go on to do and later albums were much bigger.
― Noel Emits, Friday, 17 June 2022 16:35 (one year ago) link
In The Garden. The one lp by the band I really love backed by band that is rotating members of Can and Blondie doing something i hear rooted in Britfolk rock stuff with a major psychedelic tinge.
Later stuff is ok but this is phenomenal. Especially when the cd version replaced teh earlier tinny sounding version
Horseflies Human Flyis something special I think they continued with something far less special and more mainstream.
― Stevolende, Friday, 17 June 2022 16:35 (one year ago) link
"anything else as good", or as wild and freewheeling anyway. xp to me
There for In The Garden, yes!
― Noel Emits, Friday, 17 June 2022 16:37 (one year ago) link
somebody had alread mentioned Yerself Is Steam which I thought had been recorded by the band actually became a band. Different players going into the studio at different times and overdubbing. Soundtracking sub aquatic film footage from what I remember.
Would love to know how Sounds Familiar had teh record before it really came out or got much publicity. So I didn't know really what it was just taht it looked really interesting. So i got it and listened to it quite a bit at the time. Coloured vinyl tripped out sound.
I think the Caribou Vibration Ensemble live cd sounds pretty similar to those first 2 mercury Rev lps.
Saw them a few times when they first hit the UK too. Think I caught the last few dates of a tour they'd started out supporting Ride on.
Live sets around the era are pretty cool too. Spotify used to have a couple up
― Stevolende, Friday, 17 June 2022 16:42 (one year ago) link
by the band before they actually became a band. I don't think they had played live at the time or anything. Wasn't their 2nd gig supporting Dylan?
― Stevolende, Friday, 17 June 2022 16:44 (one year ago) link
thread reminded me I've never bothered to listen to that first Ted Leo recordit would fit, but I'm not sure anyone has ever heard it
― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, 17 June 2022 17:26 (one year ago) link
Every single debut album by a famous band will be in this thread
― imago, Thursday, June 16, 2022 3:26 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
Pearl Jam
Meatloaf
Björk
What can I say? When you're right, you're right
― The 25 Best Songs Ever Ranked In Order (Deflatormouse), Friday, 17 June 2022 17:30 (one year ago) link
don't forget Rush
― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, 17 June 2022 17:35 (one year ago) link
I thought about this one cause it def appeals to people who have no real interest in his other work, it is singular for sure and goes somewhere his other records don't.
But it is SO MASTERFUL, i mean no fucking way was the guy who made this not gonna have a decades-long career in music.
― The 25 Best Songs Ever Ranked In Order (Deflatormouse), Friday, 17 June 2022 17:36 (one year ago) link
gris gris is a great answer
― in places all over the world, real stuff be happening (voodoo chili), Friday, 17 June 2022 17:43 (one year ago) link
The first Peter Gabriel album kind of fits this - stylistically all over the place, stands apart from his catalogue while being very much of it (not to mention that two of his best known songs are on it), and somewhat overshadowed by later works.
― the classic emerson lake & palmer line-up (Matt #2), Friday, 17 June 2022 17:49 (one year ago) link
I think the things that make it great are deliberate and repeatable, otherwise yes. xp
― The 25 Best Songs Ever Ranked In Order (Deflatormouse), Friday, 17 June 2022 17:50 (one year ago) link
frogbs, ok, i hear ya re: Clarks
― The 25 Best Songs Ever Ranked In Order (Deflatormouse), Friday, 17 June 2022 17:53 (one year ago) link
*Clerks
has anyone mentioned prefab sprout and swoon?
― in places all over the world, real stuff be happening (voodoo chili), Friday, 17 June 2022 17:54 (one year ago) link
"Cochin Moon" is Hosono's one of these & not a debut
― The 25 Best Songs Ever Ranked In Order (Deflatormouse), Friday, 17 June 2022 17:57 (one year ago) link
and again too great a "masterpiece" to qualify anyway
― The 25 Best Songs Ever Ranked In Order (Deflatormouse), Friday, 17 June 2022 18:00 (one year ago) link
Barenaked Ladies' "Gordon".. massive hit in Canada at least. Then they tried to be serious for a bit. Then goofy again but it was..uh... yeahNice newStereogum #1s series article about "One Week" out today: https://www.stereogum.com/2190488/the-number-ones-barenaked-ladies-one-week/columns/the-number-ones/
― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, 17 June 2022 18:06 (one year ago) link
Is Gris Gris really that different than most of Babylon?
― Cabernet Frank (PBKR), Friday, 17 June 2022 18:08 (one year ago) link
― The 25 Best Songs Ever Ranked In Order (Deflatormouse), Friday, June 17, 2022 12:57 PM (twenty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
I think his actual debut works though, it's clearly within his style but also unlike any of his other solo albums, plus most of the reviews are like "there's something about this but I can't say what"
― frogbs, Friday, 17 June 2022 18:24 (one year ago) link
a certain hosonissance
― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, 17 June 2022 18:31 (one year ago) link
― Cabernet Frank (PBKR), Friday, June 17, 2022 2:08 PM
Yeah totally, Gris Gris has this incredible sense of exterior space, it's a guided tour through a mythical landscape that only exists in the collective imagination, like the Disneyland Railroad Grand Tour. And where does Rebbenack position himself? He's the tour guide, not the bandleader. He's a peripheral figure giving a kind of commentary as we move between stations. With "Babylon" he brings it indoors and situates himself at the center of the ensemble.
re: "Hosono House" it's actually the one of the only albums of his, maybe the only album of his that doesn't interest me much. So idk
― The 25 Best Songs Ever Ranked In Order (Deflatormouse), Friday, 17 June 2022 18:49 (one year ago) link