Albums that start on the Vocal.....

indeed

wrens - seacaucus

I hate to be a pedant but the album version of "No More Lonely Nights" starts with some atmosphere and a bass riff.

Whoops, was assuming it started as the single version does!

Jean-Michel Jarre's Zoolook starts with a processed vocal noise. Not sure if that counts. Both Kevin Rowland's My Beauty and Propaganda's A Secret Wish start with dialogue. Probably not what the OP intended.

And of course Otomo Yoshihide's The Night Before the Death of the Sampling Virus, but that goes without saying.

Another in the speech pile: Portishead's Third

Shellac’s 1,000 Hurts, with its spoken audio calibration.

Laurie Anderson: Strange Angels (Strange Angels)

They say that heaven is like TV
A perfect little world that doesn't really need you

If we're counting vocal and music at the same time

Roxy Music, For Your Pleasure, (“Do The Strand”).

Two albums that start with vocoder:

Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Love Over and Over (Move Over Moon)
Tangerine Dream, Cyclone (Bent Cold Sidewalk)

A third:
YMO, Solid State Survivor (Technopolis)

Madonna - Music

life is peachy
all eyez on me

Tommy James and the Shondells - Crimson and Clover (studio chatter category)

Lizzo - cuz I love you

Ariana Grande – both My Everything and Sweetener

life is peachy

YrJOHNNYROTTENmegaBLAPBLAPyaketyYAKroawrROAWRwhipwhipflipOOOOOOOaripplestiltskinMAAWRRRRRRRflibbityskibbitzblaptremendoogploppersWACKgrocerygroinAAAAJJJJJONGwaaaaaaaaa TWIST....TWIST........TWIST....twist

Genesis "Selling England by the Pound"

Big Black, Songs About Fucking (The Power Of Independent Trucking - "The back-")

The Beatles, With The Beatles, "It Won't Be Long"

Dunno if a count-in counts, but "Roadrunner" from the Jonathan Richman/Modern Lovers debut. And also "Astral Plane" and "I'm Straight" from the same LP.

I might count that particular unusual count-in, but if all count-in’s count then Dee-Dee Ramone to thread!

Tommy James and the Shondells - Crimson and Clover (studio chatter category)

― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, December 27, 2022 8:20 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Fun fact: James was doing promo at WLS-AM in Chicago, and played a rough mix of "Crimson and Clover" for the station staff off-air. Unbeknownst to him, the station surreptitiously recorded it. On his way to that night's show, he heard the rough mix being played on WLS. Because it got so much airplay, he had to release it as-is.

Hallelujah All the Way Home by the Verlaines: "Well hello there, sordid inmates..."

Kim Deal loves to do this. Pacer by the Amps / Pod & All Nerve by the Breeders. Others Breeders albums don't count but do start really spare and get to a vocal with some urgency.

Also could've sworn Triffids' Born Sandy Devotional goes straight in with The Seabirds: "No foreign pair of dark sunglasses could ever shield you from/the light that pierces your eyelids, the screaming of the gulls."

Turns out the strings come in a fraction of a second before, but think the general idea here is a call to attention to start with, and it's too arresting not to mention.

Barry Adamson - Oedipus Schmoedipus
Black Box Recorder - England Made Me
The Beths - Future Me Hates Me!

The Meters - The Meters

pretty sure Tommy James story was ... Pittsburgh?

XXP: Yeah, that Triffids opener is one of most abrupt I can think of, otherwise! Like they could plausibly have already played through several such verses before we joined them. Gawd, I need to listen to it now...

Neko Case - Furnace Room Lullaby (Set Out Running)

The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs

pretty sure Tommy James story was ... Pittsburgh?

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, December 29, 2022 1:22 AM (eleven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Pittsburgh was where someone found "Hanky Panky," played it at a bunch of dance parties, someone else pressed thousands of (bootleg) copies, then it went to #1 (in Pittsburgh, then Chicago, then nationally).

Daniel Johnston, 1990 (entire first track is a cappella)

Keyshia Cole's sophomore album JUST LIKE YOU. The song is "Let it Go". Technically there's a quick record scratch before she sings acapella, though.

latest Costello album also starts with the vocal (Farewell, Ok)

All Saints s/t

Aphrodite's Child, 666 (The System)

Hot Chip, Freakout/Release (“Down”)

Oneida - Each One Teach One

Arab Strap - Philophobia
"It was the biggest cock you'd ever seen..."

I opened the thread specifically to see if this one had been mentioned yet.

Nicely done, ILM.

Terence Trent D'Arby - Symphony or Damn (Welcome to my monasteryo)

Jeanne Balibar - Paramour (Le tour du monde)

Charli XCX - Crash (Crash)

Gun Club Miami Jeffrey Lee vocal gets joined by rest of band.

Does a cough count cos Junkyard starts with that before Nick sings about the death of his dad on Dead Joe.

Johnny Hates Jazz’s “I Don’t Want to be a Hero” sounds very very close to Shalamar’s “I Can Make You Feel Good”

Sorry - wrong thread! Argh!

Stevie Wonder - Hotter Than July

Badfinger "Ass" ("Apple of My Eye")

American Life

Songs About Fucking

Medúlla by Björk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:A_cappella_albums