Albums that start on the Vocal.....

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

Frazier Chorus - Sue

Big Audio Dynamite II: The Globe (Rush)