Best Debut Albums

[bickster]

7 hours ago, GarethRDR said:

14 days to go... 

 

Who? I'm still of the opinion that they are utterly generic and unmemorable. Have they done anything since?

[mjmooney]

My sum knowledge of the Arctic Monkeys: 

1. They're from Sheffield. 

2. They recorded something about looking good on the dance floor (don't think I've heard it though). 

3. They did a pretty good version of The Beatles' 'Come Together' at the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony. 

 

[tonyh29]

arguably in terms of influence one of the the best debut album would be  The Chirping Crickets by The Crickets ?  

but , as I was bored last night I was looking at a few big artists debut albums , and quite a lot of them have some average stuff in-between the gems  , looking at you Nirvana , Guns N Roses 

Then I looked at Rolling Stone Magazine top 100 debut albums and as they put the Ramones at number one I immediately discounted anything they had to say 

I'd never heard of half the stuff the VT music Hipsters were mentioning  so I immediately discounted most of these as well 

and so based on strength of songs , for me it (currently as I'm sure one I've forgotten will hit me between the ears ) it kinda comes down to Ten , Hull 4 London 0 and The Doors

and as Paul Heaton is arguably the best lyricist England has ever produced , and it has the epic Flag Day on it   ...I declare the Housemartins   Hull 4 London 0 the winners  , though I doubt it every influenced any artists and inspired someone to pick up a guitar , its just a great pop album 

 

[tonyh29]

1 hour ago, mjmooney said:

My sum knowledge of the Arctic Monkeys: 

1. They're from Sheffield. 

2. They recorded something about looking good on the dance floor (don't think I've heard it though). 

3. They did a pretty good version of The Beatles' 'Come Together' at the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony. 

 

4. They are Gordon Browns favourite band  

 

as mentioned yesterday , having seen the tribute band , there are actually quite a lot of "storming" up tempo catchy songs in their set ( i couldn't' name any of them ) with some decent guitar riffs and solos going on 

It hasn't inspired me to buy an AM album (or learn the names of their songs)  , but i could easily go to one of their gigs and know I'd enjoy myself 

[Seat68]

2 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

arguably in terms of influence one of the the best debut album would be  The Chirping Crickets by The Crickets ?  

but , as I was bored last night I was looking at a few big artists debut albums , and quite a lot of them have some average stuff in-between the gems  , looking at you Nirvana , Guns N Roses 

Then I looked at Rolling Stone Magazine top 100 debut albums and as they put the Ramones at number one I immediately discounted anything they had to say 

I'd never heard of half the stuff the VT music Hipsters were mentioning  so I immediately discounted most of these as well 

and so based on strength of songs , for me it (currently as I'm sure one I've forgotten will hit me between the ears ) it kinda comes down to Ten , Hull 4 London 0 and The Doors

and as Paul Heaton is arguably the best lyricist England has ever produced , and it has the epic Flag Day on it   ...I declare the Housemartins   Hull 4 London 0 the winners  , though I doubt it every influenced any artists and inspired someone to pick up a guitar , its just a great pop album 

 

London 0 Hull 4 is a very good shout and is often overlooked for these things, I still play it and it is without any flab at all. I would say as a career, for me the housemartins didnt put a step wrong, albums, singles and bsides. Nothing bad.

[PieFacE]

9 hours ago, GarethRDR said:

Plenty of great stuff already covered.  Here's some that I don't think have had a shout yet...

   

 

Think this was their 3rd album? Cracking album tho!

Edited August 16, 2023 by PieFacE

[villa4europe]

3 hours ago, mjmooney said:

My sum knowledge of the Arctic Monkeys: 

1. They're from Sheffield. 

2. They recorded something about looking good on the dance floor (don't think I've heard it though). 

3. They did a pretty good version of The Beatles' 'Come Together' at the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony. 

the wave of indie disco as id call it bands were well on their way when they came out, the strokes, bloc party and libs were all a few years before and you could argue sound wise arent that much different from the first AM album but what set them apart was the lyrics

I'm 39, Alex Turner is 37, their first album came out in 2006 so I was 22 and spending my weekends on the piss in places like snobs, he was literally singing about my life, he sings about texting girls when you're drunk, trying to do runners from taxis, fit girls being hard work then as they matured and changed their sound it coincided with me maturing and changing my life, he started singing about getting drunk round peoples houses or on your own sofa while dreaming of a girl, lyrically he was bang on, incredibly open honest and real sounding, I'm not sure of anyone maybe outside of rappers who paint such a vivid picture of a completely normal life like they do

unfortunately they've now got themselves wrapped up in metaphors trying to be clever and complicated in an attempt to be interesting and its lost its spark, he needs some kids and start singing about lack of sleep 

[bickster]

Complete and utter hipster pick

Wire - Pink Flag

Probably the most influential album of the original UK wave of punk albums

REM, Blur, Minor Threat, Sonic Youth, Lemonheads, Elastica.... this list could go on forever

[GarethRDR]

1 hour ago, PieFacE said:

Think this was their 3rd album? Cracking album tho!

D'oh!  Scratch that then.  It's quite a challenge, I found, I'd never given much thought to the chronology of my particular favourites, transpires a lot of them of were tail-end pieces of work.  A fair few sophomore efforts as well, which flies in the face of that old cliché.

[bickster]

5 hours ago, GarethRDR said:

A fair few sophomore efforts as well, which flies in the face of that old cliché

The cliche used to be third album, not sure when it changed to difficult second album. A lot of bands used to have enough material for a couple of albums when they started releasing albums so the second album was usually just a continuation of the first with maybe better production and a bit more development to the songs over time. The third album used to be the problem because they hadn't written anything new in ages and were sort of forced to. The second continuation of the first album seems to have been skipped now as people release material far earlier in their careers

 

Anyway back on topic.

Brum's finest post-punk debut?

The magnificent Au Pairs and their debut Playing with a Different Sex. If you've never heard this album, you really need to

The album has one flaw IMO and that is the inclusion of a rerecorded It's Obvious (their breakout single), a great song but it was re-recorded to fit in with the album's overall sound. The single version is better and they should have just used a different song. If you were unaware of the single, it's fine but if you were aware, 

One of the albums bits of genius is the obscure Bowie cover version, Repetition. It was years later I discovered it was a cover because it absolutely fits into the albums whole political ethos, you'd have no reason to suspect it was written by someone else

The other really impressive thing about the album is, that after 2 singles, the band produced this themselves. The production is a good number of steps up on the singles, you really would be under the impression that they'd used a producer

Still listen to this album today (I own three copies!), even though some of the political themes are now completely dated. Also highly influential on what followed, the Gang of Four got all the plaudits, the Au Pairs over time have influenced far more

[Keyblade]

14 hours ago, cyrusr said:

Now that’s a spread of tastes. Cynics albums was never really appreciated at the time though and to be honest I prefer Ulver’s sophomore album Kveldssanger. 

 

A few did, notably @bickster  & @mjmooney. I don’t think it’s got quite the punch anymore. If I want punk, I’ll shove on The Ramones over Sex Pistols any day of the week.

Shame quite a few of the pictures haven’t survived over the years but it’s interesting seeing what people say. Some surprising omissions though (unless in links or missing pictures): -

Black Sabbath - S/T

Black Flag - Damaged

Ghost - Opus Eponymous 

Machine Head - Burn My Eyes

The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium

RATM - S/T

The Ramones - S/T

Slipknot - S/T

Television - Marquee Moon (not a particular favourite, but know it to be hugely influential as well).

It’s good to see the disputes around Oasis/Artic Monkeys hasn’t changed ‘much in 10 years! It’s actually funny reading through the thread and seemingly people were not as aware of all of the possible opinions on the board. 

Crazy that I posted that 10 years ago. Where does the time go? I think I've since come to prefer Ulver's Nattens Madrigal. Focus got a remaster recently which I'm not really a fan of. The original has aged like a fine wine. Way ahead of its time.

Surprised I didn't mention Boards of Canada's Music Has the Right to Children which was my favourite album at the time.

10 years on, I'd add an addendum to my list to include possibly my favourite album of all time, Big L's Lifestylez of da Poor and Dangerous. Also DMX, Katatonia and Chief Keef's debuts come to mind, the latter of which was released around the time I made that post and has since become a classic in my eyes.

Edited August 16, 2023 by Keyblade

[Seat68]

I stand by Johnny Cash or Alan Jacksons debut. Both exceptional, both being played multiple times a year. 

[Xela]

[tonyh29]

3 hours ago, bickster said:

If you've never heard this album, you really need to keep it that way 

fixed   

 

[bickster]

47 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

fixed   

 

Philistine  

[Risso]

The Arctic Monkeys Glasto set this year was just about the worst thing I've ever seen. If they haven't been forgotten yet, they deserve to be.

[Marka Ragnos]

17 hours ago, bickster said:

Complete and utter hipster pick

Wire - Pink Flag

Probably the most influential album of the original UK wave of punk albums

REM, Blur, Minor Threat, Sonic Youth, Lemonheads, Elastica.... this list could go on forever

Don't think it's on pink flag, but I love their one song about the beetles -- the insects, that is.

[Seat68]

Surprised that no one has mentioned Suicides debut, its one that pops up a lot, thought it might feature. By no one, I mean no one has mentioned it over the past couple of pages, it might be mentioned on page 6.

[Marka Ragnos]

What a great topic!!!! So many thoughts ... won't even try to talk about influence as I'll be posting about the Carter Family and Duane Eddie snd Leadbelly, etc. So I'll stick to music from the last half century.

Thomas Dolby's debut Golden Age of Wireless always struck me as a really complete and beautiful package of pop songs produced in a way that, well, had its time. I truly admire his ingenuity in the studio, too. He's a professor in the States now, and a very good one, I hear.

 

[Marka Ragnos]

The debut of Paisley's Close Lobsters (Foxheads Stalk The Land) made an outsized impression on the college radio scene in the States, and to say that I adored this album doesn't come close. My friends and I would smoke weed like crazy and listen to it over and over. Got to see them in Boston. Unforgettable show. Still think the record holds up. I think the singer is, like me, a middle-aged professor somewhere now. The music is interesting because it's kind of the apex of jangle pop to me. So many great songs.

 

Edited August 17, 2023 by Marka Ragnos